Apple Numbers: properly sorting a code of letters and numbers

[Thijs Moonen]

Hi all,

My problem is as follows:

I have a column in Apple Numbers which uses a numberings system combining letters and numbers:

A1, A2, A3 ... A10, A11, ... B1, B2, ...B10, B11..., C1, C2 ...

When I try to sort the column ascending, it does not sort as I would expect it to

A1, A2, ..., A9, A10, A11) but rather

A1, A10, A11, A12, A13, ... A2, A21, ... A3, A31, ...



Does anyone know how to resolve this?

Cheers,

Thijs

 

[dholaday]

Excel will do the same thing when you are using alphanumerics. Solution I have found is to use leading zeroes, i.e., A1 becomes A01, A2 becomes A02, etc. I don't know if the same problem exists in the 100s.

Or you could use decimals. 11 becomes 1.1, for instance.


Duncan

 

[notrack]

Depending on how much effort you are willing to put in to this, I can only think of two extra columns for the letters and the numbers. With LEFT and RIGHT you can separate them an keep tose columns hidden. Be sure to fill the entire columns with these formulas so that they get auto filled when add ing rows.

 

[Thijs Moonen]

Excel will do the same thing when you are using alphanumerics. Solution I have found is to use leading zeroes, i.e., A1 becomes A01, A2 becomes A02, etc. I don't know if the same problem exists in the 100s.

Or you could use decimals. 11 becomes 1.1, for instance.


Duncan

Thanks Duncan, and Notrack also. I will go with this solution (the problem persists in the 100s and 1000s, so I will go with A001 (counting to 999 will be enough).

I'm always a bit sad when computers think differently from humans...

Have a great day guys!

Thijs

 

[neutrino23]

Curiously, the Finder is smart enough to sort things correctly. If you name some files like this and sort by name you get:

A1
A2
A3
A11
A22
A33

and not
A1
A11
A2
A22
A3
A33