sorting numbers in a column

[kailuamike]

Problem: The numbers I am sorting are composed of various numbers of
integers, some having four digits, others five or six, and so on. I
would like to have them sort by number regardless of number of digits.
Will Excel let me do this?
example: presently it looks like this:
3004
12001656
530393505
2200498378

and I really want it to sort like this:
12001656
2200498378
3004
530393505

Can this be done?

 

[Max]

One way is to use a helper col to convert the col of numbers to text,
then sort both cols by the helper col

Assume the numbers are in A1 down
Put in B1, copy down: =TEXT(A1,"@")
Now sort both cols A & B by col B, ascending

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Kailua,
A user defined function as follows will convert everything
to text and allow for leading zeros which you have not shown.

Function ShowAsText(cell) returns string
ShowAsText = "'" & cell.text 'single quote within double quotes
End Function

B1 = ShowAsText(A1)
or
B1 = personal.xls!ShowAsText(A1)

Would suggest formatting the B column as text, but the above
function will precede by a single quote so you don't have to format
as text before using the fill handle to fill down.