sorting file having fixed field width bash

Provisos and assumptions:

• input files can be one of two formats: 1) without color codes, 2) with color codes
• a file will not contain both formats
• for files with color formats the first character in the line is the single character Ctrl-[ (ie, it is not the 2x characters '^' + '[')

For the sake of this answer we'll name the files:

• file1 - contains no color characters
• file2 - contains color characters

One solution using sort to order by fields 3,4 (non-color) or fields 4,5 (color)

for f in file1 file2
do
    echo "+++++++++++++++++ ${f}"
    pat='-k3,4'                                                  # define `sort` pattern for non-color file
    [[ $(head -1 ${f} | cut -c1) =~ $'\c[' ]] && pat='-k4,5'     # if first character of first line is `Ctrl-[` (ie, $'\c[') then define `sort` pattern for color file
    sort ${pat} ${f}                                             # sort the file
done

Running the above generates:

+++++++++++++++++ file1
            2019              Autumn              CS 490                   6         Honors core                  CC
            2019              Autumn              CS 492                   6         Honors core                  FR
            2019              Autumn              CS 747                   6 Department elective                  FF
            2019              Autumn              CS 753                   6 Department elective                  AB
            2019              Autumn              ES 200                   3      Basic Sciences                  BC                 AB
+++++++++++++++++ file2
            2019              Autumn              CS 490                   6         Honors core                  CC
            2019              Autumn              CS 492                   6         Honors core                  FR
            2019              Autumn              CS 747                   6 Department elective                  FF
            2019              Autumn              CS 753                   6 Department elective                  AB
            2019              Autumn              ES 200                   3      Basic Sciences                  BC

NOTE: The last 3 lines of output for file2 show with color in my console.

To show color formatting codes: sort ${pat} ${f} | cat -v

+++++++++++++++++ file1
                2019              Autumn              CS 490                   6         Honors core                  CC
                2019              Autumn              CS 492                   6         Honors core                  FR
                2019              Autumn              CS 747                   6 Department elective                  FF
                2019              Autumn              CS 753                   6 Department elective                  AB
                2019              Autumn              ES 200                   3      Basic Sciences                  BC
+++++++++++++++++ file2
^[[40m^[[37m                2019              Autumn              CS 490                   6         Honors core                  CC^[(B^[[m
^[[40m^[[37m                2019              Autumn              CS 492                   6         Honors core                  FR^[(B^[[m
^[[40m^[[33m                2019              Autumn              CS 747                   6 Department elective                  FF^[(B^[[m
^[[40m^[[33m                2019              Autumn              CS 753                   6 Department elective                  AB^[(B^[[m
^[[40m^[[36m                2019              Autumn              ES 200                   3      Basic Sciences                  BC^[(B^[[m