sort question

[Guy Harris]

>Try: sort +10 -11 +2 -3 filename
>
>This tells sort to sort first on a field starting in col. 10 and ending just
>before col. 11,

No, it doesn't, at least not if you're talking about the standard UNIX
versions of "sort".  It tells "sort" to sort first on the 10th *field*
(that is, the 11th field on the line - after all, it's written in C
:-)).  Fields are normally separated by white space; with the "-t" flag,
they're separated by tab columns.