A filter is a program that accepts text at standard input, changes it in some way, and sends it to standard output. You can use the commands below to send some text through a filter, so that it is replaced by the filter output. Examples of filters are "sort", which sorts lines alphabetically, and "indent", which formats C program files (you need a version of indent that works like a filter; not all versions do). The 'shell' option specifies the shell Vim uses to execute the filter command (See also the 'shelltype' option). You can repeat filter commands with ".". Vim does not recognize a comment (starting with '"'') after the ":!" command.
A filter is a program that accepts text at standard input, changes it in some way, and sends it to standard output.