On Oct 13, 1:00*pm, "Barn E. Fife" wrote:
Type the letter b in A1, the letter a in A2.
C1=A1
C2=A2

Now if you highlight and sort A1:A2 ascending, it is alphabetized.
Undo it if you've done this.
If you highlight and sort C1:C2 ascending, it does not sort as
desired.

This is in XL2003. I assume that you reproduce it; thanks for
reporting that you don't.
But if you do - this is shocking. In sick irony this is a case where
hope I have a corrupt file. Surely this is not by design???

When you sort cells containing formulas, you are actually moving the
formulas up and down. Because the formulas re-adjust the results are
unexpected. You can get your desired results as follows:

In C1 put =$A$1
and in C2 put =$A$2