Marsh,

Thanks for the update.

Technically, I could do without all those you mention below save the 1PG
which is a part of my product line. If this helps, then by all means
ignore the other ones.

Thx

Tom

On Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:49:43 -0500, Marshall Barton
wrote:

Tom wrote:
[snip a whole lot[
I do not have to deal with any part numbers with these characters. I only
have to deal with dots and dashes.

I have tried to show the proper sorting of the numbers based on the left,
middle and right parts of the number.

A 1.?? comes before a 11.?? and before a 111.??
A 1.1 comes before a 1.11 and comes before a 1.111, etc.


Just to let you know that I have not forgotten you and I am
still trying to figure something out as time permits.

I think I may have part of it, but even though I have a fair
amount of experience with weird sorts, this one is a pretty
tough nut to crack. In particular, these troublesome ones:

11-11A12,##a,##,a##
111-D1,###a,a#,s
11A11A,##a,##,a
1PG,s,#,aa
SNA6A24D,aaa,#,a##a
TSSRD200A,aaaaa,###,a

seem to defy any logic I have come up with so far. What
works for some of them won't work for others
--
Tom