sorting dates with letters

[jrclinebell]

How do I sort dates with letters? AFT 1992 should be after 1991 and before 2004. Instead, after sorting AFT 1992 is placed after 2003. To me, that's out of order


1991
2004
AFT 1992
BEF 2003



This is how I originally entered the dates before sorting.


1991
AFT 1992
BEF 2003
2004

[6StringJazzer]

The results you are getting might be out of order for what you are thinking they mean, but Excel is sorting them perfectly. For sorting purposes, a cell is considered either a number or text or boolean. If they're mixed, then the numbers will be sorted first, then the text, then the boolean.

For what you are doing you need to create a second column with the sort key, then use that for sorting. You can create the second column with the formula

=VALUE(RIGHT(A1,4))

then sort both columns, using the second column as the key.

[etaf]

it will sort numbers before letters by default and will not see those entries necessarily as dates

are all the letters 3 letters with a space

you could try a helper column to sort
and extract the letters

would that help

are all dates JUST a 4 digit year

you have also posted here
https://www.mrexcel.com/board/thread...tters.1123553/
and cross posting - you should show so that people do not waste time when a solution may already be found on the other forum

[6StringJazzer]

you have also posted here
https://www.mrexcel.com/board/thread...tters.1123553/
and cross posting - you should show so that people do not waste time when a solution may already be found on the other forum

Thank you for providing that link.

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jrclinebell, there is no infraction because this is your first post but please take the time to review our rules. There aren't many, and they are all important.

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