diff --git a/cfg/config.go b/cfg/config.go
index 424f6ad..3d4840a 100644
--- a/cfg/config.go
+++ b/cfg/config.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 const DefaultSeparator string = `(\s\s+|\t)`
-const Version string = "v1.3.0"
+const Version string = "v1.3.1"
 const MAXPARTS = 2
 
 var DefaultConfigfile = os.Getenv("HOME") + "/.config/tablizer/config"
@@ -67,9 +67,10 @@ type Config struct {
 	UseFuzzySearch bool
 	UseHighlight   bool
 
-	SortMode       string
-	SortDescending bool
-	SortByColumn   int
+	SortMode        string
+	SortDescending  bool
+	SortByColumn    string // 1,2
+	UseSortByColumn []int  // []int{1,2}
 
 	TransposeColumns    string       // 1,2
 	UseTransposeColumns []int        // []int{1,2}
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 057794b..afbf0df 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ func Execute() {
 		"Transpose the speficied columns (separated by ,)")
 
 	// sort options
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&conf.SortByColumn, "sort-by", "k", 0,
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&conf.SortByColumn, "sort-by", "k", "",
 		"Sort by column (default: 1)")
 
 	// sort mode, only 1 allowed
diff --git a/cmd/tablizer.go b/cmd/tablizer.go
index 4139129..71f5b21 100644
--- a/cmd/tablizer.go
+++ b/cmd/tablizer.go
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
           -N, --no-color                    Disable pattern highlighting
           -H, --no-headers                  Disable headers display
           -s, --separator string            Custom field separator
-          -k, --sort-by int                 Sort by column (default: 1)
+          -k, --sort-by int|name            Sort by column (default: 1)
           -z, --fuzzy                       Use fuzzy search [experimental]
           -F, --filter field=reg            Filter given field with regex, can be used multiple times
           -T, --transpose-columns string    Transpose the speficied columns (separated by ,)
@@ -103,10 +103,19 @@ DESCRIPTION
     highlighted. You can disable this behavior with the -N option.
 
     Use the -k option to specify by which column to sort the tabular data
-    (as in GNU sort(1)). The default sort column is the first one. To
-    disable sorting at all, supply 0 (Zero) to -k. The default sort order is
-    ascending. You can change this to descending order using the option -D.
-    The default sort order is by string, but there are other sort modes:
+    (as in GNU sort(1)). The default sort column is the first one. You can
+    specify column numbers or names. Column numbers start with 1, names are
+    case insensitive. You can specify multiple columns separated by comma to
+    sort, but the type must be the same. For example if you want to sort
+    numerically, all columns must be numbers. If you use column numbers,
+    then be aware, that these are the numbers before column extraction. For
+    example if you have a table with 4 columns and specify "-c4", then only
+    1 column (the fourth) will be printed, however if you want to sort by
+    this column, you'll have to specify "-k4".
+
+    The default sort order is ascending. You can change this to descending
+    order using the option -D. The default sort order is by alphanumeric
+    string, but there are other sort modes:
 
     -a --sort-age
         Sorts duration strings like "1d4h32m51s".
@@ -392,7 +401,7 @@ Operational Flags:
   -N, --no-color                    Disable pattern highlighting
   -H, --no-headers                  Disable headers display
   -s, --separator string            Custom field separator
-  -k, --sort-by int                 Sort by column (default: 1)
+  -k, --sort-by int|name            Sort by column (default: 1)
   -z, --fuzzy                       Use fuzzy search [experimental]
   -F, --filter field=reg            Filter given field with regex, can be used multiple times
   -T, --transpose-columns string    Transpose the speficied columns (separated by ,)
diff --git a/lib/helpers.go b/lib/helpers.go
index 176e64e..32b6705 100644
--- a/lib/helpers.go
+++ b/lib/helpers.go
@@ -99,6 +99,19 @@ func PrepareTransposerColumns(conf *cfg.Config, data *Tabdata) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// output option, prepare -k1,2 sort fields
+func PrepareSortColumns(conf *cfg.Config, data *Tabdata) error {
+	// -c columns
+	usecolumns, err := PrepareColumnVars(conf.SortByColumn, data)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	conf.UseSortByColumn = usecolumns
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func PrepareColumnVars(columns string, data *Tabdata) ([]int, error) {
 	if columns == "" {
 		return nil, nil
diff --git a/lib/io.go b/lib/io.go
index c0dd937..86954b8 100644
--- a/lib/io.go
+++ b/lib/io.go
@@ -48,6 +48,11 @@ func ProcessFiles(conf *cfg.Config, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	err = PrepareSortColumns(conf, &data)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	err = PrepareColumns(conf, &data)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/lib/printer.go b/lib/printer.go
index 7adcd00..3189060 100644
--- a/lib/printer.go
+++ b/lib/printer.go
@@ -33,15 +33,17 @@ import (
 )
 
 func printData(writer io.Writer, conf cfg.Config, data *Tabdata) {
-	// add numbers to headers and remove this we're not interested in
+	//  Sort   the  data  first,  before   headers+entries  are  being
+	// reduced. That way the user can specify any valid column to sort
+	// by, independently if it's being used for display or not.
+	sortTable(conf, data)
+
+	// add numbers to headers and remove those we're not interested in
 	numberizeAndReduceHeaders(conf, data)
 
 	// remove unwanted columns, if any
 	reduceColumns(conf, data)
 
-	// sort the data
-	sortTable(conf, data)
-
 	switch conf.OutputMode {
 	case cfg.Extended:
 		printExtendedData(writer, conf, data)
diff --git a/lib/printer_test.go b/lib/printer_test.go
index 73ced90..0939028 100644
--- a/lib/printer_test.go
+++ b/lib/printer_test.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ var tests = []struct {
 	name string // so we can identify which one fails, can be the same
 	// for multiple tests, because flags will be appended to the name
 	sortby    string // empty == default
-	column    int    // sort by this column, 0 == default first or NO Sort
+	column    int    // sort by this column (numbers start by 1)
 	desc      bool   // sort in descending order, default == ascending
 	nonum     bool   // hide numbering
 	mode      int    // shell, orgtbl, etc. empty == default: ascii
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ DURATION(2): 33d12h
 
 	//------------------------ SORT TESTS
 	{
-		name:   "sortbycolumn",
+		name:   "sortbycolumn3",
 		column: 3,
 		sortby: "numeric",
 		desc:   false,
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ beta   	1d10h5m1s  	33      	3/1/2014
 alpha  	4h35m      	170     	2013-Feb-03`,
 	},
 	{
-		name:   "sortbycolumn",
+		name:   "sortbycolumn4",
 		column: 4,
 		sortby: "time",
 		desc:   false,
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ alpha  	4h35m      	170     	2013-Feb-03
 beta   	1d10h5m1s  	33      	3/1/2014`,
 	},
 	{
-		name:   "sortbycolumn",
+		name:   "sortbycolumn2",
 		column: 2,
 		sortby: "duration",
 		desc:   false,
@@ -251,15 +251,14 @@ DURATION(2)	WHEN(4)
 
 func TestPrinter(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, testdata := range tests {
-		testname := fmt.Sprintf("print-sortcol-%d-desc-%t-sortby-%s-mode-%d-usecolumns-%s",
-			testdata.column, testdata.desc, testdata.sortby, testdata.mode, testdata.usecolstr)
+		testname := fmt.Sprintf("print-%s-%d-desc-%t-sortby-%s-mode-%d-usecolumns-%s",
+			testdata.name, testdata.column, testdata.desc, testdata.sortby, testdata.mode, testdata.usecolstr)
 		t.Run(testname, func(t *testing.T) {
 			// replaces os.Stdout, but we ignore it
 			var writer bytes.Buffer
 
 			// cmd flags
 			conf := cfg.Config{
-				SortByColumn:   testdata.column,
 				SortDescending: testdata.desc,
 				SortMode:       testdata.sortby,
 				OutputMode:     testdata.mode,
@@ -268,6 +267,10 @@ func TestPrinter(t *testing.T) {
 				NoColor:        true,
 			}
 
+			if testdata.column > 0 {
+				conf.UseSortByColumn = []int{testdata.column}
+			}
+
 			conf.ApplyDefaults()
 
 			// the test checks the len!
diff --git a/lib/sort.go b/lib/sort.go
index 2d41bf9..5d65e3f 100644
--- a/lib/sort.go
+++ b/lib/sort.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 package lib
 
 import (
+	"cmp"
 	"regexp"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
@@ -27,34 +28,41 @@ import (
 )
 
 func sortTable(conf cfg.Config, data *Tabdata) {
-	if conf.SortByColumn <= 0 {
+	if len(conf.UseSortByColumn) == 0 {
 		// no sorting wanted
 		return
 	}
 
-	// slightly modified here to match internal array indicies
-	col := conf.SortByColumn
-
-	col-- // ui starts counting by 1, but use 0 internally
-
 	// sanity checks
 	if len(data.entries) == 0 {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if col >= len(data.headers) {
-		// fall back to default column
-		col = 0
-	}
-
 	// actual sorting
 	sort.SliceStable(data.entries, func(i, j int) bool {
-		return compare(&conf, data.entries[i][col], data.entries[j][col])
+		// holds the result of a sort of one column
+		comparators := []int{}
+
+		// iterate over all columns to be sorted, conf.SortMode must be identical!
+		for _, column := range conf.UseSortByColumn {
+			comparators = append(comparators, compare(&conf, data.entries[i][column-1], data.entries[j][column-1]))
+		}
+
+		// return the combined result
+		res := cmp.Or(comparators...)
+
+		switch res {
+		case 0:
+			return true
+		default:
+			return false
+		}
+
 	})
 }
 
 // config is not modified here, but it would be inefficient to copy it every loop
-func compare(conf *cfg.Config, left string, right string) bool {
+func compare(conf *cfg.Config, left string, right string) int {
 	var comp bool
 
 	switch conf.SortMode {
@@ -88,7 +96,12 @@ func compare(conf *cfg.Config, left string, right string) bool {
 		comp = !comp
 	}
 
-	return comp
+	switch comp {
+	case true:
+		return 0
+	default:
+		return 1
+	}
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/lib/sort_test.go b/lib/sort_test.go
index 4d19cfa..83df8b3 100644
--- a/lib/sort_test.go
+++ b/lib/sort_test.go
@@ -53,18 +53,18 @@ func TestCompare(t *testing.T) {
 		mode string
 		a    string
 		b    string
-		want bool
+		want int
 		desc bool
 	}{
 		// ascending
-		{"numeric", "10", "20", true, false},
-		{"duration", "2d4h5m", "45m", false, false},
-		{"time", "12/24/2022", "1/1/1970", false, false},
+		{"numeric", "10", "20", 0, false},
+		{"duration", "2d4h5m", "45m", 1, false},
+		{"time", "12/24/2022", "1/1/1970", 1, false},
 
 		// descending
-		{"numeric", "10", "20", false, true},
-		{"duration", "2d4h5m", "45m", true, true},
-		{"time", "12/24/2022", "1/1/1970", true, true},
+		{"numeric", "10", "20", 1, true},
+		{"duration", "2d4h5m", "45m", 0, true},
+		{"time", "12/24/2022", "1/1/1970", 0, true},
 	}
 
 	for _, testdata := range tests {
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ func TestCompare(t *testing.T) {
 			c := cfg.Config{SortMode: testdata.mode, SortDescending: testdata.desc}
 			got := compare(&c, testdata.a, testdata.b)
 			if got != testdata.want {
-				t.Errorf("got %t, want %t", got, testdata.want)
+				t.Errorf("got %d, want %d", got, testdata.want)
 			}
 		})
 	}
diff --git a/t/testtable3 b/t/testtable3
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4d8dac7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/testtable3
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+NAME                                                 READY   STATUS    STARTS      AGE
+alertmanager-kube-prometheus-alertmanager-0          2/2     Running   35          11d
+kube-prometheus-blackbox-exporter-5d85b5d8f4-tskh7   1/1     Running   17          1h44m
+grafana-fcc54cbc9-bk7s8                              1/1     Running   17          1d
+kube-prometheus-kube-state-metrics-b4cd9487-75p7f    1/1     Running   20          45m
+kube-prometheus-node-exporter-bfzpl                  1/1     Running   17          54s
diff --git a/t/testtable4 b/t/testtable4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc06395
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/testtable4
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+ONE  TWO
+1    4
+3    1
+5    2
diff --git a/tablizer.1 b/tablizer.1
index 49b640e..73dd6b4 100644
--- a/tablizer.1
+++ b/tablizer.1
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@
 .\" ========================================================================
 .\"
 .IX Title "TABLIZER 1"
-.TH TABLIZER 1 "2025-01-14" "1" "User Commands"
+.TH TABLIZER 1 "2025-01-15" "1" "User Commands"
 .\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
 .\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
 .if n .ad l
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@ tablizer \- Manipulate tabular output of other programs
 \&      \-N, \-\-no\-color                    Disable pattern highlighting
 \&      \-H, \-\-no\-headers                  Disable headers display
 \&      \-s, \-\-separator string            Custom field separator
-\&      \-k, \-\-sort\-by int                 Sort by column (default: 1)
+\&      \-k, \-\-sort\-by int|name            Sort by column (default: 1)
 \&      \-z, \-\-fuzzy                       Use fuzzy search [experimental]
 \&      \-F, \-\-filter field=reg            Filter given field with regex, can be used multiple times
 \&      \-T, \-\-transpose\-columns string    Transpose the speficied columns (separated by ,)
@@ -250,11 +250,20 @@ By  default, if  a  \fBpattern\fR  has been  speficied,  matches will  be
 highlighted. You can disable this behavior with the \fB\-N\fR option.
 .PP
 Use the  \fB\-k\fR option to specify  by which column to  sort the tabular
-data (as in \s-1GNU\s0 \fBsort\fR\|(1)). The default sort column is the first one. To
-disable sorting at all, supply 0  (Zero) to \-k. The default sort order
-is ascending. You can change this to descending order using the option
-\&\fB\-D\fR. The default  sort order is by string, but  there are other sort
-modes:
+data  (as in  \s-1GNU\s0  \fBsort\fR\|(1)).  The default  sort  column  is the  first
+one. You can specify column numbers or names. Column numbers start
+with 1, names are case insensitive. You can specify multiple columns
+separated by comma to sort, but the type must be the same. For example
+if you want to sort numerically, all columns must be numbers. If you
+use column numbers, then be aware, that these are the numbers before
+column extraction. For example if you have a table with 4 columns and
+specify \f(CW\*(C`\-c4\*(C'\fR, then only 1 column (the fourth) will be printed,
+however if you want to sort by this column, you'll have to specify
+\&\f(CW\*(C`\-k4\*(C'\fR.
+.PP
+The default  sort order  is ascending.  You can  change this  to
+descending order using the option \fB\-D\fR.  The default sort order is by
+alphanumeric string, but there are other sort modes:
 .IP "\fB\-a \-\-sort\-age\fR" 4
 .IX Item "-a --sort-age"
 Sorts duration strings like \*(L"1d4h32m51s\*(R".
diff --git a/tablizer.pod b/tablizer.pod
index 90fd331..8f170ae 100644
--- a/tablizer.pod
+++ b/tablizer.pod
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ tablizer - Manipulate tabular output of other programs
       -N, --no-color                    Disable pattern highlighting
       -H, --no-headers                  Disable headers display
       -s, --separator string            Custom field separator
-      -k, --sort-by int                 Sort by column (default: 1)
+      -k, --sort-by int|name            Sort by column (default: 1)
       -z, --fuzzy                       Use fuzzy search [experimental]
       -F, --filter field=reg            Filter given field with regex, can be used multiple times
       -T, --transpose-columns string    Transpose the speficied columns (separated by ,)
@@ -106,11 +106,20 @@ By  default, if  a  B<pattern>  has been  speficied,  matches will  be
 highlighted. You can disable this behavior with the B<-N> option.
 
 Use the  B<-k> option to specify  by which column to  sort the tabular
-data (as in GNU sort(1)). The default sort column is the first one. To
-disable sorting at all, supply 0  (Zero) to -k. The default sort order
-is ascending. You can change this to descending order using the option
-B<-D>. The default  sort order is by string, but  there are other sort
-modes:
+data  (as in  GNU  sort(1)).  The default  sort  column  is the  first
+one. You can specify column numbers or names. Column numbers start
+with 1, names are case insensitive. You can specify multiple columns
+separated by comma to sort, but the type must be the same. For example
+if you want to sort numerically, all columns must be numbers. If you
+use column numbers, then be aware, that these are the numbers before
+column extraction. For example if you have a table with 4 columns and
+specify C<-c4>, then only 1 column (the fourth) will be printed,
+however if you want to sort by this column, you'll have to specify
+C<-k4>.
+
+The default  sort order  is ascending.  You can  change this  to
+descending order using the option B<-D>.  The default sort order is by
+alphanumeric string, but there are other sort modes:
 
 =over