sorting a concatenated cell

[wmack]

I have a cell that is entered FIRSTNAME, LAST NAME. What I have done is using TRIM LEFT MID and Finally Concatenate, switched the First name with the last name in a different column. Now all I want to be able to do is to sort the cells alphabetically. I am sure that I need to use another approach to this.

[raypayette]

It seems to me that you should have sorted the data before concatenating them!

[wmack]

well I can sort the data by the first name, but i want to sort it by the last name. I have 3 years worth of data, so just changing the entry method in not an option. Sorting a list of Dr's by first name is only so useful....

[Dave Peterson]

Use =Trim(), =Left(), and =Mid() to separate the names into parts once more.

But this time, don't delete those pieces. Just hide the columns if you want.

Then you can sort by each piece.

In fact, you can use a formula to concatenate the pieces into the full name.
But I'd do the data entry using those idividual fields.

wmack wrote:
>
> I have a cell that is entered FIRSTNAME, LAST NAME. What I have done is
> using TRIM LEFT MID and Finally Concatenate, switched the First name
> with the last name in a different column. Now all I want to be able to
> do is to sort the cells alphabetically. I am sure that I need to use
> another approach to this.
>
> --
> wmack
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> wmack's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=37801
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--

Dave Peterson