Re: [Coreutils] Sort enhancement request: 1 < 1K < 1M < 1G etc.

[Pádraig Brady]

On 08/10/10 04:16, Philip Ganchev wrote:
> It would be useful if sort could understand numeric abbreviations, for
> example 1k = 1,000 and 1K = 1024. This need arises for me very often
> when I want a sorted list of human-readable file sizes like the output
> of "du -h". Currently, to use "sort" you have to resort to raw
> numbers, which are hard to read if they have 7 or more digits.  I'm
> sure the feature would useful more generally.
> 
> This feature can be implemented as part of the "--general-numeric"
> option to "sort".
> 
> Alternatively, maybe coreutils should include a general program to
> parse numbers in text and re-format them, while outputting the rest of
> the text unchanged.

from the NEWS for coreutils 7.5

  sort accepts a new option, --human-numeric-sort (-h): sort numbers
  while honoring human readable suffixes like KiB and MB etc.

cheers,
Pádraig.