Don't alphabetize the spaces

[Guest]

In my table, I'd like to tell Access, "Hey, you've been alphabetizing pretty
well, but would you mind just ignoring spaces from now?" For instance, Access
alphabetizes like so, as it thinks a space is a higher priority than a letter:
Mc Donnel
McDonnal
If I had my way with Access, it would alphabetize them the other way around,
just ignoring the spaces in the words.

 

[Larry Linson]

In my table, I'd like to tell Access, "Hey,
you've been alphabetizing pretty well, but
would you mind just ignoring spaces from
now?" For instance, Access alphabetizes
like so, as it thinks a space is a higher
priority than a letter:
Mc Donnel
McDonnal

Access does not "think" a space is a higher priority than a letter -- that
is the defined collating sequence for text.

If I had my way with Access, it would
alphabetize them the other way around,
just ignoring the spaces in the words.

How would it know whether a space was "in a word" or "between two words"?

In the Query you are using to retrieve the data, create a calculated Field,
using the Replace function to replace each " " with a null-string "". Then
sort on the calculated Field, which will do exactly what you want.

You can't "tell it in your table," however. That isn't one of the properties
of a table, nor can you attach code to a table.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Guest]

I'd like for it to ignore all spaces in a given query. How do I use the
Replace function?

 

[John Vinson]

I'd like for it to ignore all spaces in a given query. How do I use the
Replace function?

Type

SortKey: Replace([fieldname], " ", "")

in a vacant Field cell. Use this field for sorting.

John W. Vinson[MVP]