software

Hello,

This seems similar to Jaffo's problem of today, but a little
different.

I am entering some numbers as part of a decimal classification scheme
similar to the version numbers used in computer programs or the
chapters and subchapters in some books and reports. It is in the form
of quot;1.1.1, 1.1.2 ....quot;

I am trying to get Excel to recognize this format as numbers rather
than text so that numbers like 1.1.10 are sorted in the proper sequence
and go after 1.1.9. I tried entering quot;#.#.#quot; and even quot;##.##.##quot; in the
Format Cells - Special box, but nothing changed when I pasted the
numbers into the cells.

Is there a way of doing this or will I need to parse this
classification number into separate Excel columns?

Thanks,

George--
GStrawley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GStrawley's Profile: www.excelforum.com/member.php...oamp;userid=26968
View this thread: www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=505811George,
I have been pondering on this problem for some time now. I can only
contribute this thought: If we replace 1 with A, 2 with B, 10 with J
etc, we ignore the quot;.quot; and concatenate, then the words that are
created, if sorted alphanumerically, they will produce the desired
order.

However, there does not seem to be a single-cell formula that will do
this, it seems you have to break down in columns with something like:

=CHAR(64 MID(A1, 1, FIND(quot;.quot;,A1)-1))
=CHAR(64 MID(A1, FIND(quot;.quot;,A1) 1,
FIND(quot;.quot;,A1,FIND(quot;.quot;,A1) 1)-FIND(quot;.quot;,A1)-1)))
etc,
or using helper columns to find the positions of the dots.

So yes, it seems that parsing is necessary, unless one builds a UDF to
produce the equivalent word in a single cell.

HTH
Kostis VezeridesGeorge,

A lot of discussion has gone on about this type of sort...
groups.google.co.uk/groups?as...el.*amp;lr=amp;hl=en

Also, David McRitchie has quite a bit of information...
www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/sorttcp.htm

Jim Cone
San Francisco, USA
www.officeletter.com/blink/specialsort.htmlquot;GStrawleyquot; wrote in message
Hello,
This seems similar to Jaffo's problem of today, but a little different.
I am entering some numbers as part of a decimal classification scheme
similar to the version numbers used in computer programs or the
chapters and subchapters in some books and reports. It is in the form
of quot;1.1.1, 1.1.2 ....quot;

I am trying to get Excel to recognize this format as numbers rather
than text so that numbers like 1.1.10 are sorted in the proper sequence
and go after 1.1.9. I tried entering quot;#.#.#quot; and even quot;##.##.##quot; in the
Format Cells - Special box, but nothing changed when I pasted the
numbers into the cells.

Is there a way of doing this or will I need to parse this
classification number into separate Excel columns?
Thanks,
George