Regarding fdisk -l, the partitions are sorted # fdisk -l|grep -P /dev/\\S+\\d|sed 's/ .*//' /dev/sda1 /dev/sda2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sda4 /dev/sda5 /dev/sda6 /dev/sda7 /dev/sda8 So why can't the disks also be sorted: # fdisk -l|grep Disk\ / Disk /dev/sda: 119.24 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors Disk /dev/sdb: 14.91 GiB, 16008609792 bytes, 31266816 sectors Disk /dev/sdd: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk /dev/sdc: 14.46 GiB, 15525216256 bytes, 30322688 sectors Disk /dev/sdg: 3.8 GiB, 4075290624 bytes, 7959552 sectors Disk /dev/sdj: 28.84 GiB, 30963400704 bytes, 60475392 sectors Disk /dev/sdk: 29.72 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors # fdisk -l|grep Disk\ /|sort -c sort: -:4: disorder: Disk /dev/sdc: 14.46 GiB, 15525216256 bytes, 30322688 sectors Sure we can do # fdisk -l /dev/sd?|grep Disk\ / fdisk: cannot open /dev/sde: No medium found fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdf: No medium found fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdh: No medium found fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdi: No medium found Disk /dev/sda: 119.24 GiB, 128035676160 bytes, 250069680 sectors Disk /dev/sdb: 14.91 GiB, 16008609792 bytes, 31266816 sectors Disk /dev/sdc: 14.46 GiB, 15525216256 bytes, 30322688 sectors Disk /dev/sdd: 465.76 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors Disk /dev/sdg: 3.8 GiB, 4075290624 bytes, 7959552 sectors Disk /dev/sdj: 28.84 GiB, 30963400704 bytes, 60475392 sectors Disk /dev/sdk: 29.72 GiB, 31914983424 bytes, 62333952 sectors But as you see, there is some noise often. OK, maybe it is just reading in physical disk/partition/device order always. OK, mention that on the man page.
