Just another play to try ..

Assuming the sample list below is in A2:A8

n 7 ave e
n 7 ave w
s 8 ave e
s 8 ave w
w 7 st s
e 7 st s
w 8 st n

Put in B2: =MATCH(LEFT(TRIM(A2),1),{"n";"w";"s";"e"},0)
Copy down to B8

Then select A2:B8 and sort by col B, ascending

And if there's the possibility of unmatched data in col A,
use instead in B2:

=IF(ISNA(MATCH(LEFT(TRIM(A2),1),{"n";"w";"s";"e"}, 0)),"",MATCH(LEFT(TRIM(A2)
,1),{"n";"w";"s";"e"},0))

Then select & sort by col B as before
Unmatched cases (if any) will be sorted below "e"

--
Rgds
Max
xl 97
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GMT+8, 1° 22' N 103° 45' E
xdemechanik <atyahoo<dotcom
----
"Chris Hoagland" wrote in message
...
i need to sort a column for addresses. i can get it to sort somewhat.

example

n 7 ave e
n 7 ave w
s 8 ave e
s 8 ave w
w 7 st s
e 7 st s
w 8 st n

i would like to sort them by n w s e
it puts them in n s but alphabetizes the w e ones

any help?