Tip #588: How to sort using visual blocks

created:		October 16, 2003 9:08		complexity:		basic
author:		Charles E. Campbell		as of Vim:		6.0

1. To sort lines based on a visually-selected column:

Check out
http://www.erols.com/astronaut/vim/index.html#VimFuncs ;
look under "Visual Block Sorting".  It uses Piet Delport's
vim-based binary insertion sort and some vim-glue to provide
visual-block sorts!

To enable it, put <bisort.vim> into your <.vim/plugin>
directory.

To then perform sorting based on a visual-block selection
(ctrl-v):

:'<,'>Vissort

2. To sort a visually-selected block (and leave the text outside the
   block in place):

Check out
http://www.erols.com/astronaut/vim/index.html#VimFuncs ;
look under "Visual Block Commands".  The <vis.vim> plugin
provides a command which allows other commands to be applied
only to the visually selected block.

To then perform sorting of just a visual-block (ctrl-v):

:'<,'>B !sort

Or, using Piet Delport's binary insertion sort:

:'<,'>B Bisort

Examples:

Original, visual-block select the central column
one   two    three
four  five   six
seven eight  nine
ten   eleven twelve

:'<,'>Vissort
seven eight  nine
ten   eleven twelve
four  five   six
one   two    three

:'<,'>B !sort
one   eight  three
four  eleven six
seven five   nine
ten   two    twelve

:'<,'>B Bisort
one   eight  three
four  eleven six
seven five   nine
ten   two    twelve


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