sort by column

[Joerg Fischer]

Scott Woodford wrote:

> I like the idea, but its not exactly what I had in mind.  I want to do the foll
> owing:
> 
> 1. select a section of text to be sorted
> 2. start the sort_by_column() macro, which waits for a mouse click on a column:
 
> define sort_by_column
> {
>    pos = my_wait_for_mouse_click_in_window()
>    col = my_get_column(pos)
>    filter_selection("sort -k" col)
> }
> 
> Is it even possible to wait for a key press or mouse click event during a macro?

No, but I didn't understand what you had in mind because this task
should be done in the following way:

1. Make a rectangular(!) selection of the column you want to 
   sort by.

2. Start the sort_by_column macro, which is roughly


define sort_by_column {
 
 store $selection_start, $selection_end and $selection_left (= col[umn number])
 get the line start and end of the line of $selection_start and  _end, respectively
 now you can select(start, end) the part of the text to be sorted and
 filter_selection("sort -k" col)
}

Cheers,
Jörg