I teach a class in (very) beginning UNIX, using Redhat Linux, version 6.?.
In one exercise, the book (I use Sobells' "Practical Guide to Linux") asks
students to list files in a directory by size. I try to get them to use
ls -l, and pipe it through sort, since size in blocks is not very useful
for beginning users. First there seems to be a new "-S" flag which does
sort in bytes (where did that come from? Though I think it is very useful.)
But recently, a student showed me
ls -sort -S
and I was very surprised to see that it seemed to work! It gave a long
listing in sorted order on bytes. I've never heard of a "-sort" parameter
to ls, nor does it seem to follow any standards. I would understand better
if it said "ls --sort C" (or something, which specified characters.)
Is this a new syntax? Is it general, or special to "ls"? Are we going to
be able to combine commands at random in the future? What about "ls -wc",
a usage many students seem to try on quizes!
Thanks,
-- Stan Isaacs
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