Sorting a table so matching data types are within same column

[jwalkerack]

Hi there ,

everyone , i was wondering if anyone has some ideas on the best way of sorting a table on row inputs.

What i have is a table that has a many columns of information . The columns are in sections , i have used the example of a race details. There is a row of data for each race. Then there are entries for each person, in blocks of for, the person ID for the race , the person , the start time and finsh time. At the order of how each column within each row is unordered. i have pasted in an example below.

	1	2	3	4	5
	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time
1	1	John	10	60	2	Jim	100	200	3	James	0	600	4	Joanna	60	360	5	Jennifer	100	600
2	6	James	10	120	7	Jim	30	150	8	Joanna	50	150

<COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 56pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2742" width=75><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 54pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2633" width=72><COL style="WIDTH: 63pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3072" width=84><COL style="WIDTH: 73pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3547" width=97><COL style="WIDTH: 62pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3035" width=83><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 89pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 4315" width=118><COL style="WIDTH: 79pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3840" width=105><COL style="WIDTH: 70pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3401" width=93><COL style="WIDTH: 54pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2633" width=72><COL style="WIDTH: 65pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3145" width=86><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=2 width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 56pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2706" width=74><COL style="WIDTH: 61pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2962" width=81><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=4 width=64><TBODY>
</TBODY>

i would like to be able to have my the able so it is formatted so all of the entries are columinised. i was intially thinking that i could do this by ordering the inputs alphabetically. But this would only give the ranges as they come in.


My ideal output would be comes as below , so its alphabetical and ordered in a column fashion , with all the james in a column and all the Jims in the same column of data.

Any ideas on the best functions formulas to use ?, thanks very much

	1	2	3	4	5
	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time	Person_id	Person	Start time	Finsh Time
1	3	James	0	600	5	Jennifer	100	600	2	Jim	100	200	4	Joanna	60	360	1	John	10	60
2	6	James	10	120					7	Jim	30	150	8	Joanna	50	150

<COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 56pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2742" width=75><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 54pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2633" width=72><COL style="WIDTH: 63pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3072" width=84><COL style="WIDTH: 73pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3547" width=97><COL style="WIDTH: 62pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3035" width=83><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 89pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 4315" width=118><COL style="WIDTH: 79pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3840" width=105><COL style="WIDTH: 70pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3401" width=93><COL style="WIDTH: 54pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2633" width=72><COL style="WIDTH: 65pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3145" width=86><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=2 width=64><COL style="WIDTH: 56pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2706" width=74><COL style="WIDTH: 61pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 2962" width=81><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=4 width=64><TBODY>
</TBODY>