"sort" characters, ignoring fields, could use documentation

[Jameson Burt]

Consider including in the "sort" documentation ("man" and "info")
how to sort character columns, irrespective of any fields.
For example, 
  "The following sorts columns 76 thru 80,
  irrespective of any delimited fields
     sort   -k 1.76,1.80   file2
  You must use 1.* (not something like 3.76,3.80) for this column-effect
  irrespective of delimiters."

The use of such an example arose with a fellow who programs all day,
every day, and has a PhD in mathematics,
but has only used Unix for a year and was more experienced
in other OS including VAX.
Being no dummy, he solves a multi-year algebraic/computing problem
that we couldn't solve ourselves,
but that he had solved in another organization,
so we hired him away from the other organization.
He spent some time trying this character sort
and was largely befuddled by the "sort" documentation,
when all he wanted, and the only way he had used "sort" elsewhere,
was to sort columns irrespective of any delimiting.

I took an hour myself to stumble onto a character sort,
as I made a few attempts, then unsuccessfully read "sort" documentation,
then made a few more attempts.

While this isn't a bug in the "sort" program,
I found no other email address; in particular,
I found no separate email address within "coreutils" 
for the "sort" authors Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.


-- 
Jameson C. Burt, NJ9L   Fairfax, Virginia, USA
address@hidden       http://www.coost.com
(202) 690-0380 (work)

LTSP.org:  magic "mysterious and awe-inspiring even though
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