Re: confusion with sort

On Apr 3, 6:56 am, "Mickey Ferguson" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On a Windows XP SP2 system, using a reasonably recent port of GNU sort (and
> not the sort.exe that comes in the System32 folder on a windows system), I
> am not figuring out how to restrict my sorting fields properly.  I've got a
> text file where I only want to sort the file based on the first 12
> characters of the line (which happens to be a time stamp), and then ignore
> the rest of the line.  Here is my test input file:
>
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initConfiguration : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initUI : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initVFXServices : {5692}
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::sendStartupState : {5692} Entering
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::setStartupState : {5692} Entering
> 16:58:35.957 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CVolumeManager : Adjusting caller
> playback to 50 for LOG_DEBUG (1).
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)  ALARM<Informational> - Initializing
> DMS-100 service provider.
> 16:58:36.222 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CMainDlg : Driver type is Standard -
> DMS-100
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.410 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : FillPhysicalLineTpes
> 16:58:36.441 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 1, Type:
> 2
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501200,
> Type: 34
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501201,
> Type: 34
> 16:58:36.472 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501202,
> Type: 34
>
> There is a tab character between the thousandths of a second and the
> filename, and another tab character between the file version and the next
> string, except for the line with "ALARM..." on it, where there are two tabs
> between the file version and ALARM.
>
> After sorting, it should look like this:
>
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initConfiguration : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initUI : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::initVFXServices : {5692}
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::sendStartupState : {5692} Entering
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30) DmsApp::setStartupState : {5692} Entering
> 16:58:35.957 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CVolumeManager : Adjusting caller
> playback to 50 for LOG_DEBUG (1).
> 16:58:35.957 DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)  ALARM<Informational> - Initializing
> DMS-100 service provider.
> 16:58:36.222 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CMainDlg : Driver type is Standard -
> DMS-100
> 16:58:36.410 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : FillPhysicalLineTpes
> 16:58:36.441 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 1, Type:
> 2
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501200,
> Type: 34
> 16:58:36.457 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501201,
> Type: 34
> 16:58:36.472 LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 2501202,
> Type: 34
>
> The sort command I thought I should use is: sort -k 1,1.12 test.log.  Here
> is what I get:
>
> 16:58:35.832    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)     DmsApp::initConfiguration : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)     DmsApp::initUI : {5692}
> 16:58:35.832    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)     DmsApp::initVFXServices : {5692}
> 16:58:35.957    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)             ALARM<Informational> -
> Initializing DMS-100 service provider.
> 16:58:35.957    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)     DmsApp::sendStartupState : {5692}
> Entering
> 16:58:35.957    DmsSP.exe(3.2.0.30)     DmsApp::setStartupState : {5692}
> Entering
> 16:58:35.957    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CVolumeManager : Adjusting caller
> playback to 50 for LOG_DEBUG (1).
> 16:58:36.222    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CMainDlg : Driver type is Standard -
> DMS-100
> 16:58:36.410    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : FillPhysicalLineTpes
> 16:58:36.441    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 1,
> Type: 2
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line #
> 2501200, Type: 34
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line #
> 2501201, Type: 34
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 8999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9998,
> Type: 32
> 16:58:36.457    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line # 9999,
> Type: 28
> 16:58:36.472    LineMngrC.exe(3.1.0.12) CLineManager : Physical line #
> 2501202, Type: 34
>
> Notice the subtle difference:  The lines at .957 are not in the same order
> as in the original file.  Apparently my sort is just sorting the entire
> line, instead of limiting the sort determination to the first twelve
> characters.  What am I doing wrong?

Try adding the "-s" option, which "... disables this last-resort
comparison so that lines in which all fields compare equal are left in
their original relative order."

--
Kam-Hung Soh <a href="http://kamhungsoh.com/blog">Software Salariman</
a>