`sort` command

Sort lines of text alphabetically, numerically or by column.

Text processing
Package coreutils
8 options · 8 examples

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Syntax
Common options
Examples
Guides
Related commands

Syntax

sort [options] [file…]

Provided by the coreutils package. Run man sort for the full manual.

Common options

Option	What it does
`-n`	Numeric sort
`-h`	Human-readable numbers (2K, 1G)
`-r`	Reverse the order
`-k N`	Sort by column N
`-t SEP`	Column separator
`-u`	Remove duplicate lines
`-o FILE`	Write to a file (can be the input)
`-V`	Version sort (1.2 < 1.10)

Examples

Sort alphabetically
```
sort names.txt
```
Numeric sort
```
sort -n numbers.txt
```
Largest first
```
sort -rn sizes.txt
```
Sort du output by size
```
du -sh * | sort -h
```
Sort by the 3rd column
```
sort -k3 -n data.txt
```
Sort a CSV by column 2
```
sort -t, -k2 data.csv
```
Sort and remove duplicates
```
sort -u emails.txt
```
Sort a file in place
```
sort -o list.txt list.txt
```

sort guides

Sort Command in Linux with Practical Examples Linux Commands · Updated Apr 2025

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