How to sort numbers within a cell in Excel?

It is easy and common for us to sort numbers in a list of column, but have you ever tried to sort numbers within a single cell? May be there is no good way for you except arrange them one by one, here, I will talk about how to sort numbers within cells in Excel.

Sort numbers within cells with formula

Sort numbers within cells with User Defined Function

Sort numbers which separated by commas within cells with VBA code

Sort numbers within cells with formula

To sort numbers within cells in a worksheet, you can apply the following long formula, please do as this:

1. Next to your data, please enter the following formula, in this example, I will type it into cell C1, see screenshot:

=TEXT(SUM(SMALL(--MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))))*10^(LEN(A1)-ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))))),REPT("0",LEN(A1)))

2. Then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter keys together, then drag the fill handle over to the range that you want to apply this formula, and you will get the numbers have been sorted from small to large. See screenshot:

Notes:

1. If the digit of the number is more than 15 in the cell, this formula will not get the correct result.

2. If you want to sort the numbers in descending order, you can use this formula: =TEXT(SUM(LARGE(--MID(A1,ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))),1),ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))))*10^(LEN(A1)-ROW(INDIRECT("1:"&LEN(A1))))),REPT("0",LEN(A1))).

3. In the above formulas, A1 indicates the cell which contains the numbers you want to sort, you can change it to your need.

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Sort numbers within cells with User Defined Function

As there are some limitations of the formula, you can use the following User Defined Function to sort numbers in cells longer than 15 digits.

1. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys, and it opens the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module Window.

VBA code: Sort numbers within cells

Function SortNumsInCell(pNum As String, Optional pOrder As Boolean) As String
'Update 20140717
Dim xOutput As String
For i = 0 To 9
  For j = 1 To UBound(VBA.Split(pNum, i))
    xOutput = IIf(pOrder, i & xOutput, xOutput & i)
  Next
Next
SortNumsInCell = xOutput
End Function

3. Then save and close this code, go back to your worksheet, and enter this formula =sortnumsincell(A1) into a blank cell next to your data, see screenshot:

4. And then drag the fill handle to the cells that you want to contain this formula, and all the numbers in the cells have been sorted in ascending order as following screenshot shown:

Note: If you want to sort the numbers in descending order, please enter this formula =sortnumsincell(A1,1).

Sort numbers which separated by commas within cells with VBA code

If your numbers are separated by certain characters such as comma, semicolon, period and so on as following screenshot, how could you sort them in cells? Now, I introduce a VBA code for you to sort them.

1. Hold down the ALT + F11 keys to open the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.

2. Click Insert > Module, and paste the following code in the Module Window.

VBA code: Sort numbers are separated by commas within cells

Sub SortNumsInRange()
'Update 20140717
Dim Rng As Range
Dim WorkRng As Range
Dim Arr As Variant
On Error Resume Next
xTitleId = "KutoolsforExcel"
Set WorkRng = Application.Selection
Set WorkRng = Application.InputBox("Range", xTitleId, WorkRng.Address, Type:=8)
Set objArrayList = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
For Each Rng In WorkRng
    Arr = VBA.Split(Rng.Value, ",")
    For i = 0 To UBound(Arr)
        xMin = i
        For j = i + 1 To UBound(Arr)
            If Arr(xMin) > Arr(j) Then
                xMin = j
            End If
        Next j
        If xMin <> i Then
            temp = Arr(i)
            Arr(i) = Arr(xMin)
            Arr(xMin) = temp
        End If
    Next i
    Rng.Value = VBA.Join(Arr, ",")
Next
End Sub

3. Then press F5 key to run this code, and then select your cells which contain the numbers in the popped out prompt box, see screenshot:

4. And then click OK, all the numbers in the cells have been sorted ascendingly in the original range.

Note: You can change the comma “,” to any other characters as you need in the above code. And this code only can sort data ascendingly.

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