sorting rows of a data file with Linux

I would like to sort the lines of a data file (each line idependent from each other) from the first character. For example, if I have a data file

1   0.1     0.6     0.4
2   0.5     0.2     0.3
3   1.0     0.2     0.8

I would like to end with something like

1   0.6     0.4     0.1
2   0.5     0.3     0.2
3   1.0     0.8     0.2

I have tried to do it using the sort command, but it sorts the columns (not the line). Transposing the data file +sort could be also a good solution (I don’t know any easy way for transposing datafiles).

Thanks for the help!

Answer

Perl to the rescue!

perl -lawne '
    print join "t", $F[0], sort { $b <=> $a } @F[1..$#F]
' < input > output

• -n reads the input line by line
• -a splits the line on whitespace into the @F array
• -l adds newlines to print

See sort, join .