[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Logically the only difference from sort is the low level ordering > algorithm. so I vote for and extra arg to sort: > --sort="random".
More generally, sort could pretend that every line had an extra field called "R" whose contents are random. That way, you could use, e.g.: sort -k 2,2 -k R which would mean "sort by the 2nd field, but if there are ties then sort the ties randomly". "sort -R" would be short for "sort -k R". It's not as easy to implement as it sounds, I'm afraid; even if you can assume /dev/random or /dev/urandom. _______________________________________________ Bug-coreutils mailing list Bug-coreutils@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-coreutils