csvsort

Sort by column

$ csvsort -c [column] [data.csv]

$ csvsort -r -c [column] [data.csv]

$ csvsort -c [col1,col2] [data.csv]

$ csvsort -c [amount] [data.csv]

$ csvsort -H -c [1] [data.csv]

$ cat [data.csv] | csvsort -c [name]

csvsort [options] file

csvsort sorts CSV files by one or more columns. Part of csvkit, it properly handles CSV quoting and data types, detecting numeric and date values for appropriate sorting.
The tool maintains CSV structure during sorting, preserving headers and quoted fields correctly.

-c columns

Column(s) to sort by.

Sort in descending order.

Input has no header.

Field delimiter.

Quote character.

Input encoding.

Rows to sniff for type.

Requires loading entire file into memory. Part of csvkit, needs Python. Type detection may not always match expectations. Large files can be slow.

csvsort is part of csvkit, created by Christopher Groskopf in 2011. The tool provides type-aware sorting that the Unix sort command cannot easily achieve with CSV data.

csvcut(1), csvlook(1), sort(1), csvstat(1)