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Yura Shinkarev
Asked: 2017-09-19 02:47:49 +0800 CST

Wrong sorting a text file

  • 772

I have this simple text file and want to sort all lines by the response_time column:

1 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,507:INFO :pool-8982-thread-30:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==43975&items, response_time=1030, response_code=300 
2 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,628:INFO :pool-8982-thread-77:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==PBD4766&items, response_time=1142, response_code=200 
3 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,651:INFO :pool-8982-thread-67:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==MDC1810C&items, response_time=1166, response_code=200 
4 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,655:INFO :pool-8984-thread-47:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==1031086&items, response_time=1005, response_code=200 
5 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,668:INFO :pool-8984-thread-50:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==F1018P&items, response_time=1018, response_code=200 
6 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,677:INFO :pool-8983-thread-86:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==V2581261&items, response_time=1060, response_code=200 
7 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,681:INFO :pool-8982-thread-68:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==202581&items, response_time=1196, response_code=200 
8 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,686:INFO :pool-8984-thread-46:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==1563200600&, response_time=1036, response_code=200 
9 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,693:INFO :pool-8983-thread-29:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==8DB355025371, response_time=1207, response_code=200

I tried it this way:

sort -n -t " " -k 8 myfile.txt

But I still got an unsorted file. Why?

UPD: Time can be less than 1000 and more than 9999:

1 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,507:INFO :pool-8982-thread-30:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==43975&items, response_time=11030, response_code=300 
2 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,628:INFO :pool-8982-thread-77:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==PBD4766&items, response_time=1142, response_code=200 
3 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,651:INFO :pool-8982-thread-67:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==MDC1810C&items, response_time=1166, response_code=200 
4 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,655:INFO :pool-8984-thread-47:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==1031086&items, response_time=1005, response_code=200 
5 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,668:INFO :pool-8984-thread-50:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==F1018P&items, response_time=1018, response_code=200 
6 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,677:INFO :pool-8983-thread-86:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==V2581261&items, response_time=1060, response_code=200 
7 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,681:INFO :pool-8982-thread-68:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==202581&items, response_time=1196, response_code=200 
8 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,686:INFO :pool-8984-thread-46:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==1563200600&, response_time=1036, response_code=200 
9 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,693:INFO :pool-8983-thread-29:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==8DB355025371, response_time=7, response_code=200

UPD2: I'm reduce parameter uri. It can contain different numbers of "=".

command-line

4 Answers

  1. As there's nothing in the way just drop the -n as well as the -t option:

    sort -k 8 myfile.txt

    If you however want to know why your way failed, let's --debug:

    > sort -n -t " " -k 8 --debug myfile.txt
sort: using simple byte comparison
sort: key 1 is numeric and spans multiple fields
1 console-2017_09_17.log:2017-09-17 00:04:02,507:INFO :pool-8982-thread-30:r.a.u.j.PerfRequestInterceptor - method=GET, uri==43975&items, response_time=1030, response_code=300 
                                                                                                                                          ^ no match for key
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
… … …

    It shows there's something wrong with your KEYDEF:

    KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F is a field number and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1, and the stop position defaults to the line's end. If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace. OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options [bdfgiMhnRrV], which override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use the entire line as the key. Use --debug to diagnose incorrect key usage.

    For your case this would be the right one:

    sort -n -t " " -k 8.15,8.19 myfile.txt
    • 0

  2. sort takes as a delimiter whatever you give it, so just give it the right thing:

    sort -n -t "=" -k5

    sort numerically after the fourth =.

    • 0 
  3. sort -k8V ex.txt

    where

    • -k8V means: key is the 8.th field, and order criteria is "version sort"

    Version sort is the most natural sort -- uses alphabetic sort for letters but switches to numeric sort when number appears (it works both for numbers, words, and mixed)

    • 0

  4. sort -t " " -k 8 myfile.txt outputs to the terminal the desired result. You don't need to use -n parameter because the field you want to sort by doesn't contain only digits.

    • -1