It does take the -S $BUFFER_SIZE flag.

I guess you must have a later version of gnu sort than I?

C:\test>sort --version
sort (GNU textutils) 2.0
Written by Mike Haertel.
[download]

Are sort operations usually CPU bound?

The in-memory sort stages certainly are. If you overlap the sorting of one batch with the reading of the second, you save some time.

Have one thread reading/or writing and 1/3/7/15/... threads sorting, you save more time.

The in-memory sort stages certainly are

When sorting big data memory bandwidth may also be a limiting factor.

Actually it would be interesting to see how parallel sorting algorithms behave on multi-core processors with shared caches.

sort (coreutils) 5.2.1
Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.
[download]

print "Good ",qw(night morning afternoon evening)[(localtime)[2]/6]," fellow monks."

sort (GNU textutils) 2.0 is 10 years old

$ C:/PROGRA~1/gnuwin32/bin/sort.EXE --version
sort (GNU coreutils) 5.3.0

$ C:\msys\1.0\bin\sort.exe --version
sort (GNU coreutils) 5.97
[download]

$ C:\msys\1.0\bin\sort.exe --version sort (GNU coreutils) 5.97

Yeah. Just a shame it forces me to use a broken shell to use it!

$ sort --version
sort (GNU coreutils) 5.97
Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software.  You may redistribute copies of it under the te
+rms of
the GNU General Public License <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.

Written by Mike Haertel and Paul Eggert.

$ dir
sh: dir: command not found

$ path
sh: path: command not found

$ set path

$ echo path
path

$ echo $path

$ exit
[download]

---

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.