Xref: utzoo comp.bugs.sys5:1499 comp.bugs.4bsd:1785 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!spool.mu.edu!munnari.oz.au!metro!cs.uow.edu.au!david From: david@cs.uow.edu.au (David E A Wilson) Newsgroups: comp.bugs.sys5,comp.bugs.4bsd Subject: Bug in sort(1) when using +m.n -o.p and -tc Keywords: sort bug Message-ID: <1991Apr11.031926.19901@cs.uow.edu.au> Date: 11 Apr 91 03:19:26 GMT Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University Lines: 34 I have run into a bug in the sort(1) command on a Sun4 running SunOS 4.1.1. This occurs both with /usr/bin/sort and /usr/5bin/sort. The problem also appears on a Sequent Symmetry running Dynix 2.0v2 (both ucb sort and att sort) and finally with the sort command compiled using the 4.3-bsd tahoe sources. The bug is as follows. I am trying to sort on the 2nd character of the second field of a colon separated record. If this character compares equal I then sort on the 1st character of the 2nd field. /usr/bin/sort -t: +1.1 -1.2 +1.0 -1.1 <abc:Ab:xyz >def:zA:pqr >! abc:Ab:xyz def:zA:pqr $ script done on Thu Apr 11 13:17:11 1991 Which is incorrect. The same input to "sort +0.5 -0.6 +0.4 -0.5" will however work (but is useless if the first field is not fixed length). The problem appears to be in the skip function used to find the start and end of sort keys. Patching it to add one to the end pointer fixes my problem but may introduce other problems. -- David Wilson Dept Comp Sci, Uni of Wollongong david@cs.uow.edu.au