On Oct 13, 12:00*pm, "Barn E. Fife" wrote:
Surely this is not by design???

I see what's likely happening; it sorts the .Value contents, but then
if preserves the referencing. C2 gets sorted to C1, but it doesn't
"move" C2=A2 to C1=A2; it sets C1=A1 preserving relative referencing.
I.e. it "copies rather than moves."

So I get that this is by design. But this is such, such an easy trap
while devastating. What rule of thumb "element of programming style"
am I breaking, or should I incorporate, to prevent this tragedy from
striking in the future? Maybe, make a rule to only sort the lowest
"source" level of data? (But then what if it's a linked read-only
file?)

Moreover, if there is a slicker approach than the clunky pasting by
value before sorting, I'm open. Thanks.