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asort(1)
NAME
  asort - Sorts or merges files and supports multiple collating weight
  sequences

SYNOPSIS
  asort [-m] [-o output_file] [-Abdfinruv] [-Ccollate_sequence] [-k
  keydef]... [-t character] [-T directory] [-y] [kilobytes] [-z
  record_size]... file...

  asort -c  [-u] [-Abdfinruv] [-Ccollate_sequence] [-k keydef]... [-t
  character] [-T directory] [-y] [kilobytes] [-z record_size]... file...

  The following syntax is maintained for backward compatibility but may be
  withdrawn in a future release:

  asort [-Abcdfimnruv] [-Ccollate_sequence] [-o output_file] [-t character]
  [-T directory] [-y] [kilobytes] [-z record_size] [+fskip] [.cskip] [-fskip]
  [.cskip] [-bdfinr]... file...

OPTIONS
  The asort command includes the same options as the sort command (see
  sort(1)) in addition to the following options:

  -C collate_sequence
      Specifies the collating weight sequence to be used in sorting the data
      files.  When this option is specified, the asort command does not use
      the collating table from the locale database.  Instead, the command
      uses a set of special system and user collating tables to determine the
      collating weights of characters, including user-defined characters
      (UDCs).

      The collate_sequence argument can be in long form (for example, "Pinyin
      Radical Stroke") or short form (for example, prs). The codeset of the
      locale determines which collation weight names can be specified for
      collate_sequence. The following list specifies the long and short
      collation weight names that are valid for supported codesets.

	·  For DEC Hanzi:

	   Pinyon (or p) Radical (or r) Stroke (or s)

	·  For DEC Hanyu, Taiwanese EUC, and BIG-5:

	   Phonetic (or p) Radical (or r) Stroke (or s)

  -v  Uses a breadth-first sorting mechanism instead of the default depth-
      first mechanism to sort the input data.  To have any effect, the -v
      option must be used together with the -C option.

DESCRIPTION
  The asort command sorts lines in its input files and writes the result to
  standard output.  The asort command is similar to the sort command. See the
  sort(1) reference page for information about features the two commands have
  in common.

  The asort command provides additional features for processing multiple
  collating weight sequences used with Asian languages, such as Chinese.  For
  example, pinyon (p), stroke (s), and radical (r) are three dimensions along
  which characters can be ordered in Simplified Chinese.  The -C option
  allows users to specify the priority level that these dimensions have
  during sorting. For example, -C srp specifies that characters should be
  sorted first by stroke, then by radical, then by pinyon. The specified
  sequence is applied to user-defined characters (UDCs) as well as to
  standard characters.

  When the -C option is specified, the default behavior of the asort command
  is to use a depth-first sorting mechanism to sort the input files.  With
  the depth-first mechanism, pairs of multibyte characters in a sort field
  are compared by exhausting all the specified collating weights and/or
  internal codes one at a time until the collating order is resolved.  Only
  when two characters are identical is the next pair of characters compared.
  The depth-first sorting mechanism is also called character sorting.

  However, the asort command provides the -v option to use the Asian VMS-like
  breadth-first sorting mechanism.  With the breadth-first mechanism, pairs
  of multibyte characters in a sort field are compared using the first
  collating weight for all the characters in the sort field first.  Only when
  two sets of data in a sort field are computed to have the same collating
  order are succeeding collating weights used for resolving the collating
  order.  The breadth-first sorting mechanism is sometimes called string
  sorting.

NOTES
  Currently, the asort command is supported for use only with Chinese
  codesets.

EXIT STATUS
  The asort command returns the following exit values:

  0   All input files were output successfully, or -c was specified and the
      input file was correctly sorted.

  1   If -c was specified, the file was not ordered as specified, or if the
      -c and -u options were both specified, two input lines were found with
      equal keys.

  >1  An error occurred.

EXAMPLES
  Unless stated otherwise, the following examples assume the locale setting
  is zh_TW.dechanyu:

   1.  To perform character sorting first by stroke and then by radical,
       enter:
	    asort -C"Stroke Radical" names

       This command displays the lines in names sorted in ascending order
       according to the number of strokes in characters.  If the number of
       strokes happen to be the same for two characters, the radicals of the
       characters determine how the characters are ordered.An alternative
       short form of the same command is as follows:
	    asort -Csr names

   2.  To perform string sorting first by stroke and then by radical in a way
       similar to the sort command available on an Asian VMS system, enter:
	    asort -v -C"Stroke Radical" names

SEE ALSO
  Commands: sort(1)

  Functions: setlocale(3)

  Files: locale(4)

  Others: Chinese(5), i18n_intro(5)

Index for Section 1

Alphabetical listing for A

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