Defect report from : Paul Eggert , UCLA
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@ page 871 line 33829 section sort editorial {20040730a}
Problem:
Edition of Specification (Year): 2004
Defect code : 3. Clarification required
Does the command "sort -o -" create a file named "-", or does
it write to standard output?
The specification for "sort" says that it conforms to the Utility
Syntax Guidelines, and Guideline 13 says
For utilities that use operands to represent files to be opened
for either reading or writing, the '-' operand should be used only
to mean standard input (or standard output when it is clear from
context that an output file is being specified).
Here, "-" is an operand, so apparently "sort -o -" should write to
standard output. This is what GNU coreutils 5.2.1 "sort" does.
However, I just checked Solaris 9 "sort" (both /usr/bin/sort and
/usr/xpg4/bin/sort) and OpenBSD 3.4 "sort", and they both create an
output file "-". It sounds like the standard is not clear enough
here, perhaps because of the indirect reference to the Guidelines.
Action:
Append the following text after page 871 line 33829:
If "output" is "-", sort shall write to standard output.
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