GNU bug report logs - #48070
sort.exe cannot do ascii ordering but help says it can.

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Package: coreutils;

Reported by: "Peter SMITH1 (contractor)" <peter.smith1 <at> amadeus.com>

Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:01:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Done: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Report forwarded to bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org:
bug#48070; Package coreutils. (Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:01:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Acknowledgement sent to "Peter SMITH1 (contractor)" <peter.smith1 <at> amadeus.com>:
New bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org. (Tue, 27 Apr 2021 18:01:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Peter SMITH1 (contractor)" <peter.smith1 <at> amadeus.com>
To: "bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org" <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>
Subject: sort.exe cannot do ascii ordering but help says it can.
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:39:42 +0000
[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]
CONFIDENTIAL & RESTRICTED

Hello,

C:\gener\gnuutils>\bin\sort --version
sort (GNU coreutils) 5.3.0
Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Usage: \bin\sort [OPTION]... [FILE]...
Write sorted concatenation of all FILE(s) to standard output.

Ordering options:

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
  -b, --ignore-leading-blanks ignore leading blanks
  -d, --dictionary-order      consider only blanks and alphanumeric characters
  -f, --ignore-case           fold lower case to upper case characters
  -g, --general-numeric-sort  compare according to general numerical value
  -i, --ignore-nonprinting    consider only printable characters
  -M, --month-sort            compare (unknown) < `JAN' < ... < `DEC'
  -n, --numeric-sort          compare according to string numerical value
  -r, --reverse               reverse the result of comparisons

Other options:

  -c, --check               check whether input is sorted; do not sort
  -k, --key=POS1[,POS2]     start a key at POS1, end it at POS 2 (origin 1)
  -m, --merge               merge already sorted files; do not sort
  -o, --output=FILE         write result to FILE instead of standard output
  -s, --stable              stabilize sort by disabling last-resort comparison
  -S, --buffer-size=SIZE    use SIZE for main memory buffer
  -t, --field-separator=SEP use SEP instead of non-blank to blank transition
  -T, --temporary-directory=DIR  use DIR for temporaries, not $TMPDIR or /tmp;
                              multiple options specify multiple directories
  -u, --unique              with -c, check for strict ordering;
                              without -c, output only the first of an equal run
  -z, --zero-terminated     end lines with 0 byte, not newline
      --help     display this help and exit
      --version  output version information and exit

POS is F[.C][OPTS], where F is the field number and C the character position
in the field.  OPTS is one or more single-letter ordering options, which
override global ordering options for that key.  If no key is given, use the
entire line as the key.

SIZE may be followed by the following multiplicative suffixes:
% 1% of memory, b 1, K 1024 (default), and so on for M, G, T, P, E, Z, Y.

With no FILE, or when FILE is -, read standard input.

*** WARNING ***
The locale specified by the environment affects sort order.
Set LC_ALL=C to get the traditional sort order that uses
native byte values.

Report bugs to <bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org>.


C:\gener\gnuutils>notepad help

C:\gener\gnuutils>type test.dat
bbbb
aaaa
ZZZZ
BBBB

C:\gener\gnuutils>set LC_ALL=C

C:\gener\gnuutils>\bin\sort test.dat
aaaa
bbbb
BBBB
ZZZZ

C:\gener\gnuutils>

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Information forwarded to bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org:
bug#48070; Package coreutils. (Tue, 27 Apr 2021 20:25:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

Message #8 received at 48070 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bernhard Voelker <mail <at> bernhard-voelker.de>
To: "Peter SMITH1 (contractor)" <peter.smith1 <at> amadeus.com>,
 48070 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#48070: sort.exe cannot do ascii ordering but help says it can.
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:24:25 +0200
On 4/27/21 7:39 PM, Peter SMITH1 (contractor) via GNU coreutils Bug Reports wrote:
> CONFIDENTIAL & RESTRICTED

This cannot be enforced on a public mailing list, for obvious reasons.

> Hello,
> 
> C:\gener\gnuutils>\bin\sort --version
> sort (GNU coreutils) 5.3.0
> Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.
> 
> Copyright (C) 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This is a report with a 16-year-old version of the tool.
Not sure if the issue - if any - still exists in the current version (8.32)

Furthermore, you are using a Windows binary - usually one would try to
seek help at the creator of that, i.e., the distributor, first.

> C:\gener\gnuutils>type test.dat
> bbbb
> aaaa
> ZZZZ
> BBBB
> 
> C:\gener\gnuutils>set LC_ALL=C
> 
> C:\gener\gnuutils>\bin\sort test.dat
> aaaa
> bbbb
> BBBB
> ZZZZ
> 
> C:\gener\gnuutils>

It seems that the locale information available to sort differs from that
of a current system:

  $ env LC_ALL=C sort test.dat
  BBBB
  ZZZZ
  aaaa
  bbbb

or that your version of sort enables case-folding (-f):

  $ LC_ALL=C sort -f test.dat
  aaaa
  BBBB
  bbbb
  ZZZZ

As the version you are using is that old, and the environment is quite different,
I'm afraid we cannot help much here.  First, I'd try to get a newer build and
see if the problem still exists.

Have a nice day,
Berny




bug closed, send any further explanations to 48070 <at> debbugs.gnu.org and "Peter SMITH1 (contractor)" <peter.smith1 <at> amadeus.com> Request was from Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu> to control <at> debbugs.gnu.org. (Mon, 21 Feb 2022 09:06:02 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

bug archived. Request was from Debbugs Internal Request <help-debbugs <at> gnu.org> to internal_control <at> debbugs.gnu.org. (Mon, 21 Mar 2022 11:24:07 GMT) Full text and rfc822 format available.

This bug report was last modified 2 years and 8 days ago.

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