Editing Sort lines

{{TipImported
|id=1166
|previous=1164
|next=1167
|created=2006
|complexity=basic
|author=Robert Stovall
|version=7.0
|rating=29/17
|category1=
|category2=
}}
Vim has a very powerful built-in sort utility, or it can interface with an external one. In order to '''''keep only unique lines''''' in Vim, you would:

<pre>
:{range}sort u
</pre>

Yes, it's that simple.

You could create a range in advance, such as <code>'a,.</code> (from mark 'a' to the current line) or you could create one on-the-fly using visual selection by pressing ':' in visual mode, after selecting the text you wish to sort, to get a range of <code>'<,'></code> on the command line.

If you like using an external sort utility instead, you can do it just as easily. For example, Unix sort, removing duplicate lines:

<pre>
:{range}!sort -u
</pre>

Many other systems also have an external sort utility, but the options and capabilities will differ. It is probably better to use the built-in Vim sort unless you are looking for a specific feature of the external sort (or using an old Vim without the <code>:sort</code> command).

==Examples==
===Sort in reverse===
<pre>:%sort!</pre>
===Sort, removing duplicate lines===
<pre>:%sort u</pre>
===Sort using the external Unix sort utility, respecting month-name order===
<pre>:%!sort -M</pre>
("respecting month-name order" means January < February < ... < December)
===Numeric sort===
<pre>:sort n</pre>
(this way, 100 doesn't precede 20 in the sort)
===Sort subsections independently, in this example sort numbers between "start" and "end" markers===
<pre>:g/start/+1,/end/-1 sort n</pre>It is very important that the strings "start" and "end" ONLY appear as markers! 

=== Sort only specific lines using ranges ===
sort lines 296 to 349, inclusive
 :296,349sort

=== Sort by pattern ===
When working with Javascript ES6, it may be useful to sort your imports

<pre>
import './ProjectTemplateEditModal.scss';
import * as _ from "lodash";
import Moment from 'moment';
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Col, Modal, Row, Label } from 'react-bootstrap';
import { CurrencyControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls';
import { DynamicModalMixin } from '../../Core/Components/Modals';
import { ProjectTemplateStore } from '../Stores/ProjectTemplateStore';
import { StoreBinder } from '../../Core/Utils/StoreBinder';
import { TextAreaControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls/TextAreaControl';
import { TextBoxControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls/TextBoxControl';
import { TooltipWrapper } from '../../Core/Components/Tooltips/TooltipWrapper';
import { withRouter } from 'react-router';
</pre>
 
It is possible to pass a regex expression to sort. Any lines that do not match the expression will be sorted normally, while lines that do match will be sorted on the text that *follows* the expression. <pre>:{range}sort /\/[A-z]/</pre> This will organize your imports relative to the "package" they are related to:

<pre>
import * as _ from "lodash";
import Moment from 'moment';
import React from 'react';
import { Button, Col, Modal, Row, Label } from 'react-bootstrap';
import { withRouter } from 'react-router';
import { CurrencyControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls';
import { TextAreaControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls/TextAreaControl';
import { TextBoxControl } from '../../Core/Components/Controls/TextBoxControl';
import { DynamicModalMixin } from '../../Core/Components/Modals';
import { TooltipWrapper } from '../../Core/Components/Tooltips/TooltipWrapper';
import { StoreBinder } from '../../Core/Utils/StoreBinder';
import './ProjectTemplateEditModal.scss';
import { ProjectTemplateStore } from '../Stores/ProjectTemplateStore';
</pre>
 
You can also sort on text that *matches* the regex by including the 'r' flag, for example:  <pre>:{range}sort /\/[A-z]/ r</pre>

<pre>delimit the column using some char here I have | symbol as delimiter, once did with that you can use below command to sort specific column use -n if u want to sort numeric and its working on some version of vi and not on ubuntu vi :(

/|.*|/ | sort
// used to match a patern |.*| used to match words delimited between || and | as piping commend and sort to sort </pre>

==See also==
*[[VimTip374|374 Use filter commands to process text]]
*[[VimTip588|588 How to sort using visual blocks]]
*[[VimTip758|758 Search and sort by selection]]
*[[VimTip800|800 Sorting lines in a file based on the number of words in each line]]
*[[VimTip923|923 Sort lines by a specified word number]]
*[[VimTip667|667 Working with CSV files]] sort by CSV field
*[[VimTip128|128 Use Unix command-line tools in Windows]] links to download GNU sort for Windows
*[[VimTip648|648 Uniq - Removing duplicate lines]] techniques to remove duplicate lines

==References==
*{{help|:sort}}

==Comments==

{{Todo}}
*Probably need some general <code>:sort</code> command info.
*Give examples of numeric sort and using regex sort.
*Clean up my "see also" list. It's useful now for a comprehensive list of related tips, some of which need work. At least should add a note on point of tip.
*If we're going to mention an external sort tool, we may as well include the following with a brief explanation. Vim could do this, but only with a complex regex. Or perhaps better, mention it in [[VimTip374]] or [[VimTip923]] in "see also". <code>-k2</code> sorts on the second field (word by default).
<pre>
:!sort -k2
</pre>

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