3.12 Sorting Groups

The C-c C-s (gnus-group-sort-groups) command sorts the group buffer according to the function(s) given by the gnus-group-sort-function variable. Available sorting functions include:

gnus-group-sort-by-alphabet

Sort the group names alphabetically. This is the default.

gnus-group-sort-by-real-name

Sort the group alphabetically on the real (unprefixed) group names.

gnus-group-sort-by-level

Sort by group level.

gnus-group-sort-by-score

Sort by group score. See Group Score.

gnus-group-sort-by-rank

Sort by group score and then the group level. The level and the score are, when taken together, the group’s rank. See Group Score.

gnus-group-sort-by-unread

Sort by number of unread articles.

gnus-group-sort-by-method

Sort alphabetically on the select method.

gnus-group-sort-by-server

Sort alphabetically on the Gnus server name.

gnus-group-sort-function can also be a list of sorting functions. In that case, the most significant sort key function must be the last one.

There are also a number of commands for sorting directly according to some sorting criteria:

G S a

Sort the group buffer alphabetically by group name (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-alphabet).

G S u

Sort the group buffer by the number of unread articles (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-unread).

G S l

Sort the group buffer by group level (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-level).

G S v

Sort the group buffer by group score (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-score). See Group Score.

G S r

Sort the group buffer by group rank (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-rank). See Group Score.

G S m

Sort the group buffer alphabetically by back end name
(gnus-group-sort-groups-by-method).

G S n

Sort the group buffer alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name (gnus-group-sort-groups-by-real-name).

All the commands below obey the process/prefix convention (see Process/Prefix).

When given a symbolic prefix (see Symbolic Prefixes), all these commands will sort in reverse order.

You can also sort a subset of the groups:

G P a

Sort the groups alphabetically by group name (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-alphabet).

G P u

Sort the groups by the number of unread articles (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-unread).

G P l

Sort the groups by group level (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-level).

G P v

Sort the groups by group score (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-score). See Group Score.

G P r

Sort the groups by group rank (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-rank). See Group Score.

G P m

Sort the groups alphabetically by back end name
(gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-method).

G P n

Sort the groups alphabetically by real (unprefixed) group name (gnus-group-sort-selected-groups-by-real-name).

G P s

Sort the groups according to gnus-group-sort-function.

And finally, note that you can use C-k and C-y to manually move groups around.