Re: question on using the -n option for sorting

[Chris Elvidge]

On 03/11/2024 at 01:48, American Citizen wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I am a number theory mathematician, using linux as a computer platform 
> for my studies.
>
> In using the sort command with the -n option, such as the command
>
> %sort -k3,3n close.2 > close.3
>
> I noticed that the 93 digits in the 3rd field are NOT numerically 
> ordered, although most were.

Not all your lines in example.sort have 93 characters in the 3rd field. 
I've found 91,92,93,94 and 95.

sort -k3,3n example.sort | awk '{printf "%5s %5s %95s %s\n", $1, $2, $3, 
length($3)}'


> I switched to the dictionary order
>
> %sort -k3,3 close.2 > close.3
>
> and then close.3 seems to be in the correct numerical sequence in field 3.
>
> Can anyone share with me how many digits the -n option can safely sort? 
> Can we do decimals > 17 digits with this option? Can sort be 
> strengthened to handle digits > 17 ?
>
> Thank you for letting me know. I attach a short 100 line sample file 
> which was extracted from the 29,984 line actual close.2 file.
>
> Randall


--
Chris Elvidge
England