Unix sort rows based on semicolon

Question

I try to sort the following file:

$ cat testfile
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;CMC10
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB05
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;BMD15
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB03
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3_M1;ODP47
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1_M1;TER23
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11A

And I get:

$ sort testfile
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;BMD15
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;CMC10
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB05
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1_M1;TER23
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB03
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3_M1;ODP47
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11A

However, I was expecting:

ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;BMD15
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;CMC10
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11A
...

That is, I want all the rows with the string ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI before the first semicolon to come first, then the ones with ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1, etc.

I looked man sort and I tried different options like -g and -k with -t, but I didn't manage. How can I do it?

@Robert Harvey such questions are asked quite often here, I don't understand why it was closed. See stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/sorting+unix — fedorqui
– fedorqui, Commented May 28, 2015 at 10:13
Your question isn't answerable anyway. You told us what you were expecting, but not what you actually got. — Robert Harvey
– Robert Harvey, Commented May 28, 2015 at 10:14
@RobertHarvey yes the OP posted it in a very bad way. However, after some cleaning it is quite clear what he wants. What I don't know if it is suited to be reopened or should still be off-topic. — fedorqui
– fedorqui, Commented May 28, 2015 at 10:19

fedorqui · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-28 12:53:06Z

4

Just tell sort that the delimiter is ; and you want to sort based on the second column:

sort -t";" -k2 file

It returns:

ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;BMD15
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;CMC10
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI;DEA11A
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB02
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3;HEB03
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1;HEB05
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D3_M1;ODP47
ZBOX-BATCH-SAMEDI_D1_M1;TER23

answered May 28, 2015 at 12:53

fedorqui

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2 Comments

towi Over a year ago

Somehow this doesn't work as I expect it to work. If I do echo -e "1\n10" | sort -t";" -k1 I get 1 and 10 like I expect lexicographical sorting to work. But with echo -e "1;bbb\n10;aaa" | sort -t";" -k1 I get the line with 10 first and then the 1. What am I missing here? Strangely enough it works for echo -e "x\nxx" | sort -t";" -k1 and echo -e "x;bbb\nxx;aaa" | sort -t";" -k1 -- here in both cases "x" < "xx". Funnily enough if I do add -g (general numeric sort) its fine (1<10, and x<xx work too) it works. And echo -e "1;bbb\n11;aaa" | sort -t";" -k1,1 works too. Hrm...

fedorqui Over a year ago

@towi strange, indeed. I suggest you to post a new question over this: we most probably are missing some parts of the docs, or some undocumented bit.

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