SORT-DCTRL(1) Debian user's manual SORT-DCTRL(1)NAMEsort-dctrl - sort Debian control files
SYNOPSISsort-dctrl [options] [ file ... ]
sort-dctrl--copying | --help | --version | -ChV
DESCRIPTION
The sort-dctrl program sorts Debian control files according to speci‐
fied criteria.
A Debian control (dctrl) file is a semistructured single-table database
stored in a machine-parseable text file. Such a database consists of a
set of records; each record is a mapping from field names to field con‐
tent. Textually, records are separated by empty lines, while each
field is encoded as one or more nonempty lines inside a record. A
field starts with its name, followed by a colon, followed by the field
content. The colon must reside on the first line of the field, and the
first line must start with no whitespace. Subsequent lines, in con‐
trast, always start with linear whitespace (one or more space or tab
characters).
The sort-dctrl program recognizes two field types: string fields and
version fields. Version fields act also as numeric fields. String
fields are compared according to strict lexicographical octet-by-octet
comparison, after ignoring any initial whitespace after the colon.
Version fields are parsed and compared as Debian version numbers. When
comparing version numbers, if a field content does not in fact conform
to the version number syntax, it compares less than any field content
that does conform, and equal to any other nonconforming field content.
The sort-dctrl program assumes all fields are string fields unless told
otherwise.
You can specify arbitrary number of keys for sorting, using the -k
option. The keys are interpreted in a descending order of priority:
the first key specified is primary, the second key specified is sec‐
ondary, and so on. If two records compare equal under the primary key,
then they are compared under the secondary key, and so on. If no keys
are specified, a default key is assumed (the "Package" field with no
modifiers).
OPTIONS-k keyspec, --key-spec=keyspec
Specify one or more keys for sorting. You may specify this
option any number of times. The keyspec argument consists of a
comma-separated list of key specifications. Each key specifica‐
tion consists of the name of the field that serves as the key,
optionally followed by a colon and key modifiers. The following
key modifiers are supported:
r Invert the comparison for this key, reversing the sorting
order.
v Treat this field as a version number field.
n Treat this field as numeric, which currently is synony‐
mous with v.
-q, --quiet, --silent
Output nothing to the standard output stream. Instead, exit
immediately after finding the first match.
-l level, --errorlevel=level
Set log level to level. level is one of fatal, important,
informational and debug, but the last may not be available,
depending on the compile-time options. These categories are
given here in order; every message that is emitted when fatal is
in effect, will be emitted in the important error level, and so
on. The default is important.
-V, --version
Print out version information.
-C, --copying
Print out the copyright license. This produces much output; be
sure to redirect or pipe it somewhere (such as your favourite
pager).
-h, --help
Print out a help summary.
EXAMPLES
Here are some sample invocations of the program:
sort-dctrl /var/lib/dpkg/available
Output the dpkg available file sorted by the package name.
sort-dctrl-k Version:v /var/lib/dpkg/available
Output the dpkg available file sorted in ascending order of ver‐
sion numbers.
sort-dctrl-k Version:vr /var/lib/dpkg/available
Output the dpkg available file sorted in descending order of
version numbers.
sort-dctrl-k Package,Version:v /var/lib/dpkg/available
Output the dpkg available file sorted primarily in ascending
order of package names and secondarily in descending order of
version numbers.
sort-dctrl-k Installed-Size:n,Size:nr /var/lib/dpkg/available
Output the dpkg available file sorted primarily in ascending
order of installation sizes and secondarily in descending order
of package sizes.
AUTHOR
The program and this manual page were written by Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho
<ajk@debian.org>.
SEE ALSO
Debian Policy Manual. Published as the Debian package debian-policy.
Also available in the Debian website.
grep-dctrl(1)Debian Project 2005-06-08 SORT-DCTRL(1)
