.\" DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE!  It was generated by help2man 1.49.3.
.TH FATSORT "1" "March 2026" "fatsort 1.7.1" "User Commands"
.SH NAME
fatsort \- FAT file system sorting utility
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B fatsort
[\fI\,OPTIONS\/\fR] \fI\,DEVICE\/\fR
.SH DESCRIPTION
FATSort sorts the directory structure of FAT file systems, including FAT12,
FAT16, FAT32, and exFAT.
.PP
Sort options:
.TP
\fB\-a\fR
Use ASCII order for sorting.
.TP
\fB\-c\fR
Ignore case of file names (default for most locales).
.TP
\fB\-I\fR PFX
Ignore the prefix PFX when comparing file names.
.TP
\fB\-n\fR
Use natural order sorting.
.HP
\fB\-o\fR FLAG Set the sort order of files, where FLAG is one of:
.IP
d : directories first (default)
.IP
f : files first
.IP
a : do not distinguish between files and directories
.TP
\fB\-r\fR
Sort in reverse order.
.TP
\fB\-R\fR
Sort in random order.
.IP
This option overrides all other sort options.
.TP
\fB\-t\fR
Sort by last modification date and time.
.PP
The following options can be specified multiple times to control
which directories are sorted:
.TP
\fB\-d\fR DIR
Sort the specified directory DIR only.
.TP
\fB\-D\fR DIR
Sort DIR and all its subdirectories.
.TP
\fB\-x\fR DIR
Exclude DIR from sorting.
.TP
\fB\-X\fR DIR
Exclude DIR and all its subdirectories from sorting.
.PP
The following options can be specified multiple times to select
directories using POSIX.2 extended regular expressions:
.TP
\fB\-e\fR RE
Only sort directories matching regular expression RE.
.TP
\fB\-E\fR RE
Don't sort directories matching regular expression RE.
.PP
Note: Options \fB\-e\fR and \fB\-E\fR cannot be used together with \fB\-d\fR, \fB\-D\fR, \fB\-x\fR and \fB\-X\fR.
.TP
\fB\-L\fR LOC
Use the specified locale LOC instead of the system locale.
FATSort follows locale\-specific rules when sorting file names
and directories.
.PP
More options:
.TP
\fB\-l\fR
List the current file order only.
.TP
\fB\-i\fR
Display file system information only.
.TP
\fB\-f\fR
Force sorting even if the file system is mounted.
.HP
\fB\-h\fR, \fB\-\-help\fR
.IP
Display this help message.
.HP
\fB\-v\fR, \fB\-\-version\fR
.IP
Show version information.
.TP
\fB\-q\fR
Suppress all non\-error output.
.PP
DEVICE must be a FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 or exFAT file system.
.PP
WARNING:
THE FILE SYSTEM MUST BE CONSISTENT (I.E., FREE OF ERRORS) BEFORE RUNNING
FATSORT. THERE IS A RISK OF FILE SYSTEM CORRUPTION. ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
The environment variable LC_ALL determines the system locale used by FATSort.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
fatsort /dev/sda
Sort /dev/sda.
.TP
fatsort \-n /dev/sdb1
Sort /dev/sdb1 using natural order.
.SH AUTHOR
Written by Boris Leidner.
.SH "REPORTING BUGS"
Report bugs to <fatsort@formenos.de>.
.SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright \(co 2004\-2026 Boris Leidner.
License GPLv2: GNU GPL version 2 (see LICENSE.txt)
.br
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.