Question

Visual Basic Sort Method for Letters and #'s

Asked by: kesea

Does anyone have a good algorithm for sorting letters with #'s?  What I get when I do my sort is Alphabetical, but it screws up the numbers, so say I have

W1 to W20

When I sort it I get
W1, W11, W12, W13, W14, W15, W16, W17, W18, W19, W2, W20, W3, W4, W5, W6

But what I want is for the numbers to be sorted according to #.
W1, W2, W3, W4, W5... W18, W19, W20.

Anyone seen a sort like this?

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Asked On
2008-05-22 at 21:42:32ID23426635
Tags

Visual Basic .net

Topic

Microsoft Visual Basic.Net

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Answers

 

by: rachitkohliPosted on 2008-05-22 at 21:44:19ID: 21629463

You can sort it.
While sorting, replace the constant code (i.e. in your case "W") & then perform  a sort.

By the way how are you sorting this

 

by: jpaulinoPosted on 2008-05-22 at 23:26:36ID: 21629772

The bettet way I know is to change W1 to W01 and then sort it. After that, and if you need, just remove the zeros again.

 

by: NerdwoodPosted on 2008-05-23 at 01:21:02ID: 21630325

Hi

This little beast is nice and over-complicated. It will sort pretty much anything like what you're wanting.

It breaks each element of the array to be sorted into text/numeric chunks and sorts each individually, therefore overcoming any data type mismatch problems (i.e. your numbers being sorted as text).

E.g.

W11    ->    A3
W9      ->    AA9
W3      ->    AA21
C4       ->    AB12
C19     ->    C4
W6      ->    C19
W17    ->    CA3
W8      ->    CA12
W12    ->    CZ1
A3       ->    D10
W1      ->    FED45C
W13    ->    FED45S
D10     ->    FED45Z
W14    ->    FZA14
W20    ->    W1
Z16     ->    W3
Z7       ->    W5
W18    ->    W6
W5      ->    W8
W15    ->    W9
AB12   ->    W11
AA21   ->    W12
CA3     ->    W13
CA12   ->    W14
CZ1     ->    W15
FZA14 ->    W17
FED45Z ->   W18
FED45S ->   W20
FED45C ->   Z7
AA9      ->   Z16

Sub TestSuperSort()
 
    Dim sortArray(0 To 29) As String
    Dim arrayCount As Integer
    
    'Initialise array
    sortArray(0) = "W11"
    sortArray(1) = "W9"
    sortArray(2) = "W3"
    sortArray(3) = "C4"
    sortArray(4) = "C19"
    sortArray(5) = "W6"
    sortArray(6) = "W17"
    sortArray(7) = "W8"
    sortArray(8) = "W12"
    sortArray(9) = "A3"
    sortArray(10) = "W1"
    sortArray(11) = "W13"
    sortArray(12) = "D10"
    sortArray(13) = "W14"
    sortArray(14) = "W20"
    sortArray(15) = "Z16"
    sortArray(16) = "Z7"
    sortArray(17) = "W18"
    sortArray(18) = "W5"
    sortArray(19) = "W15"
    sortArray(20) = "AB12"
    sortArray(21) = "AA21"
    sortArray(22) = "CA3"
    sortArray(23) = "CA12"
    sortArray(24) = "CZ1"
    sortArray(25) = "FZA14"
    sortArray(26) = "FED45Z"
    sortArray(27) = "FED45S"
    sortArray(28) = "FED45C"
    sortArray(29) = "AA9"
    
    'Display unsorted array to worksheet
    For arrayCount = 0 To UBound(sortArray)
        Cells(arrayCount + 1, 1).Value = sortArray(arrayCount)
    Next arrayCount
    
    'Sort array
    If (SuperSort(sortArray)) Then
        'Display sorted array to adjacent column on worksheet
        For arrayCount = 0 To UBound(sortArray)
            Cells(arrayCount + 1, 2).Value = sortArray(arrayCount)
        Next arrayCount
    Else
        Cells(1, 2).Value = "Error sorting array"
    End If
 
End Sub
 
Function SuperSort(ByRef sortArray() As String) As Boolean
 
    Dim value1() As String
    Dim value2() As String
    Dim tmpValue1, tmpValue2 As String
    Dim isNumber As Boolean
    Dim sectionStart, noSections As Integer
    Dim i, j, k As Integer
    
    
    '''''''''''
    'Sort array
    '''''''''''
    
    'Breaks each array element into "chunks" of the same type,
    'matching up text against text & numeric against numeric
    
    'Loop through each array element
    For i = 0 To UBound(sortArray)
        For j = i To UBound(sortArray)
            
            ReDim value1(0)
            ReDim value2(0)
            
            'Split first value into array - each element of different data type
            isNumber = IsNumeric(Left(sortArray(i), 1))
            sectionStart = 1
            For k = 2 To Len(sortArray(i))
                If (IsNumeric(Mid(sortArray(i), k, 1)) <> isNumber) Then
                    'Store section in array
                    value1(UBound(value1)) = Mid(sortArray(i), sectionStart, k - sectionStart)
                    ReDim Preserve value1(UBound(value1) + 1)
                    
                    'Update section start values
                    isNumber = IsNumeric(Mid(sortArray(i), k, 1))
                    sectionStart = k
                End If
            Next k
            value1(UBound(value1)) = Mid(sortArray(i), sectionStart, k - sectionStart)
            
            'Split second value into array - each element of different data type
            isNumber = IsNumeric(Left(sortArray(j), 1))
            sectionStart = 1
            For k = 2 To Len(sortArray(j))
                If (IsNumeric(Mid(sortArray(j), k, 1)) <> isNumber) Then
                    'Store section in array
                    value2(UBound(value2)) = Mid(sortArray(j), sectionStart, k - sectionStart)
                    ReDim Preserve value2(UBound(value2) + 1)
                    
                    'Update section start values
                    isNumber = IsNumeric(Mid(sortArray(j), k, 1))
                    sectionStart = k
                End If
            Next k
            value2(UBound(value2)) = Mid(sortArray(j), sectionStart, k - sectionStart)
            
            'Find shortest array
            If (UBound(value1) < UBound(value2)) Then
                noSections = UBound(value1)
            Else
                noSections = UBound(value2)
            End If
            
            'Compare value arrays to each other
            For k = 0 To noSections
                'Check if numeric
                If (IsNumeric(value1(k))) Then
                    If (CInt(value1(k)) < CInt(value2(k))) Then
                        Exit For
                    ElseIf (CInt(value1(k)) > CInt(value2(k))) Then
                        tmpValue1 = sortArray(i)
                        tmpValue2 = sortArray(j)
                        sortArray(i) = tmpValue2
                        sortArray(j) = tmpValue1
                        Exit For
                    End If
                Else
                    If (value1(k) < value2(k)) Then
                        Exit For
                    ElseIf (value1(k) > value2(k)) Then
                        tmpValue1 = sortArray(i)
                        tmpValue2 = sortArray(j)
                        sortArray(i) = tmpValue2
                        sortArray(j) = tmpValue1
                        Exit For
                    End If
                End If
            Next k
        Next j
    Next i
    
    SuperSort = True
    
End Function
                                              
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by: Idle_MindPosted on 2008-05-23 at 07:10:10ID: 21632257

What version VB?

What are the values being stored in?

Will the values always only have "W" in front of them followed by a number?

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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