How do I sort lines based on a specific column or pattern match rather than the whole line?

Explanation

Vim's :sort command accepts a pattern that controls which part of each line is used as the sort key. The text after the pattern match becomes the sort key. Combined with the n flag for numeric sorting, this lets you sort structured data by any field or column.

How it works

• :%sort — sort all lines in the buffer
• /[^,]*,/ — a pattern matching everything up to and including the first comma (the first field)
• n — sort numerically by what follows the match (the second field)

Vim finds the pattern on each line, skips past it, and sorts by the remaining text.

Example

Given a CSV-like file:

alice,30,engineer
bob,25,designer
carol,35,manager

Sort by the second column (numerically):

:%sort /[^,]*,/ n

Result:

bob,25,designer
alice,30,engineer
carol,35,manager

Tips

• Use the r flag to sort by the matched text itself instead of what follows: :%sort /\d\+/ rn
• Add i for case-insensitive sorting: :%sort /pattern/ i
• Use ! to reverse the sort order: :%sort! /[^,]*,/ n
• Works with visual selections too: :'<,'>sort /pattern/ n
• Skip multiple fields by repeating the pattern: :%sort /\([^,]*,\)\{2\}/ n sorts by the third field