Alphanumeric data sorting made easy

Alphanumeric data consist of a combination of both letters and numbers. If you often use alphanumeric data in your worksheets, such as product codes, customer IDs, and case numbers, it's easy to get frustrated when you attempt to sort. With a good understanding of how Excel sorts alphanumeric data, you'll find it much easier to analyze your data after you've sorted.

Excel sorts alphanumeric data from left to right, character by character, using the following ascending sort order:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 space ! " # $ % & ( ) * , . / : ; ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { | } ~ + < = > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

For example, in an ascending sort, Alpha5 precedes Alpha6, M106 precedes N50, and beta@example.com precedes betaz@sample.com.

In addition, Excel ignores apostrophes (') and hyphens (-) when sorting. However, if two entries are identical but one contains a hyphen, Excel sorts the hyphenated entry after the entry without a hyphen.