How to sort complicated strings in shell?

Question

I have to sort cell names like this (no matters if it comes from a file or a variable): expected result

BAR.A1
BAR.A1-1
BAR.A2
BAR.A3
BAR.A10
FOO.A1
FOO.B1
FOO.B1-1

What I tried results in this wrong order :

BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
FOO.A1
FOO.A10 <--- wrong place
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3

I tried many combinaisons of

sort -n
sort -h
sort -d

none works.

Any clue ?

You've given an example of one output you're getting with a field in the wrong spot, could you please edit the question to show the output you would like to see? — Eric Renouf, Aug 28 '18 at 16:36
The expected one is the first list. Please edit if you have enough reputation points (I don't) — Mévatlavé Kraspek, Aug 28 '18 at 16:39
So you want descending order before the dot and ascending alphabetical+ numerical order after the dot? Is the format always three chars, one dot, one letter, then some numbers or hyphens? — Patrick Mevzek, Aug 28 '18 at 16:43
Aahh sorry, BAR shoud be before FOO :/ Please if someone can edit. This is just a sample — Mévatlavé Kraspek, Aug 28 '18 at 16:47
Please add sample input and your desired output for that sample input to your question. — Cyrus, Aug 28 '18 at 17:00

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 28 '18 at 17:16

5

It looks like you want to sort by field 1 alphabetically, then field 2 version-wise

sort -t. -k 1,1 -k2,2V <<END
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10
BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
END

BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10

answered Aug 28 '18 at 17:16

glenn jackman

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Patrick Mevzek · Answer 2 · 2018-08-28T16:50:15.250

1

There are still various unclear points (you are not saying exactly the output you want) but sort -g should do it:

$ cat s.txt
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10
BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
$ sort -g s.txt
BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A10
FOO.A2
FOO.A3

-g is defined as such:

-g, --general-numeric-sort, --sort=general-numeric Sort by general numerical value. As opposed to -n, this option handles general floating points. It has a more permissive format than that allowed by -n but it has a significant performance drawback.

But -n would fit here as well, so your desired output is not clear.

Based on your further updates, maybe this is what you want:

$ sort -t '.' -k 2 -V < s.txt
BAR.A1
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1

edited Aug 28 '18 at 16:50

answered Aug 28 '18 at 16:39

Patrick Mevzek

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`FOO.A10` should be after `FOO.A3` – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 28 '18 at 16:45
@MévatlavéKraspek see update. your question is very unclear/misleading on what you want to achieve. – Patrick Mevzek Aug 28 '18 at 16:50
Sorry @Patrick Mevzek for my bad description, not enough reputations points to edit my post by myself. – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 28 '18 at 19:21
Your last command is good, thanks, already accepted another one – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 29 '18 at 22:45

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 28 '18 at 20:09

1

perl -MSort::Key::Natural=natsort -e'print for natsort <>'

See Specifying file to process to Perl one-liner for usage.

answered Aug 28 '18 at 20:09

ikegami

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karakfa · Answer 4 · 2018-08-28T17:38:35.027

0

version sort

$ sort -V file

BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
FOO.A1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10
FOO.A1-1

updated based on clarified question

$ sort -t- -k1,1V -k2 file

BAR.A1
BAR.B1
BAR.B1-1
FOO.A1
FOO.A1-1
FOO.A2
FOO.A3
FOO.A10

edited Aug 28 '18 at 17:38

answered Aug 28 '18 at 16:33

karakfa

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`FOO.A1-1` should be before `FOO.A10` – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 28 '18 at 16:36
'like this' means this is what I expect, sorry if it's not clear enough – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 28 '18 at 16:40
@Mévatlavé: You wrote *"I have to sort cell names like this"* which implies that the cell names are "like this", not the way they're sorted. It looks like you're showing the input data. – Borodin Aug 28 '18 at 19:14
@Borodin: sorry for my bad description, but glenn jackman understood what I mean. I liked to edit, but I don't have any reputation points to do so. My appologies – Mévatlavé Kraspek Aug 28 '18 at 19:19

How to sort complicated strings in shell?

4 Answers4