Challenge for all! Sort this!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gerard
  • Start date Start date
G

Gerard

ladies and gentlemen i have a challenge for you all. i wish to sor
cattle details using excel. i download the details from the departmen
of agriculture as follows;
UK 9 12345 678 6
UK 9 12345 679 7
UK 9 12345 680 1
UK 9 12345 681 2
where the "UK 9" is constant,
the "12345" is the herd number of animals-which i do not wish to sort,
the "678" is the individual animal's number, which i wish the animal
to be sorted in order of,
and the "1"-"7" is a "check number", every animal has the random numbe
1-7 at the end of their number.
As you can see, there are spaces between each different bit o
information.

you may think that this is easy, but what makes it more complicate
is;
the herd number, (e.g. 12345) is not necessarily 5 digits long, it ca
range from about 4 to 8 digits, also in my herd of cattle there is
wide variety of herd numbers, therefore not all 5 digits herd number
are the same.

to make matters more complicated, there are also animals in my her
which are in a slightly different format;
314159-180-N
314159-181-O
314159-182-P
314159-183-Q
where there is no "UK 9"
the "314159" is the herd number of animals-which i do not wish t
sort,
the "180" is the individual animals number, which i wish the animals t
be sorted in order of,
and the "A-Z" is a "check letter", every animals has the random lette
"A-Z" at the end of their number.
As you can see, there are "-" between each different bit o
information.

if you would be able to tell me how to sort the animals numbers i woul
greatly appriciate it.
if i cannot arrange both formats of data in order of animals number a
the same time, but can arrange each format of data in order of animal
number individually, i would still greatly appriciate it!

Thanks a million
Gerar
 
by the way, i use microsoft excel 2000, though if you could tell me ho
to do it in any version i think i could work it out! :
 
sorry for posting three times in a row, but if you want to e-mail me,
e-mail;
(e-mail address removed)
or
(e-mail address removed)
thanks,
Gerard
 
If all of the cows have a three digit number and your check number is always
1 digit
try a helper column with
=right(A1,5)
copy down and sort all on this column
if the cows can have other than 3 digits, it gets more complicated but not
much,
 
Several questions need answers to affect a solution:

- Are the numbers you import (e.g. UK 9 12345 678 6) placed into
single cell?
- You don't want to sort herd numbers, so you want each individua
animal's number sorted within a grouping of a specific herd numbe
(as in your example-all of herd A, 001-999 then all of herd B
001-999) --or-- sort by animal number (001-999) regardless of her
number?
- Can two or more animals have the same animal number, but differen
'random' numbers (e.g. 678 5; 678 6; 678 Z)?


I envision using Text to Columns to separate your numbers into columns
You would have to do this in phases, as some numbers have spaces a
delimiters and other have dashes. Then line up your columns, as som
have the UK 9, some don't. Then applying auto-filter and then sortin
by animal number.

More info, pleas
 
Gerard,
If I understood correctly, you only want to sort by the animal number
only and disregard all other information, incl. the check
number/letter.

If this is so, the following formula, tested against your data, has
isolated the animal number for both types of codes:

=IF(ISNUMBER(FIND("-",A1)),
MID(A1,FIND("-",A1)+1,FIND("-",A1,FIND("-",A1)+1)-FIND("-",A1)-1),MID(A1,FIND("
",A1,6)+1, FIND(" ",A1,FIND(" ",A1,6)+1)-FIND(" ",A1,6)-1))

With this helper column you should now be able to sort. Write back if
you need something else.

HTH
Kostis Vezerides
 
ladies and gentlemen i have a challenge for you all. i wish to sort
cattle details using excel. i download the details from the department
of agriculture as follows;
UK 9 12345 678 6
UK 9 12345 679 7
UK 9 12345 680 1
UK 9 12345 681 2
where the "UK 9" is constant,
the "12345" is the herd number of animals-which i do not wish to sort,
the "678" is the individual animal's number, which i wish the animals
to be sorted in order of,
and the "1"-"7" is a "check number", every animal has the random number
1-7 at the end of their number.
As you can see, there are spaces between each different bit of
information.

you may think that this is easy, but what makes it more complicated
is;
the herd number, (e.g. 12345) is not necessarily 5 digits long, it can
range from about 4 to 8 digits, also in my herd of cattle there is a
wide variety of herd numbers, therefore not all 5 digits herd numbers
are the same.

to make matters more complicated, there are also animals in my herd
which are in a slightly different format;
314159-180-N
314159-181-O
314159-182-P
314159-183-Q
where there is no "UK 9"
the "314159" is the herd number of animals-which i do not wish to
sort,
the "180" is the individual animals number, which i wish the animals to
be sorted in order of,
and the "A-Z" is a "check letter", every animals has the random letter
"A-Z" at the end of their number.
As you can see, there are "-" between each different bit of
information.

if you would be able to tell me how to sort the animals numbers i would
greatly appriciate it.
if i cannot arrange both formats of data in order of animals number at
the same time, but can arrange each format of data in order of animals
number individually, i would still greatly appriciate it!

Thanks a million
Gerard
Click to expand...

I'm just learning about "regular expressions" and they seem ideal for this. Of
course, you have to install Longre's free morefunc.xll add-in (available at
http://xcell05.free.fr/).

The following formula will extract the second to last "word" of your data,
whether separated by <space> or "-" 's.

=REGEX.MID(A1,"[^[:punct:]\s]+",-2)

Given your examples, it returns:

314159-180-N
314159-181-O
314159-182-P
314159-183-Q
UK 9 12345 678 6
UK 9 12345 679 7
UK 9 12345 680 1
UK 9 12345 681 2

To extract the second to last word using built-in Excel functions is certainly
possible, but it's a bit less flexible.

If your animal numbers are always three digits, and the check number or letter
follows and is only one character, then the simple:

=MID(A1,LEN(A1)-4,3)

will work. But more complex situations may be more difficult, depending on
your ranges.

In either of the above, you then sort on your "helper column".


--ron
 
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