---
name: "vnl-sort"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "vnlog"
version: "1.40-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/vnl-sort"
---

# vnl-sort(1)

sorts an vnlog file, preserving the legend

## NAME

vnl-sort - sorts an vnlog file, preserving the legend

## SYNOPSIS

```
 $ cat a.vnl
 # a b
 AA 11
 bb 12
 CC 13
 dd 14
 dd 123
 Sort lexically by a:
 $ <a.vnl vnl-sort -k a
 # a b
 AA 11
 CC 13
 bb 12
 dd 123
 dd 14
 Sort lexically by a, ignoring case:
 $ <a.vnl vnl-sort -k a --ignore-case
 # a b
 AA 11
 bb 12
 CC 13
 dd 123
 dd 14
 Sort lexically by a, then numerically by b:
 $ <a.vnl vnl-sort -k a -k b.n
 # a b
 AA 11
 CC 13
 bb 12
 dd 14
 dd 123
 Sort lexically by a, then numerically by b in reverse:
 $ <a.vnl vnl-sort -k a -k b.nr
 # a b
 AA 11
 CC 13
 bb 12
 dd 123
 dd 14
 Sort by month and then day:
 $ cat dat.vnl
 # month day
 March 5
 Jan 2
 Feb 1
 March 30
 Jan 21
 $ <dat.vnl vnl-sort -k month.M -k day.n
 # month day
 Jan 2
 Jan 21
 Feb 1
 March 5
 March 30
```

## DESCRIPTION

```
  Usage: vnl-sort [options] logfile logfile logfile ... < logfile
```

This tool sorts given vnlog files in various ways. `"vnl-sort"` is a wrapper around the GNU coreutils `"sort"` tool. Since this is a wrapper, most commandline options and behaviors of the `"sort"` tool are present; consult the [**sort**(1)](/sort/1.md) manpage for detail. The differences from GNU coreutils `"sort"` are

- •

  The input and output to this tool are vnlog files, complete with a legend

- •

  The columns are referenced by name, not index. So instead of saying

  ```
    sort -k1
  ```

  to sort by the first column, you say

  ```
    sort -k time
  ```

  to sort by column "time".

- •

  The fancy `"KEYDEF"` spec from `"sort"` is only partially supported. I only allow us to sort by full *fields*, so the start/stop positions don't make sense. I *do* support the `"OPTS"` to change the type of sorting in a given particular column. For instance, to sort by month and then by day, do this (see example above):

  ```
    vnl-sort -k month.M -k day.n
  ```

- •

  `"--files0-from"` is not supported due to lack of time. If somebody really needs it, talk to me.

- •

  `"--output"` is not supported due to an uninteresting technical limitation. The output always goes to standard out.

- •

  `"--field-separator"` is not supported because vnlog assumes whitespace-separated fields

- •

  `"--zero-terminated"` is not supported because vnlog assumes newline-separated records

- •

  By default we call the `"sort"` tool to do the actual work. If the underlying tool has a different name or lives in an odd path, this can be specified by passing `"--vnl-tool TOOL"`

Past that, everything `"sort"` does is supported, so see that man page for detailed documentation. Note that all non-legend comments are stripped out, since it's not obvious where they should end up.

## COMPATIBILITY

I use GNU/Linux-based systems exclusively, but everything has been tested functional on FreeBSD and OSX in addition to Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS. I can imagine there's something I missed when testing on non-Linux systems, so please let me know if you find any issues.

## SEE ALSO

[**sort**(1)](/sort/1.md)

## REPOSITORY

https://github.com/dkogan/vnlog/

## AUTHOR

Dima Kogan `"<dima@secretsauce.net>"`

## LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2018 Dima Kogan `"<dima@secretsauce.net>"`

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.