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Vim Sort with RegEx
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vim-sort-regex.md

Vim Sort with RegEx

Vim Manual

See :help :sort.

:[range]sor[t][!] [b][f][i][n][o][r][u][x] [/{pattern}/]

When /{pattern}/ is specified and there is no [r] flag the text matched with {pattern} is skipped, so that you sort on what comes after the match.

Example

  • You have a list of URLs to sort by domain name, each on a separate line.
  • The protocols are mixed http and https, moreover some URLs have www. and others do not. You wish to sort only by meaningful domain.
  • In (Neo)Vim Visual mode, select the list, invoke sort, and condition it on a regular expression.
:'<,'>sort /https\?:\/\/\(www\.\)\?/
" or even:
:'<,'>sort /ps\?:\/\/\(www\.\)\?/

Given this:

1. <http://x>
1. <https://bb>
1. <https://www.ba>
1. <http://www.a>

The effect is this:

1. <http://www.a>
1. <https://www.ba>
1. <https://bb>
1. <http://x>
@toraritte
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Thank you so much for the quoting from :help :sort - was trying to sorting URLs but kept forgetting to specify r at the end, and the results made no sense, driving me crazy...

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