Sort Method

Microsoft Excel Visual Basic

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Sort Method

       

Sorts a PivotTable report, a range, or the active region if the specified range contains only one cell.

expression.Sort(Key1, Order1, Key2, Type, Order2, Key3, Order3, Header, OrderCustom, MatchCase, Orientation, SortMethod, DataOption1, DataOption2, DataOption3)

expression   Required. An expression that returns one of the objects in the Applies To list.

Key1  Optional Variant. The first sort field, as either text (a PivotTable field or range name) or a Range object ("Dept" or Cells(1, 1), for example).

Order1  Optional XlSortOrder. The sort order for the field or range specified in Key1.

XlSortOrder can be one of these XlSortOrder constants.
xlDescending. Sorts Key1 in descending order.
xlAscending default. Sorts Key1 in ascending order.

Key2  Optional Variant. The second sort field, as either text (a PivotTable field or range name) or a Range object. If you omit this argument, there’s no second sort field.  Cannot be used when sorting Pivot Table reports.

Type  Optional Variant. Specifies which elements are to be sorted. Use this argument only when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortType can be one of these XlSortType constants.
xlSortLabels. Sorts the PivotTable report by labels.
xlSortValues. Sorts the PivotTable report by values.

Order2  Optional XlSortOrder.  The sort order for the field or range specified in Key2. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortOrder can be one of these XlSortOrder constants.
xlDescending. Sorts Key2 in descending order.
xlAscending default. Sorts Key2 in ascending order.

Key3  Optional Variant. The third sort field, as either text (a range name) or a Range object. If you omit this argument, there’s no third sort field.  Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

Order3  Optional XlSortOrder.  The sort order for the field or range specified in Key3. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortOrder can be one of these XlSortOrder constants.
xlDescending. Sorts Key3 in descending order.
xlAscending default. Sorts Key3 in ascending order.

Header  Optional XlYesNoGuess.  Specifies whether or not the first row contains headers. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlYesNoGuess can be one of these XlYesNoGuess constants.
xlGuess. Let Microsoft Excel determine whether there’s a header, and to determine where it is, if there is one.
xlNo default. (The entire range should be sorted).
xlYes. (The entire range should not be sorted).

OrderCustom  Optional Variant. This argument is a one-based integer offset to the list of custom sort orders. If you omit OrderCustom, a normal sort is used.

MatchCase  Optional Variant. True to do a case-sensitive sort; False to do a sort that’s not case sensitive. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

Orientation  Optional XlSortOrientation.   The sort orientation.

XlSortOrientation can be one of these XlSortOrientation constants.
xlSortRows default. Sorts by row.
xlSortColumns. Sorts by column.

SortMethod  Optional XlSortMethod.  The type of sort. Some of these constants may not be available to you, depending on the language support (U.S. English, for example) that you’ve selected or installed.

XlSortMethod can be one of these XlSortMethod constants.
xlStroke Sorting by the quantity of strokes in each character.
xlPinYin default. Phonetic Chinese sort order for characters.

DataOption1  Optional XlSortDataOption. Specifies how to sort text in key 1. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortDataOption can be one of these XlSortDataOption constants.
xlSortTextAsNumbers. Treat text as numeric data for the sort.
xlSortNormal default. Sorts numeric and text data separately.

DataOption2  Optional XlSortDataOption. Specifies how to sort text in key 2. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortDataOption can be one of these XlSortDataOption constants.
xlSortTextAsNumbers. Treats text as numeric data for the sort.
xlSortNormal default. Sorts numeric and text data separately.

DataOption3  Optional XlSortDataOption. Specifies how to sort text in key 3. Cannot be used when sorting PivotTable reports.

XlSortDataOption can be one of these XlSortDataOption constants.
xlSortTextAsNumbers. Treats text as numeric data for the sort.
xlSortNormal default. Sorts numeric and text data separately.

Remarks

The settings for Header, Order1, Order2, Order3, OrderCustom, and Orientation are saved, for the particular worksheet, each time you use this method. If you don’t specify values for these arguments the next time you call the method, the saved values are used.  Set these arguments explicitly each time you use Sort method, if you choose not to use the saved values.

Text strings which are not convertible to numeric data are sorted normally.

Note   If no arguments are defined with the Sort method, Microsoft Excel will sort the selection, chosen to be sorted, in ascending order.

Example

This example sorts the range A1:C20 on Sheet1, using cell A1 as the first sort key and cell B1 as the second sort key. The sort is done in ascending order by row, and there are no headers.  This example assumes there is data in the range A1:C20.

Sub SortRange1()

    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1:C20").Sort _
        Key1:=Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1"), _
        Key2:=Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("B1")

End Sub

This example sorts the region that contains cell A1 (the active region) on Sheet1, sorting by the data in the first column and automatically using a header row if one exists. This example assumes there is data in the active region, which includes cell A1. The Sort method determines the active region automatically.

Sub SortRange2()

    Worksheets("Sheet1").Range("A1").Sort _
        Key1:=Worksheets("Sheet1").Columns("A"), _
        Header:=xlGuess

End Sub