Bigsort: An in-memory sort for large files.
-------------------------------------------

(C)1988 Turgut Kalfaoglu 

(User Supported software)



The reason why I wrote BigSort is because I HAD to sort a large file, and
the DOS's SORT program frustrated me with its 'OUT OF MEMORY' errors. 

Usage:

BIGSORT [options] < inputfile > outputfile

if you omit the '< inputfile' part, BigSort will wait for an answer from
the keyboard. If that is what you wish, enter the data, separating each
one by a RETURN character, then enter CTRL-Z to finish the entry..

if you omit '> outputfile' part, BigSort will send its output to the
screen. 

For some online help, type


      BIGSORT HELP

* Options

  The options that are present in this version are:
  
  /+nnn  where nnn's are a number, will cause BigSort to start sorting
         items from that column.
	    
  /R     Reverses the sort order. The sorting order will be ZYXW...DCBA if
         you use this option.

  /I     Ignore case. Without this option, A comes before a, and Z comes
         before a! Use this option to prevent this.


* Why the < and > operations

I could have written this program so that it asks you for the filenames.
However, as the law of Redirection states, it is more versatile this way.
Think of this command:

DIR | BIGSORT

It is possible with this setup, whereas it would have required an extra
step if I made BigSort ask you for filename(s)..

BIGSORT and multiple files:

You may use BIGSORT, with the program called SEARCH, (written by me, also
in the public domain), to merge and sort several files. Imagine that you
want to merge and sort all the contents of the *.C files you had, and put
the result into RESULT.TXT:

   SEARCH "" *.C | BIGSORT > RESULT.TXT

Impressive line, eh?

Note: If you get an 'out of memory' when piping (using the | symbol), try
dividing the above like this:

SEARCH "" *.C > TMPFILE
BIGSORT < TMPFILE > RESULT.TXT


Source code is available for $10, plus a blank disk.

If you have any questions, or donations, please let me know..

Turgut Kalfaoglu
1378 Sokak 8/10
Izmir 35210
Turkey

I can be reached at TURGUT@TREARN.BITNET as well..