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#1
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Help with sorting!
Hello, Is there an easy way to sort a list with varying lengths of data? We have a column that has data in the cells that are say 4-9 characters in length. What currently happens when we sort is it sorts all the 4 character length entries first, then the 5 character entries, and so on. We would like to sort it so it is alphanumeric based on the characters it contains...regardless of length. Thanks in advance! -- couriced ------------------------------------------------------------------------ couriced's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26900 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#2
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Shouldn't happen that way, can you give some specific cell contents to evaluate? If I have the following in a column: 1abc 2ab b412 1a '4 (a text entry) b2135 and sort Ascending, I get: 1a 1abc 2ab 4 b2135 b412 What are you getting? -- swatsp0p ------------------------------------------------------------------------ swatsp0p's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=15101 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#3
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Yes, agreed. When I do a quick sample myself...I get the same result as you. User just emailed me their workbook...and it will only sort this way: BO33 AT283 AT384 AT386 AT645 AT651 DA008 DAA&M NY321 NY548 NY585 NY950 PH258 PH259 PH261 PH262 PH263 PH264 PH266 PH267 PH268 PH269 PH272 PH560 AT1060 AT1061 I have tried just copying this one column out of the workbook and pasting to its own and formatting it as text to try...it just won't... -- couriced ------------------------------------------------------------------------ couriced's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26900 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#4
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Ok..after playing around with the users file...I have discovered why it won't sort...which opens a new problem. This data was an export from elsewhere. Not obvious at first glance is that these values all have a random number of spaces before them. When I goto the cell and delete the space that precedes the actual data...then resort...that particular cell then falls in place where we want in a sort. Now...how do we delete a random number of spaces before each piece of data. Looks like there's 2-4 of them. -- couriced ------------------------------------------------------------------------ couriced's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26900 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#5
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in a helper column use the TRIM function, e.g. =TRIM(A1) "__1234" will become "1234" (leading spaces removed) Good Luck -- swatsp0p ------------------------------------------------------------------------ swatsp0p's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=15101 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#6
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Bingo...TY! -- couriced ------------------------------------------------------------------------ couriced's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=26900 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
#7
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I'm glad it worked for you. Thanks for the feedback, it is always appreciated. Cheers! -- swatsp0p ------------------------------------------------------------------------ swatsp0p's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=15101 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=475956 |
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