Hi, Bernd:

Very clever approach! Based on your example, I was able to shorten the first
formula a bit, to

=COUNTIF($A:$A,"<"&A1)+COUNTIF($A$1:A1,A1)

Myrna Larson

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005 05:40:26 -0800, "Bernd Plumhoff"
wrote:

If your text is in A1:A12, then enter into B1:
=SUMPRODUCT(--(A1$A$1:$A$12))+COUNTIF($A$1:A1,A1)

Enter into C1:
=INDEX(A:A,MATCH(ROW(),B:B,FALSE))

Then copy down B1:C1 to B2:C12

Your sorted text will be in C1:C12.

HTH,
Bernd