Forum Discussion
Text not sorting correctly
Sort is not working for me in the attached file while trying to sort the first column at first level and the second column at second level. I had manually entered all values. There doesn't seem to be any hidden characters. I have changed the format of these two columns as text but that did not make a difference. Any help is appreciated.
Actually, appearances to the contrary, it IS working just as it's supposed to.
The problem is that mixing numeric and alpha characters within a single cell causes a sort that to your eyes and minds (as well as mine, I'll admit) seems wrong. But try turning it back from text to numbers and entering the following as a column of numbers. 1,1b,1c,2,3 and sort. The result will be 1,2,3,1b,1c. Yep, 1b follows rather than preceding, numbers 2 and 3. And so on down the line.
What you need to do if you want it to sort based on how you apparently want it to sort, is to create a third column with the letters that modify the numbers in your Column B. Then sort on the basis of the three columns.
3 Replies
You shall enter numbers as texts, not just apply text format to numbers. Result is different:
SergeiBaklan I entered all of these entries manually. Now that they are in there, is there a way to convert all of them to text?
Actually, appearances to the contrary, it IS working just as it's supposed to.
The problem is that mixing numeric and alpha characters within a single cell causes a sort that to your eyes and minds (as well as mine, I'll admit) seems wrong. But try turning it back from text to numbers and entering the following as a column of numbers. 1,1b,1c,2,3 and sort. The result will be 1,2,3,1b,1c. Yep, 1b follows rather than preceding, numbers 2 and 3. And so on down the line.
What you need to do if you want it to sort based on how you apparently want it to sort, is to create a third column with the letters that modify the numbers in your Column B. Then sort on the basis of the three columns.
