How to Sort Text Files: A Linux Shell Script

Here’s a simple shell script that sorts the lines in a text file alphabetically. You can use the sort command to accomplish this.

Linux Shell Script to Sort Text File

Here the script is explained step by step.

!/bin/bash
#Check if a file name is provided as an argument

if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
echo "Usage: $0 "
exit 1
fi

#Store the filename provided as an argument

filename="$1"

#Check if the file exists

if [ ! -e "$filename" ]; then
echo "File '$filename' not found."
exit 1
fi

#Check if the file is a regular file

if [ ! -f "$filename" ]; then
echo "'$filename' is not a regular file."
exit 1
fi

#Sort the file and create a sorted version

sort "$filename" > "${filename}.sorted"

#Check if the sorting was successful

if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
echo "File '$filename' has been sorted and saved as '${filename}.sorted'."
else
echo "Sorting failed for '$filename'."
exit 1
fi

Save this script to a file, for example, sort_file.sh, and make it executable using the chmod command:

chmod +x sort_file.sh

You can then use it to sort a text file by running:

./sort_file.sh your_text_file.txt

Replace your_text_file.txt with the actual name of the file you want to sort. The sorted version of the file will be saved as your_text_file.txt.sorted. You can adjust the output file name and location as needed in the script.

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