Re: sort -nu: bug or feature?

[Chris F.A. Johnson]

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, Paul Eggert wrote:

> "Chris F.A. Johnson" <address@hidden> writes:
>
> >      "sort -n" uses a string comparison after aligning the numbers on
> >      the decimal point, but -u apparently uses a (non-POSIX) numeric
> >      comparison to determine equivalency:
>
> It's the same comparison, and it conforms to POSIX as far as I can see.
> If not, please let us know exactly what the failure-to-conform is.

$ printf "%s\n" 1 01 08 8 | sort -nu
1
08

    If it's a string comparison, 08 is not the same as 8, therefore
    the comparison is numeric.

    Does POSIX not require a number with a leading 0 to be interpreted
    as octal? As in:

$ echo $(( 08 ))
bash: 08: value too great for base (error token is "08")

--
        Chris F.A. Johnson                      http://cfaj.freeshell.org
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                Everything in moderation -- including moderation