Re: question about behavior of sort -n -t,

[Gabriel Gaster]

That's true, but I think that the expected output would be for sort to assume 
the data is comma-delimited, because -t, was specified in the command, and then 
to sort on each field.

In your example, they actually result in the same thing. In this case, I think 
it's only when the comma character doesn't make sense as a numeric that the 
results would be different.

In other words, in an example in which a comma is actually *meant* to be both a 
field-separator and a numeric character and the comma's are well-placed, then 
the results will agree. If however, the comma does not make sense as a numeric, 
as in the following example, then the results would be different and would not 
make sense.

a,1,11
bb,4,321
c,1,1111

If any of the above is wrong, it's only because I know very little about unix.
Cheers,
Gabe

--
gabriel gaster

On Tuesday, October 8, 2013 at 6:34 PM, Pádraig Brady wrote:
> You could have data like:
>  
> a,1,234
> bb,4,321
> c,1,111
>  
> If you wanted to sort by those grouped numbers you'd need to honor the , in 
> the locale
> and use sort -t, -k2n
>  
> Perhaps this is something worth warning about in sort --debug.
> I.E. numeric specified and -t[$group|$decimal] specified,
> but I'm inclined to think it's not worth it.
>  
> cheers,
> Pádraig.