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/usr/ucb/sortbib [-skey-letters] database . . .
By default, sortbib alphabetizes by the first %A and the %D fields, which contain the senior author and date. The -s option is used to specify new key-letters. See addbib for a list of the most common key letters. For instance, -sATD will sort by author, title, and date, while -sA+D will sort by all authors, and date. Sort keys past the fourth are not meaningful. No more than 16 databases may be sorted together at one time. Records longer than 4096 characters will be truncated.
sortbib sorts on the last word on the %A line, which is assumed to be the author's last name. A word in the final position, such as ``jr.'' or ``ed.'', will be ignored if the name beforehand ends with a comma. Authors with two-word last names or unusual constructions can be sorted correctly by using the nroff convention ``\0'' in place of a blank. A %Q field is considered to be the same as %A, except sorting begins with the first, not the last, word. sortbib sorts on the last word of the %D line, usually the year. It also ignores leading articles (like ``A'' or ``The'') when sorting by titles in the %T or %J fields; it will ignore articles of any modern European language. If a sort-significant field is absent from a record, sortbib places that record before other records containing that field.