Sort version strings on bash

Question

Example content of STRINGS.txt:

    3.0.3
    3.0.11.2
    3.0.11.1
    3.0.11
    3.0.16
    3.0.15.1
    3.0.15
    3.0.14
    3.0.10.3
    3.0.10.2
    3.         


        

Answer 1

I know you don't want Python solution, but for those who lack GNU sort (such as OS X) it sure is an easy way to do this.

Given:

$ echo "$a"
3.0.3
3.0.11.2
3.0.11.1
3.0.11
3.0.16
3.0.15.1
3.0.15
3.0.14
3.0.10.3
3.0.10.2
3.0.10.1
3.0.13.1
3.0.10
3.0.13
3.0.9
3.0.12
3.0.8
3.0.7.2
3.0.7.1
3.0.7
3.0.9.2
3.0.9.1
3.0.2
3.0.8.1
3.0.6.1
3.0.6
3.0.5
3.0.1
3.0.0

Python 1 liner:

$ echo "$a" | python -c '
import sys, re; print "".join(sorted(sys.stdin.readlines(), key=lambda s: map(int, re.findall("\\d+", s)), reverse=True))'
3.0.16
3.0.15.1
3.0.15
3.0.14
3.0.13.1
3.0.13
3.0.12
3.0.11.2
3.0.11.1
3.0.11
3.0.10.3
3.0.10.2
3.0.10.1
3.0.10
3.0.9.2
3.0.9.1
3.0.9
3.0.8.1
3.0.8
3.0.7.2
3.0.7.1
3.0.7
3.0.6.1
3.0.6
3.0.5
3.0.3
3.0.2
3.0.1
3.0.0