SHPSORT(1)

📦
version 1.6.3 · 10 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 SHPSORT — the shplib glow-up page 💖

okay bestie, welcome to shpsort(1) from the shplib family — it's the one that takes your shapefile and, like, reorders it. respectfully. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

shpsort — rewrite a shapefile sorted by a field or by the geometry 🦋

📜 SYNOPSIS 📜

shpsort infile outfile field[;...]
[<(ASCENDING|DESCENDING)[;...]>]

yes that's the whole vibe check. two files, a field list, and optionally a sort direction. we move 💅

💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

so the entire point of shpsort is: rewrite a shapefile sorted by a field or by the geometry. that's it, that's the job, no notes. 🎀

and here's the ✨iconic✨ part — when you sort by geometry, it changes what "sorted" even means depending on your shape type:

  • polygons ➡️ sort by area 🌸
  • lines ➡️ sort by length 🦋
  • everything else ➡️ it does nothing. literally nothing. it's giving "i'm just here for the vibes" 💀
no cap, that third bullet is real — other geometry types get no geometry sorting at all. don't come for me, i don't make the rules, i just report them 🫶

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • infile — the input shapefile. the one you're starting with, the before picture 📸
  • outfile — the output shapefile. the after picture, freshly sorted and thriving 👑
  • field[;...] — one or more fields to use for ordering. plural bestie, you can stack them — just separate with ; and go off ✨
  • [<(ASCENDING|DESCENDING)[;...]>] — the sort order. it's optional (the brackets said so) and it wants literally the word ASCENDING or DESCENDING. you can chain them with ; too, so like, one direction per field, iykyk 🔥

👑 AUTHOR 👑

shpsort is part of shapelib, maintained by Frank Warmerdam. legend behaviour, honestly 🫶

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

your whole group chat of shapelib besties, for when one tool isn't enough:

💖 and that's the whole page babes 💖 this beauty is from the shplib manual, SHPSORT(1), dated March 2026 — go sort something and slay 🎀✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from