Sort text list by character length - how?
 

Hi!
I am an excel newbie.
I have a text list of last names that I need to sort by character
length. Not alphabetically, I know how to do that, but by number of
letters in the name.
Example, if I have the following list
LAW
OROZCO
MCALLISTER
LUGO
DAVIES
SHOEMAKER
MADISON
RUTHERFORD
NEWSOME
MAGEE

I would need it sorted to

LAW
LUGO
MAGEE
DAVIES
OROZCO
MADISON
NEWSOME
SHOEMAKER
MCALLISTER
RUTHERFORD

I have roughly 75,000 names I am working with, in bunches of 200, so
being able to sort by character length will help me tremendously and
speed things up.
Any help with this is appreciated greatly!
chris

Sort text list by character length - how?
 

Maybe you could use a helper column with a bunch of formulas that return the
length of the string. Then sort your data by that column.

=len(a1)

will return the number of characters in a1.



masterdiablo13 wrote:

Hi!
I am an excel newbie.
I have a text list of last names that I need to sort by character
length. Not alphabetically, I know how to do that, but by number of
letters in the name.
Example, if I have the following list
LAW
OROZCO
MCALLISTER
LUGO
DAVIES
SHOEMAKER
MADISON
RUTHERFORD
NEWSOME
MAGEE

I would need it sorted to

LAW
LUGO
MAGEE
DAVIES
OROZCO
MADISON
NEWSOME
SHOEMAKER
MCALLISTER
RUTHERFORD

I have roughly 75,000 names I am working with, in bunches of 200, so
being able to sort by character length will help me tremendously and
speed things up.
Any help with this is appreciated greatly!
chris

--

Dave Peterson

Sort text list by character length - how?
 

If this si something you have to do frequently and don't want to use a
helper column, you might consider Jim Cone's fine commercial Add in called
"SpecialSort". It's available at

http://www.realezsites.com/bus/primi...e/products.php

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3


"masterdiablo13" wrote in message
. 97.131...
Hi!
I am an excel newbie.
I have a text list of last names that I need to sort by character
length. Not alphabetically, I know how to do that, but by number of
letters in the name.
Example, if I have the following list
LAW
OROZCO
MCALLISTER
LUGO
DAVIES
SHOEMAKER
MADISON
RUTHERFORD
NEWSOME
MAGEE

I would need it sorted to

LAW
LUGO
MAGEE
DAVIES
OROZCO
MADISON
NEWSOME
SHOEMAKER
MCALLISTER
RUTHERFORD

I have roughly 75,000 names I am working with, in bunches of 200, so
being able to sort by character length will help me tremendously and
speed things up.
Any help with this is appreciated greatly!
chris