diff --git a/sorts/external-sort.py b/sorts/external-sort.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eca26012d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sorts/external-sort.py
@@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+#
+# Sort large text files in a minimum amount of memory
+#
+import os
+import sys
+import argparse
+
+class FileSplitter(object):
+    BLOCK_FILENAME_FORMAT = 'block_{0}.dat'
+
+    def __init__(self, filename):
+        self.filename = filename
+        self.block_filenames = []
+
+    def write_block(self, data, block_number):
+        filename = self.BLOCK_FILENAME_FORMAT.format(block_number)
+        file = open(filename, 'w')
+        file.write(data)
+        file.close()
+        self.block_filenames.append(filename)
+
+    def get_block_filenames(self):
+        return self.block_filenames
+
+    def split(self, block_size, sort_key=None):
+        file = open(self.filename, 'r')
+        i = 0
+
+        while True:
+            lines = file.readlines(block_size)
+
+            if lines == []:
+                break
+
+            if sort_key is None:
+                lines.sort()
+            else:
+                lines.sort(key=sort_key)
+
+            self.write_block(''.join(lines), i)
+            i += 1
+
+    def cleanup(self):
+        map(lambda f: os.remove(f), self.block_filenames)
+
+
+class NWayMerge(object):
+    def select(self, choices):
+        min_index = -1
+        min_str = None
+
+        for i in range(len(choices)):
+            if min_str is None or choices[i] < min_str:
+                min_index = i
+
+        return min_index
+
+
+class FilesArray(object):
+    def __init__(self, files):
+        self.files = files
+        self.empty = set()
+        self.num_buffers = len(files)
+        self.buffers = {i: None for i in range(self.num_buffers)}
+
+    def get_dict(self):
+        return {i: self.buffers[i] for i in range(self.num_buffers) if i not in self.empty}
+
+    def refresh(self):
+        for i in range(self.num_buffers):
+            if self.buffers[i] is None and i not in self.empty:
+                self.buffers[i] = self.files[i].readline()
+
+                if self.buffers[i] == '':
+                    self.empty.add(i)
+
+        if len(self.empty) == self.num_buffers:
+            return False
+
+        return True
+
+    def unshift(self, index):
+        value = self.buffers[index]
+        self.buffers[index] = None
+
+        return value
+
+
+class FileMerger(object):
+    def __init__(self, merge_strategy):
+        self.merge_strategy = merge_strategy
+
+    def merge(self, filenames, outfilename, buffer_size):
+        outfile = open(outfilename, 'w', buffer_size)
+        buffers = FilesArray(self.get_file_handles(filenames, buffer_size))
+
+        while buffers.refresh():
+            min_index = self.merge_strategy.select(buffers.get_dict())
+            outfile.write(buffers.unshift(min_index))
+
+    def get_file_handles(self, filenames, buffer_size):
+        files = {}
+
+        for i in range(len(filenames)):
+            files[i] = open(filenames[i], 'r', buffer_size)
+
+        return files
+
+
+
+class ExternalSort(object):
+    def __init__(self, block_size):
+        self.block_size = block_size
+
+    def sort(self, filename, sort_key=None):
+        num_blocks = self.get_number_blocks(filename, self.block_size)
+        splitter = FileSplitter(filename)
+        splitter.split(self.block_size, sort_key)
+
+        merger = FileMerger(NWayMerge())
+        buffer_size = self.block_size / (num_blocks + 1)
+        merger.merge(splitter.get_block_filenames(), filename + '.out', buffer_size)
+
+        splitter.cleanup()
+
+    def get_number_blocks(self, filename, block_size):
+        return (os.stat(filename).st_size / block_size) + 1
+
+
+def parse_memory(string):
+    if string[-1].lower() == 'k':
+        return int(string[:-1]) * 1024
+    elif string[-1].lower() == 'm':
+        return int(string[:-1]) * 1024 * 1024
+    elif string[-1].lower() == 'g':
+        return int(string[:-1]) * 1024 * 1024 * 1024
+    else:
+        return int(string)
+
+
+
+def main():
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument('-m',
+                        '--mem',
+                        help='amount of memory to use for sorting',
+                        default='100M')
+    parser.add_argument('filename',
+                        metavar='<filename>',
+                        nargs=1,
+                        help='name of file to sort')
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    sorter = ExternalSort(parse_memory(args.mem))
+    sorter.sort(args.filename[0])
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+main()
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