DBSORT(1)

📦
version 3.9 · 3 versions
, in epel 9

💅 dbsort — the row-sorting bestie (perl manual, User Contributed Perl Documentation) 🎀

okay so picture this: you've got rows. lots of rows. and you're like "girl, these need to be sorted" — that's literally what dbsort is for. it sorts rows based on the columns you tell it about. no cap. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dbsort [-M MemLimit] [-T TemporaryDirectory] [-nNrR] column [column...]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. you hand it columns, it hands you sorted rows. 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so dbsort sorts every single input row as specified by the numeric or lexical columns you list. all of them. the whole squad. 💖

here's the iconic part: dbsort consumes a fixed amount of memory regardless of input size — like, your input can be huge and it's still gonna be chill about RAM. (it reverts to temporary files on disk if necessary, based on the -M and -T options. so yes, it spills to disk when it has to. respect.)

the sort should be stable, but — and I cannot stress this enough — this has not yet been verified. so like, it's probably stable. probably. 🙈

and for large inputs (the ones that spill to disk, bestie), dbsort will do some of the merging in parallel, if possible. the --parallelism option can control the degree of parallelism, if desired. multitasking queen behavior. 👑

🔥 OPTIONS 🔥

general option:

  • -M MaxMemBytes — specify an approximate limit on memory usage (in bytes). larger values allow faster sorting because more operations happen in-memory, provided you have enough memory. so like, if you got the RAM, flex it. 💅
  • -T TmpDir — where to put tmp files. also uses environment variable TMPDIR, if -T is not specified. default is /tmp. 🗂️
  • --parallelism N or -j N — allow up to N merges to happen in parallel. default is the number of CPUs in the machine. she matches your hardware's energy. ⚡

sort specification options (can be interspersed with column names):

  • -r or --descending — sort in reverse order (high to low). we're going down, down, down. 💀
  • -R or --ascending — sort in normal order (low to high). the classic. the original. the main character. 🌈
  • -t or --type-inferred-sorting — sort fields by type (numeric or leicographic), automatically. yes it handles the thinking for you. yes it's a little smarty pants. ✨
  • -T or --no-type-inferred-sorting — sort fields only as specified based on -n or -N. no vibes, no guessing, just the rules. 🎯
  • -n or --numeric — sort numerically. numbers get number treatment. 🔢
  • -N or --lexical — sort lexicographically. words get word treatment. 📖
okay bestie, heads up: -T does double duty here. with a TmpDir argument it's the temp directory option, and without one it's --no-type-inferred-sorting. context is everything, iykyk. 💅

🦋 standard fsdb options (this module supports them too) 🦋

  • -d — enable debugging output. for when you need to see the receipts. 🔍
  • -i or --input InputSource — read from InputSource, typically a file name, or - for standard input, or (if in Perl) a IO::Handle, Fsdb::IO or Fsdb::BoundedQueue objects. 🍓
  • -o or --output OutputDestination — write to OutputDestination, typically a file name, or - for standard output, or (if in Perl) a IO::Handle, Fsdb::IO or Fsdb::BoundedQueue objects. 💜
  • --autorun or --noautorun — by default, programs process automatically, but Fsdb::Filter objects in Perl do not run until you invoke the run() method. the --(no)autorun option controls that behavior within Perl. ⭐
  • --header H — use H as the full Fsdb header, rather than reading a header from then input. (yes "then input" — we quote the manual faithfully, don't @ me.) 🎀
  • --help — show help. we love a helpful icon. 🫶
  • --man — show full manual. the one you're reading right now. meta moment. 🧚

🌟 SAMPLE USAGE 🌟

input:

#fsdb cid cname
10 pascal
11 numanal
12 os

command:

cat data.fsdb | dbsort cname

output:

#fsdb      cid     cname
11 numanal
12 os
10 pascal
#  | dbsort cname

look at that. numanal, os, pascal — alphabetical and gorgeous. ate and left no crumbs. 💅✨

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

dbmerge(1), dbmapreduce(1), Fsdb(3) — the whole friend group, honestly. go say hi. 🦋

Copyright (C) 1991-2018 by John Heidemann <johnh@isi.edu>

This program is distributed under terms of the GNU general public license, version 2. See the file COPYING with the distribution for details.

and that's the whole page, bestie! this little gem is from perl v5.32.1, dated 2024-08-02 — so go forth, sort your rows, spill to disk responsibly, and remember: stable maybe, iconic definitely. mwah 💋🎀🌸

📦 where this page comes from