The sort command is a powerful utility in Unix-like operating systems used to sort lines of text files. It can sort alphabetically, numerically, and with various options to customize the output. Below are common usage examples:

Sort File Content

To sort a file alphabetically, use the following syntax:

sort <file>

Sort and Keep Unique Lines

To sort a file and remove duplicate lines, keeping only unique entries:

sort -u <file>

Sort in Reverse Order

To sort a file in reverse (descending) order:

sort -r <file>

Sort File Randomly

To sort the lines of a file in a random order:

sort -R <file>

Sort and Save to Another File

To sort a file and store the output in a different file:

sort <inputFile> -o <outputFile>

Handling Large Files with Temporary Directories

By default, sort uses /var/tmp for temporary files. If this directory has limited space and you need to sort very large files, you can specify an alternative directory with adequate space using the -T option:

sort -T <tempDirectory> <file>

For more advanced sorting options, including sorting by specific fields and different character sets, refer to the official sort man page.