sort problem

[tim zollers]

I have a file with contents similar to the following:

S:997
S:998
C:998
S:999
C:999
S:1000
S:1001
S:1002
C:1000

I'm trying to sort based on the single character value in the first column and a numeric sort on the second column. I've tried the following command sorting the numeric column first and then the character column. I have also tried sorting (correctly) on the numeric column into a file and then applying the second sort to the contents of that file, but the numeric portion is in each instance reordered in ascending ascii order even though the second sort instructions should be limited to the first column.

My sort command:
sort -t: -k 2n,2n | sort -t: -k1.1,1.1

Results in:
C:1000
C:998
C:999
S:1000
S:1001
S:1002
S:997
S:998
S:999

Desired result is:
C:998
C:999
C:1000
S:997
S:998
S:999
S:1000
S:1001
S:1002

All suggestions appreciated.
thanks,
tim

[Ian Lochray · Accepted solution]

How about ...
sort -t: -k 1,1 -k 2n,2 filename

[Robin Wakefield]

Hi Tim,

This should sort if for you:

sort -t: -k1,1 -k2,2n filename

Rgds, Robin

[Gerrit Kistemaker]

try:

sort -t: -k1,1 -k2n,2n

Gerrit

[Dietmar Konermann]

sort -t: -k 1,1 -k 2n,2n

Best regards...
Dietmar.

[tim zollers]

Thanks to all. I thought I had tried that in one of my many iterations.

Problem solved.