Define alphabetic sequence to sort by

[Simon]

Hello,

I would like to sort a column of words according to an alphabetic sequence
that I define. For example, a sequence could be a, Ä, i, Ä«, u, Å«, á¹›, á¹, e,
ai, o, au, k, kh, g, gh, ṅ, c, ca, j, ja, ñ etc. The above sequence is part
of the alphabet of a certain transliteration standard. Anyone know how to do
this?

Thank you.

 

[Pete_UK]

You could assign a sequence number to each of those extracts in a helper
column, and then sort on the helper column as the first sort key and the
word as the second sort key. Put your list somewhere (e.g. starting in X1)
in the order you want to sort. Then in your helper column you could have a
formula like this:

=IF(ISNA(MATCH(LEFT(A1,1),X:X,0)),MATCH(LEFT(A1,2),X:X,0),MATCH(LEFT(A1,1),X1:X,0))

This matches on the first two characters if there is no match on the first
character and returns the appropriate number, assuming your words are in
column A. Copy the formula down, then sort on both the helper column and on
column A.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[Gord Dibben]

You could add the sequence to a list in Tools>Options>Custom Lists.

The Data>Sort>Options>First Key Sort Order.

Pick from dropdown.

Although I don't know what the ? marks signify.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP