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Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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GNU sort, strange behavior Sort one column ascending and another column descending

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Matt MacManes
Matt MacManes
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GNU sort, strange behavior

And by strange, I probably mean that it's intended behavior, but I don't understand why, nor how to fix it.

The task is to sort based on column 5, and then column 4.

grep -w RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21  xaa.blast| sort  -gk5,5 -gk4,4

which gives me

RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  70.588  17  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  82.353  17  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  68.182  22  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  80.000  25  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  57.692  26  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  70.588  34  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  100.000 77  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  77.778  18  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  89.474  19  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  70.000  20  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  71.429  21  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  72.000  25  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  72.727  33  2.46e-80
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  94.737  76  2.46e-80
...
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  78.947  19  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  71.429  21  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  83.544  79  1.56e-43

Col 5 sorts just fine, but ideally I'd like Col 4 sorted highest to lowest. Right now it's low to high. Ah, that sounds like I need the -r flag..

grep -w RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21  xaa.blast| sort  -gk5,5 -r -gk4,4

Now Col 5 is sorted in the opposite direction, but Col 4 is good.

RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  83.544  79  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  71.429  21  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  78.947  19  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  68.750  16  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  86.667  15  1.56e-43
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  85.526  76  6.22e-44
...
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  100.000 77  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  70.588  34  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  57.692  26  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  80.000  25  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  68.182  22  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  82.353  17  4.17e-86
RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  70.588  17  4.17e-86

So basically it seems like the -r flag is not applied column-wise.. Reversing order of 1 sorted column reverses the order of the other..

What I'd like, is to have

RockDoveHPG_Transcript_21   XM_004941221.2  100.000 77  4.17e-86

returned at the top, which I think should be accomplished by sorting Col5 lowest to highest and then Col 4 highest to lowest.