How to sort on column for rows containing a certain word

Question

I want to sort on a certain column only for rows containing a certain word. I don\'t want to see rows not containing that word. For example I have this text file:

Answer 1

Maxim Kim has already given an excellent answer and I was going to add this in a comment, but it just got too complicated so I'll stick it in an answer:

You could simplify the pattern by using:

:v/sdf/d
sort n /\D*/

as \D is equivalent to [^[:digit:]] and is a lot less typing. For more information, see

:help \D

To match on the third field specifically, rather than just the first digit, use

:sort n /\(\S\+\s+\)\{2}/`

or

:sort n /\v(\S+\s+){2}/

See:

:help :sort
:help \S
:help \s
:help pattern.txt
:help \v

As an aside, some find it easier to remember :g!/sdf/d, which does the same as :v/sdf/d - :g! is the opposite of :g and is identical to :v.

:help :v
:help :g