SORT [/R] [/+n] [/M kilobytes] [/L locale] [/RE recordbytes]

[[drive1:][path1]filename1] [/T [drive2:][path2]]

[/O [drive3:][path3]filename3]

/+n                         Specifies the character number
n
to

begin each comparison.  /+3 indicates that

each comparison should begin at the 3rd

character in each line.  Lines with fewer

than n characters collate before other lines.

By default comparisons start at the first

character in each line.

/L[OCALE] locale            Overrides the system default locale with

the specified one.  The ""C"" locale yields

the fastest collating sequence and is

currently the only alternative.  The sort

is always case insensitive.

/M[EMORY] kilobytes         Specifies amount of main memory to use for

the sort
in kilobytes.  The memory size is

always constrained to be a minimum of 160

kilobytes.  If the memory size is specified

the exact amount will be used for the sort


regardless of how much main memory is

available.



The best performance is usually achieved by

not specifying a memory size.  By default the

sort will be done with one pass (no temporary

file) if it fits in the default maximum

memory size
otherwise the sort will be done

in two passes (with the partially sorted data

being stored in a temporary file) such that

the amounts of memory used for both the sort

and merge passes are equal.  The default

maximum memory size is 90% of available main

memory if both the input and output are

files
and 45% of main memory otherwise.

/REC[ORD_MAXIMUM] characters Specifies the maximum number of characters

in a record (default 4096
maximum 65535).

/R[EVERSE]                  Reverses the sort order; that is


sorts Z to A
then 9 to 0.

[drive1:][path1]filename1   Specifies the file to be sorted.  If not

specified
the standard input is sorted.

Specifying the input file is faster than

redirecting the same file as standard input.

/T[EMPORARY]

[drive2:][path2]          Specifies the path of the directory to hold

the sort's working storage
in case the data

does not fit in main memory.  The default is

to use the system temporary directory.

/O[UTPUT]

[drive3:][path3]filename3 Specifies the file where the sorted input is

to be stored.  If not specified
the data is

written to the standard output.   Specifying

the output file is faster than redirecting

standard output to the same file.