Sorting csv file by 5th column using bash

Question

The file looks like

5.1,3.5,1.4,0.2,Banana
4.9,3.0,1.4,0.6,Apple
4.8,2.8,1.3,1.2,Apple

and I need to have it be

4.9,3.0,1.4,0.2,Apple
4.8,2.8,1.3,1.2,Apple
5.1,3.5,1.4,0.2,Banana

I have been trying to use

sort -t, -k5 file.csv > sorted.csv

All it does is make it

5.1,3.5,1.4,0.2,Banana
4.8,2.8,1.3,1.2,Apple
4.9,3.0,1.4,0.6,Apple

How do I make it like this? It does not seem to be sorting it at all.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is about bash and belongs on Unix & Linux. — Cole Tobin
– Cole Tobin, Commented Sep 5, 2013 at 17:14
@ColeJohnson Bash is on topic on SO. Just have a look at the Bash tag — user000001
– user000001, Commented Sep 5, 2013 at 17:15
@mrm9084 Cannot reproduce either. Have you tried to delete all columns and perform sorting only for Banana and Apple? Did it work? — idobr
– idobr, Commented Sep 6, 2013 at 13:04

BigSmoke · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-14 21:09:38Z

7

GNU sort is locale sensitive, which can cause weirdness. Try the following and see if it makes a difference:

LC_ALL=C sort -t, -k5 file.csv > sorted.csv

answered Sep 14, 2013 at 21:09

BigSmoke

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1 Comment

Jonathan Leffler Over a year ago

Welcome to Stack Overflow. Please read the About page soon. You're correct that occasionally (or even always if your locale is set to something like en_US.UTF-8, as mine is), the locale can certainly affect the sort order of some data. However, it is hard to see how the locale could affect this — indeed, it is hard to duplicate the problem, let alone sort it out (pun half-intended).

devnull · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-22 10:46:39Z

7

Is this what you need to have it be

# sort -t . -nrk2 sorted.csv 
4.9,3.0,1.4,0.6,Apple
4.8,2.8,1.3,1.2,Apple
5.1,3.5,1.4,0.2,Banana

edited Oct 22, 2013 at 10:46

devnull

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answered Oct 22, 2013 at 10:43

XHunter Hunter

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