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  • I get confused when mixed character strings are introduced. Consider for example the case of a3 b2 c1. I tend to think this should be sorted as c1 b2 a3. Because the first non-numeric characters are considered "empty numbers" and hence evaluate to 0. Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 20:57
  • @MusséRedi I understand your logic there, but that's not how it works. If the first character is a letter, the whole line is counted as a zero. Then, all of the different zero-equivalent lines are sorted, apparently using the normal alphanumeric rule. Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 21:04
  • @don_crissti He's thinking a3 b2 c1 ⇒ 03 02 01 ⇒ 01 02 03... or back to c1 b2 a3. Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 21:08
  • The concept of empty number is not described in the manual, so I took a guess. In the manual, it only reads: an empty number is treated as '0'. I thought that a non-numeric character constituted an empty number. Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 21:29
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    @don_crissti I missed that because it talks about "key fields". It might be more clear if the -n option were documented using that same idiom. ("Use an initial numeric string as the sort key.") Edited now. Thanks. Commented Jul 30, 2017 at 22:10