Hi, my requirement is i need to give differnet keys depending upon filename. For ex, if filename=fil1, key feilds =1,3,4,5. for file2 key feilds are 1,2,3,4,5, for file3 they are 1,3,7. I can hardcord these values in differnet sort commands like
sort -k1,1 -k3,5 -for file1 and
sort -k1,5 -for file2 and
sort -k1,1 -k3,3 -k7,7.
I want to achieve this dynamically. Means i will use only one sort command like
sort -k$start_key,$end_key
now i can pass values to start_key and end_key by putting these values and filenames in another file.

Here my question is : is there any way to get the values for key values from a file.
sort -k (here i need to give filename where key values are defined).

Thanks

Ravi Siluveru
Mumbai India

You can build a variable that sort can use; here is an example of sorting myfile with the first field:

#!/bin/ksh

str="1,1 my.file"
sort -k $(echo "$str")

You can build variable str from a file's contents.

In your case, if the above fails, try eval'ing str:

#!/bin/ksh

str="1,1 my.file"

sort -k $(eval echo "$str")

Hi nails
the first way worked for me. Thanks

Ravi Siluveru
Mumbai India