Compare, Match, and sort multi columns

This forum is very informative. Thanks for hosting such a useful site.

Now my problem could be simple, but I don't know how to start. Can someone please help me out?

What I have are about 5 columns with populated data as such:

2222 4444 1111 3333 2222
7777 8888 5555 7777 9999
1111 1111
3333
8888

I'd like to match and sort them out, so the result look like this:

1111 1111 1111
2222..............................2222
3333....................3333
.........4444
...................5555
7777....................7777
8888 8888
.....................................9999

Is there a way to sort this (without the dots)?

Thanks so much for your time.

Originally Posted by fullysic

Hi BeyondInvisible,

I don't know of any sort function in Excel that would be able to do what you're after. You could do it through a combination of formulas - I've attached a sample sheet which does what you requested. Not sure what you need this for though, so it might not meet your requirements..

Oh wow! This forum REALLY rocks!

Wow! Speechless. Quick respond and right on money.

Thanks so much Fullysic. You've save tons of hours for me!!!! Every week we have hundreds of data that we pulled from the server, and need to compare to see if those data are consistence or not.

You are AWESOME!

Thanks again. I'll try to use it tomorrow at work

Originally Posted by FDibbins

fullysic offers a good solution

to tidy it up a bit, you could have a 2nd (3rd?) table that sorts them so that there are no empty spaces on the left, by using this, copied down and across..

=IFERROR(LARGE($H3:$L3,COLUMN(A$1)),"")

Thanks so much for your function, too FDibbins. This is wonderful! Thanks thanks thanks!

Glad to help mate, just give me a yell if you have any questions regarding how it was done. Also thanks FDibbins for your input, that condenses it nicely

Just a followup.

Again, thanks for your help Fullysic and FDibbins. I've sorted a whole month worth of data using your functions and it took me......5 seconds. Unbelivable. Had I known better. The functions are pretty self-explanatory, so I was able to catch up on that. I've worked with different programs, so I rarely have a chance to work on Excel until recently.

Thanks so much again!!! Why are you so smart?