This is not a bug, but expected behaviour.
If an ordering option is supplied to '-k' ('n' in this particular case),
global ordering options are overridden.
I.e. when sort is called this way:
sort --reverse -k2
the global option '--reverse' takes effect.
But in this case:
sort --reverse -k2n
the '--reverse' option is overridden by 'n', therefore the command
becomes equivalent to:
sort -n -k2
The solution woud be to to either stick to global options:
sort --reverse --numeric-sort -k2
or if sorting options for multiple fields are required, to add a
local reverse option to '-k':
sort -k2rn
BTW: this behaviour is also documented in the man page:
...
-k, --key=KEYDEF
sort via a key; KEYDEF gives location and type
...
KEYDEF is F[.C][OPTS][,F[.C][OPTS]] for start and stop position, where F
is a field number and C a character position in the field; both are origin 1,
and the stop position defaults to the line's
end. If neither -t nor -b is in effect, characters in a field are
counted from the beginning of the preceding whitespace. OPTS is one or more
single-letter ordering options [bdfgiMhnRrV], which
override global ordering options for that key. If no key is given, use
the entire line as the key.
...
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1404548
Title:
sort --reverse does not reverse numeric sorts
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