Bug in 'sort': negative numbers in non-first key

[Simon Anders]

Hi,

either I misunderstand the documentation, or there is a subtle bug in
sort, when used with option '-g'.

As the minus sign ('-') has an ASCII value higher than the digits,
negative numbers end up after the positive ones, when using lexical (not
numerical) sort:

  $ sort -g
  [IN ] 2
  [IN ] -3
  [OUT] -3
  [OUT] 2

Using the option "-g" gives the correct result, of course:

  $ sort -g
  [IN ] 2
  [IN ] -3
  [OUT] -3
  [OUT] 2

However, when two keys are present, this fails to work:

  $ sort -g
  [IN ] 5 2
  [IN ] 5 -3
  [OUT] 5 2
  [OUT] 5 -3

For only positive values, there is no problem:

  $ sort -g
  [IN ] 5 2.5
  [IN ] 5 1.5
  [OUT] 5 1.5
  [OUT] 5 2.5

Is this a bug?

The examples above have been produced with sort from coreutils 5.2.1 on
RedHat Linux:

  $ sort --version
  sort (coreutils) 5.2.1
  Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

  Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  [...]
  $ rpm -q coreutils
  coreutils-5.2.1-31.4
  $ uname -a
  Linux dopey.uibk.ac.at 2.6.9-42.0.2.ELsmp #1 SMP Thu Aug 17
    18:00:32 EDT 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Best regards,
  Simon Anders


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| Simon Anders, Dipl. Phys.
| Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Innsbruck, Austria
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