Re: M-x Sort-Columns in scientific format

[gokhalen]

On Aug 14, 6:58 pm, Mark Elston <m.els...@advantest-ard.com> wrote:
> * gokha...@gmail.com wrote (on 8/14/2007 1:05 PM):
>
>
>
> > On Aug 14, 3:28 pm, weber <hug...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> On 14 ago, 15:07, gokha...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> >>> If I have a file with two fields:
> >>> BB     2
> >>> AA     1
> >>> CC    3
> >>> And I do Mx sort-columns on the last column I get
> >>> AA     1
> >>> BB     2
> >>> CC    3
> >>> Which is good.  Now, if I change the numbers to scientific format:
> >>> BB   8.0E-5
> >>> AA   1.0E-4
> >>> CC   7.0E-5
> >>> I get the following, with Mx sort-columns
> >>> AA   1.0E-4
> >>> CC   7.0E-5
> >>> BB   8.0E-5
> >>> Which is not what should happen. Emacs is ignoring the exponent. Is
> >>> there a way to turn scientific number more on? How do I get Mx Sort-
> >>> Columns in scientific format?
> >>> I am using the windows version of emacs.
> >>> Thanks.
> >> sort-numeric-fields command works here!
> >> Cheers,
> >> weber
>
> > Well,
>
> > sort-numeric-fields on the last column gives me
>
> > BB  AA   1.0E-4
> > CC   7.0E-5
> >  8.0E-5
>
> > Which is garbled.
>
> Try selecting the whole region and then C-u 2 M-x sort-numeric-fields
>
> Mark

Thanks, that worked. What is this C-u 2 magic?

-Nachiket