How can I sort text (in excel) while ignoring articles (e.g., the
 

I work in a library and want to sort lists of CD titles. I want to sort the
list alphabetically while ignoring articles (e.g., the, a, an) when they
appear as the first word in the title.

How can I sort text (in excel) while ignoring articles (e.g., the
 

Hi
I don't think you can do this.
what might work is to include the names in an adjacent column and
eliminate the articles, then sort on that.
For example, this formula will eliminate the words "The ", "An " and "A
" from the left of the text in cell A1 (note the addition of a space
after the word in the formula, to prevent all words begining with "A"
being cropped):

=IF(LEFT(A1,2)="A ",RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-2),IF(LEFT(A1,3)="An
",RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-3),IF(LEFT(A1,4)="The ",RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-4),A1)))


--
Nicky


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How can I sort text (in excel) while ignoring articles (e.g., the
 

A commercial application by yours truly...
http://www.officeletter.com/blink/specialsort.html
Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA


"happy1"
wrote in message...
I work in a library and want to sort lists of CD titles. I want to sort the
list alphabetically while ignoring articles (e.g., the, a, an) when they
appear as the first word in the title.