sort -n places 10 before 9

Question

I am trying to sort the below numbers but always its getting sorted 10 before 9.

$ cat disks
1I:1:1
1I:1:3
1I:1:2
1I:1:4
2I:1:5
2I:1:6
2I:1:7
2I:1:8
3I:1:9
3I:1:10
3I:1:12
3I:1:11

After sorting using sort -n its coming as below.

$ sort -n -o sorted /tmp/disks
$ cat sorted
1I:1:1
1I:1:2
1I:1:3
1I:1:4
2I:1:5
2I:1:5
2I:1:7
2I:1:8
3I:1:10
3I:1:11
3I:1:12
3I:1:9    ---> wrong sort

Please let me know which sort option can do this properly ?

Possible duplicate of [Sort by third column leaving first and second column intact in Linux?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11006431/sort-by-third-column-leaving-first-and-second-column-intact-in-linux) — oguz ismail, Mar 29 '20 at 07:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 29 '20 at 06:38

2

Try this

sort -n -t: -k3 file.txt -o out.txt

answered Mar 29 '20 at 06:38

Jetchisel

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 29 '20 at 06:42

2

You can use version sort if your sort supports this option:

sort -V -o sorted /tmp/disks

answered Mar 29 '20 at 06:42

Freddy

That's the simple approach, KISS always works. – David C. Rankin Mar 30 '20 at 03:02

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 29 '20 at 07:33

2

The additional --stable option preserves ordering should you happen to have duplicates in column 3.

$ sort -t: -k3n --stable -o sorted /tmp/disks
$ cat sorted
1I:1:1
1I:1:2
1I:1:3
1I:1:4
2I:1:5
2I:1:6
2I:1:7
2I:1:8
3I:1:9
3I:1:10
3I:1:11
3I:1:12
$

answered Mar 29 '20 at 07:33

rtx13

Thanks for your answer. This solution taken care the duplicate entry also – SARATH CHANDRAN Mar 29 '20 at 10:45

3 Answers3