GNU sort(1) and very large files

[kj]

How does sort(1) handle the sorting of files that are too large to
fit in memory?  Or, for that matter, how does it sort a piped input
that is too big to fit in memory all at once?

Thanks!

kj

-- 
NOTE: In my address everything before the first period is backwards;
and the last period, and everything after it, should be discarded.