I apologize if this is the wrong place but I am new here. I have only been working with linux for a few months so I am pretty new. Currently I am having trouble with a script that I am writing. I have always had trouble with formatting sort commands and this one has me stumped.

For security purposes I have typed out an "example" file that is in no way related to the original file. This is my example (in no way related so pardon the ridiculousness of the content) :

item side menu# price
-------------------------
steak potato 3 10
chicken rice 2 8
steak fries 4 12
fish broccoli 1 9
steak eggs 5 11



###END EXAMPLE FILE###BEGIN MY DILEMMA###

in this script, I need to use the awk command to filter ONLY entries that contain "steak" as a menu item. (this I have working properly). Here is what I DON'T have working properly.

1. I need to restructure the columns so that when I run the script, they print in the order menu# (NOT in numerical order), item, side and then price
2. My steak list needs to be ordered by PRICE in ascending order and NOT by menu number.



I apologize if this is the wrong place or if this is really vague. I was instructed to use the sort command specifically.

The utility sort is definitely what you could use, with or without other pieces. Look around the Web for examples of using it with the -k option. Please also take a look at the manual page as well but just, in this case, for an example of a poor manual page. However, it will become useful as you get familiar with sort

What have you tried so far on this assignment?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...olumns-in-bash
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/...with-unix-sort

here are two examples. But again, if you need help please show us what you have already implemented and we will try to help you to improve.

this is my draft so far. I have not run it yet because I know it is a hot mess and probably not structured properly. I found a board that showed to use the 'awk' command to change the order of the columns.

*names have been changed to reflect my example file*

awk '/steak/' /home/USER/FOLDER/FOOD '{print $3,$1,$2,$4}' | sort -k 4n



***/home/USER/FOLDER/FOOD is the location of the file containing the table

*** '{print}' is my attempt at using the awk command to change the order of the columns after the command has been executed.

is the correct syntax

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for your help! It works now! I really appreciate everything!

glad to help you.
If your problem is solved, please mark the thread solved.

You can also sort on more than one key. So if you don't need to exclude the other categories, you can sort them:

That second one skips the header.