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Alphanumeric Sort

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    Alphanumeric Sort

    Hi Y'all.

    Still having problems sorting on alphanumeric fields.
    Some items (part numbers in list ARE numeric - that's OK. I can separate them and sort this group as a separate list. Some have leading numbers followed by a letter code - these sort OK too! eg; 123L, 465R ....etc. The problem is with leading alpha characters, as in PRT256, Prt123, BL-83, Prt-1,Prt-9, BLK-21 etc and similar.

    Is there a "simple" way to sort these by leading character then number so that: BL-83, BLK-21, Prt-1, Prt-9, PRT123, Prt256 ........
    (Upper or lower letter case is not an issue).

    Thanks.

    SteveB.

    #2
    Re: Alphanumeric Sort

    Hi Steve,

    Originally posted by GriffinNHX View Post
    Hi Y'all.

    Still having problems sorting on alphanumeric fields.
    Some items (part numbers in list ARE numeric - that's OK. I can separate them and sort this group as a separate list. Some have leading numbers followed by a letter code - these sort OK too! eg; 123L, 465R ....etc. The problem is with leading alpha characters, as in PRT256, Prt123, BL-83, Prt-1,Prt-9, BLK-21 etc and similar.

    Is there a "simple" way to sort these by leading character then number so that: BL-83, BLK-21, Prt-1, Prt-9, PRT123, Prt256 ........
    (Upper or lower letter case is not an issue).
    You haven't stated where you are sorting this list. Is it a table, or is it a list in a character variable, an array variable or what?

    Either way, you 1st have to break the object into it's parts, using various word functions.

    E.g. is the number always at the end? Can P2B-83 be a value? Is the 1st part always separated by a dash to the second part?

    Regex expressions (difficult to use, but very powerful) can separate the parts if you can. Then you can convert the numeric sections to a leading 0 string of fixed length (to better sort numbers), and concatonate it with the string only portions (probably normalized in length) and then sort on the resultant string as an "index" or similar
    Regards,

    Ira J. Perlow
    Computer Systems Design


    CSDA A5 Products
    New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
    CSDA Barcode Functions

    CSDA Code Utility
    CSDA Screen Capture


    Comment


      #3
      Re: Alphanumeric Sort

      Hi Ira:

      Thanks for your help. The data is a field in an Alpha dbf table. Part of an inventory control system. I am relatively new to Alpha 5 and not familiar with "REGEX".
      Once the field is separated, how do you sort and recombine it back to the format the user is familiar with????. The field is a 10 Character alphanumeric. Not all part numbers have leading alpha characters or hyphens. Could you provide a sample of your solution?

      "Regex expressions (difficult to use, but very powerful) can separate the parts if you can. Then you can convert the numeric sections to a leading 0 string of fixed length (to better sort numbers), and concatonate it with the string only portions (probably normalized in length) and then sort on the resultant string as an "index" or similar"

      Greatly appreciated.

      Thanks.

      SteveB.

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Alphanumeric Sort

        Hi Steve,

        Originally posted by GriffinNHX View Post
        I am relatively new to Alpha 5 and not familiar with "REGEX".
        Learn to search the Alpha Five Wiki documentation. Regex is the short version standing for Regular Expressions. Search it on Google as well.

        Originally posted by GriffinNHX View Post
        Once the field is separated, how do you sort and recombine it back to the format the user is familiar with????. The field is a 10 Character alphanumeric. Not all part numbers have leading alpha characters or hyphens. Could you provide a sample of your solution?
        I can't even try to give you a solution until you can explain the structure of the various part numbers, or explain the different format types so that software can identify the types.

        Just to be clear, results are for sorting purpose, not for display purposes. You still have your original data, you just need to create a transformation that you sort by (which for tables is typically in the index expression)
        Regards,

        Ira J. Perlow
        Computer Systems Design


        CSDA A5 Products
        New - Free CSDA DiagInfo - v1.39, 30 Apr 2013
        CSDA Barcode Functions

        CSDA Code Utility
        CSDA Screen Capture


        Comment


          #5
          Re: Alphanumeric Sort

          Hi Steve,
          If all you are wanting is a sort that is case insensitive, you can create an index for the table that converts all alpha characters to either upper or lower case. This will not affect the actual format of the fields the user sees, but will arrange the display in order so that PRT123 comes before Prt253. Also if this is in the context of a form, have you looked into the A-Z supercontrol? It has the option of adding numeric buttons to the control as well as alpha for filtering the list for the user.
          Robin

          Discernment is not needed in things that differ, but in those things that appear to be the same. - Miles Sanford

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Alphanumeric Sort

            Have you thought of creating two calculated fields. One to filter the characters and one to filter the numbers. Your sort could then be based on these two fields rather than the main field
            -----------------------------------------------
            Regards
            Mark Pearson
            [email protected]
            Youtube channel
            Website

            Comment

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