I put your data in A1:A28 and put this formula in B1:

=""&a1
and dragged down.

Then I selected my range and sorted by column B.

I ended up with data in this order:

Column A---- Column B------
1999.01 1999.01
1999.02 1999.02
1999.03 1999.03
1999.04 1999.04
1999.05 1999.05
1999.06 1999.06
1999.07 1999.07
1999.15.01-40 1999.15.01-40
1999.19 1999.19
1999.2 1999.2
1999.21 1999.21
1999.22 1999.22
1999.23 1999.23
1999.28.01-06 1999.28.01-06
1999.29.01-76 1999.29.01-76
2003.01 2003.01
2003.02 2003.02
2003.03 2003.03
2003.04 2003.04
2003.05 2003.05
2003.06 2003.06
2003.17.01-02 2003.17.01-02
2004.08.01-23 2004.08.01-23
2004.12.01-02 2004.12.01-02
2004.14.01-02 2004.14.01-02
2004.16.a-b 2004.16.a-b
2005.14 2005.14
2005.15 2005.15


It looked in order to me.



Tamesh wrote:

hmm i'm afraid that neither one of those processes worked :-(. Below is a
snipped of my number set so you see what i'm trying to sort. Thanks.

1999.01
1999.02
1999.03
1999.04
1999.05
1999.06
1999.07
1999.19
1999.2
1999.21
1999.22
1999.23
2003.01
2003.02
2003.03
2003.04
2003.05
2003.06
2005.14
2005.15
1999.15.01-40
1999.28.01-06
1999.29.01-76
2003.17.01-02
2004.08.01-23
2004.12.01-02
2004.14.01-02
2004.16.a-b

--

Dave Peterson