Formula to find highest alphabetic name in a list of names

[Grd]

Hi,

I tried using the max function to find the highest name eg Zachary but it
only seems to work with numbers. I am I doing something wrong?

Is there some function to find the highest name in a list of names.

Its driving me crazy. Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sandra

[Ron Rosenfeld]

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:23:09 -0800, Grd <Grd@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I tried using the max function to find the highest name eg Zachary but it
>only seems to work with numbers. I am I doing something wrong?
>
>Is there some function to find the highest name in a list of names.
>
>Its driving me crazy. Any help greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks
>
>Sandra

What do you mean by "highest"?

If you mean the text string that will sort last in an Excel text sorted range,
then one way would be to download and install Longre's free morefunc.xll add-in
from http://xcell05.free.fr

Then use the formula:

=VSORT(rng)


--ron

[Domenic]

Try...

=INDEX(A2:A10,MATCH(0,IF(A2:A10<>"",COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10)),0))

....confirmed with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER, not just ENTER.

Hope this helps!

In article <33BCFF11-1667-45AE-B643-D2720B17CCD1@microsoft.com>,
Grd <Grd@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I tried using the max function to find the highest name eg Zachary but it
> only seems to work with numbers. I am I doing something wrong?
>
> Is there some function to find the highest name in a list of names.
>
> Its driving me crazy. Any help greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Sandra

[Go]

thanks ron

s

"Ron Rosenfeld" wrote:

> On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:23:09 -0800, Grd <Grd@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >Hi,
> >
> >I tried using the max function to find the highest name eg Zachary but it
> >only seems to work with numbers. I am I doing something wrong?
> >
> >Is there some function to find the highest name in a list of names.
> >
> >Its driving me crazy. Any help greatly appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks
> >
> >Sandra
>
> What do you mean by "highest"?
>
> If you mean the text string that will sort last in an Excel text sorted range,
> then one way would be to download and install Longre's free morefunc.xll add-in
> from http://xcell05.free.fr
>
> Then use the formula:
>
> =VSORT(rng)
>
>
> --ron
>

[Go]

Thanks this is what i was after. Works nicely
s

"Domenic" wrote:

> Try...
>
> =INDEX(A2:A10,MATCH(0,IF(A2:A10<>"",COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10)),0))
>
> ....confirmed with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER, not just ENTER.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> In article <33BCFF11-1667-45AE-B643-D2720B17CCD1@microsoft.com>,
> Grd <Grd@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I tried using the max function to find the highest name eg Zachary but it
> > only seems to work with numbers. I am I doing something wrong?
> >
> > Is there some function to find the highest name in a list of names.
> >
> > Its driving me crazy. Any help greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Sandra
>

[Harlan Grove]

Domenic wrote...
>Try...
>
>=INDEX(A2:A10,MATCH(0,IF(A2:A10<>"",COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10)),0))
>
>...confirmed with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER, not just ENTER.
....

You could shrink that to the nonarray formula

=LOOKUP(2,1/(COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10&"*")=0),A2:A10)

[Domenic]

Thanks Harlan! Very interesting...

In article <1142384290.449836.109910@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
"Harlan Grove" <hrlngrv@aol.com> wrote:

> Domenic wrote...
> >Try...
> >
> >=INDEX(A2:A10,MATCH(0,IF(A2:A10<>"",COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10)),0))
> >
> >...confirmed with CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER, not just ENTER.
> ...
>
> You could shrink that to the nonarray formula
>
> =LOOKUP(2,1/(COUNTIF(A2:A10,">"&A2:A10&"*")=0),A2:A10)