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sort -f filename

Arrange the lines in filename according to the ascii order. The option -f tells sort to ignore the upper and lower character case. The ascii character set is (see man ascii):

Dec  Hex  Char          Dec  Hex  Char     Dec  Hex  Char    Dec   Hex  Char
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0    00   NUL '\0'     32   20   SPACE     64   40   @       96    60   `
 1    01   SOH          33   21   !         65   41   A       97    61   a
 2    02   STX          34   22   "         66   42   B       98    62   b
 3    03   ETX          35   23   #         67   43   C       99    63   c
 4    04   EOT          36   24   $         68   44   D       100   64   d
 5    05   ENQ          37   25   %         69   45   E       101   65   e
 6    06   ACK          38   26   &         70   46   F       102   66   f
 7    07   BEL '\a'     39   27   '         71   47   G       103   67   g
 8    08   BS  '\b'     40   28   (         72   48   H       104   68   h
 9    09   HT  '\t'     41   29   )         73   49   I       105   69   i
 10   0A   LF  '\n'     42   2A   *         74   4A   J       106   6A   j
 11   0B   VT  '\v'     43   2B   +         75   4B   K       107   6B   k
 12   0C   FF  '\f'     44   2C   ,         76   4C   L       108   6C   l
 13   0D   CR  '\r'     45   2D   -         77   4D   M       109   6D   m
 14   0E   SO           46   2E   .         78   4E   N       110   6E   n
 15   0F   SI           47   2F   /         79   4F   O       111   6F   o
 16   10   DLE          48   30   0         80   50   P       112   70   p
 17   11   DC1          49   31   1         81   51   Q       113   71   q
 18   12   DC2          50   32   2         82   52   R       114   72   r
 19   13   DC3          51   33   3         83   53   S       115   73   s
 20   14   DC4          52   34   4         84   54   T       116   74   t
 21   15   NAK          53   35   5         85   55   U       117   75   u
 22   16   SYN          54   36   6         86   56   V       118   76   v
 23   17   ETB          55   37   7         87   57   W       119   77   w
 24   18   CAN          56   38   8         88   58   X       120   78   x
 25   19   EM           57   39   9         89   59   Y       121   79   y
 26   1A   SUB          58   3A   :         90   5A   Z       122   7A   z
 27   1B   ESC          59   3B   ;         91   5B   [       123   7B   {
 28   1C   FS           60   3C   <         92   5C   \  '\\' 124   7C   |
 29   1D   GS           61   3D   =         93   5D   ]       125   7D   }
 30   1E   RS           62   3E   >         94   5E   ^       126   7E   ~
 31   1F   US           63   3F   ?         95   5F   _       127   7F   DEL

If you wondered about the control characters, here is the meaning of some of them on the console (Source: man console_codes). Each line below gives the code mnemonics, its ASCII decimal number, the key combination to produce the code on the console, and a short description:
BEL (7, <Ctrl>G) bell (=alarm, beep).

BS  (8, <Ctrl>H) backspaces one column (but not past the beginning of the line).

HT  (9, <Ctrl>I) horizonal tab, goes to the next tab stop or to the end of the line if there is no earlier tab stop.

LF (10, <Ctrl>J), VT (11, <Ctrl>K) and FF (12, <Ctrl>L) all three give a linefeed.

CR (13, <Ctrl>M) gives a carriage return.

SO (14, <Ctrl>N) activates the G1 character set, and if LF/NL (new line mode) is set also a carriage return.

SI (15, <Ctrl>O) activates the G0 character set.

CAN (24, <Ctrl>X) and SUB (26, <Ctrl>Z) interrupt escape sequences.

ESC (27, <Ctrl>[) starts an escape sequence.

DEL (127) is ignored.

CSI (155) control sequence introducer.

Next > Back to "Learn Linux Commands"

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