NAME¶
sort-dctrl - sort Debian control files
SYNOPSIS¶
sort-dctrl [options] [
file ... ]
sort-dctrl --copying | --help | --version | -ChV
DESCRIPTION¶
The
sort-dctrl program sorts Debian control files according to specified
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 content.
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 contrast, 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 secondary, 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 specification 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 synonymous 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
version 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)