csvsort - Man Page

• Sort a CSV file by column 9: csvsort -c 9 data.csv
• Sort a CSV file by the "name" column in descending order: csvsort -r -c name data.csv
• Sort a CSV file by column 2, then by column 4: csvsort -c 2,4 data.csv
• Sort a CSV file without inferring data types: csvsort --no-inference -c columns data.csv

tldr.sh

Sort CSV files. Like the Unix “sort” command, but for tabular data:

usage: csvsort [-h] [-d DELIMITER] [-t] [-q QUOTECHAR] [-u {0,1,2,3}] [-b]
               [-p ESCAPECHAR] [-z FIELD_SIZE_LIMIT] [-e ENCODING] [-L LOCALE]
               [-S] [--blanks] [--null-value NULL_VALUES [NULL_VALUES ...]]
               [--date-format DATE_FORMAT] [--datetime-format DATETIME_FORMAT]
               [-H] [-K SKIP_LINES] [-v] [-l] [--zero] [-V] [-n] [-c COLUMNS]
               [-r] [-i] [-y SNIFF_LIMIT] [-I]
               [FILE]

Sort CSV files. Like the Unix "sort" command, but for tabular data.

positional arguments:
  FILE                  The CSV file to operate on. If omitted, will accept
                        input as piped data via STDIN.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n, --names           Display column names and indices from the input CSV
                        and exit.
  -c COLUMNS, --columns COLUMNS
                        A comma-separated list of column indices, names or
                        ranges to sort by, e.g. "1,id,3-5". Defaults to all
                        columns.
  -r, --reverse         Sort in descending order.
  -i, --ignore-case     Perform case-independent sorting.
  -y SNIFF_LIMIT, --snifflimit SNIFF_LIMIT
                        Limit CSV dialect sniffing to the specified number of
                        bytes. Specify "0" to disable sniffing.
  -I, --no-inference    Disable type inference when parsing the input.

See also: Arguments common to all tools.

NOTE:

Sort the veteran’s education benefits table by the “TOTAL” column:

csvsort -c 9 examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv

View the five states with the most individuals claiming veteran’s education benefits:

csvcut -c 1,9 examples/realdata/FY09_EDU_Recipients_by_State.csv | csvsort -r -c 2 | head -n 5

Christopher Groskopf and contributors

2024, Christopher Groskopf and James McKinney