SlickEdit® Core uses a stable quicksort algorithm to sort text. It is recommended that at least half the text be in memory for best speed results. To sort text, from the main menu, click Format → Sort. The Sort dialog box is displayed, as pictured below.
The following options are available:
Type of sort - Choose the type of sort that you prefer from the following options:
Sort buffer - When this option is selected, the entire contents of the buffer that you are working in are sorted.
Sort on selection - When this option is selected, each line intersecting with the selection is sorted based on the selected column. Sort on selection and Sort within selection have the same effect except when sorting a block or column selection.
Sort within selection - When this option is selected, the selected text is sorted. Text outside a block or column selection is not moved. The Sort on selection and Sort within selection options have the same effect except when sorting a block or column selection.
Order - Choose Ascending or Descending. In an ascending sort, the lowest text item sorted is placed at the top.
Numeric sort - When this option is selected, a numeric comparison is performed.
Remove duplicate lines - When this option is selected, it removes adjacent lines that are identical. This option does not fully support column selection (it always compares complete lines).
Case sensitive - When this option is selected, the sort is case-sensitive.
To use the command line for sorting, first activate the command line by pressing Esc. Sort command syntax is in the form SortCommand OptionLetter(s). The following sort commands are available:
sort_buffer - Sorts the current buffer.
sort_within_selection - Sorts text within a selected area. This command supports line and block selections only.
sort_on_selection - To sort on a column field, press Ctrl+B to select an area of text, then invoke the command sort_on_selection. This command supports line and block selections only.
The table below describes the OptionLetter(s) that you can use with each command.