Sorting (single and multi-column) in Google Sheets - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

📊 Formula Result

intermediate

Sorting a Single Column Alphabetically

You have a list of names in cells A2:A6:

Anna, John, Mike, Zoe, Bob

Which formula will sort these names alphabetically in ascending order?

A =SORT(A2:A6, 1, FALSE)

B =SORT(A2:A6, 0, TRUE)

C =SORT(A2:A6, 2, TRUE)

D =SORT(A2:A6, 1, TRUE)

💡 Hint

Remember, TRUE means ascending order and the second argument is the column index to sort by.

The SORT function syntax is SORT(range, sort_column, is_ascending). Here, the range is A2:A6, sorting by the first column (1), ascending (TRUE).

📊 Formula Result

intermediate

Sorting by Date in Descending Order

You have dates in cells B2:B7:

2023-01-10, 2022-12-25, 2023-03-01, 2022-11-15, 2023-01-01, 2022-12-31

Which formula sorts these dates from newest to oldest?

A =SORT(B2:B7, 2, FALSE)

B =SORT(B2:B7, 1, FALSE)

C =SORT(B2:B7, 1, TRUE)

D =SORT(B2:B7, 0, FALSE)

💡 Hint

Descending order means FALSE for the third argument.

SORT(range, sort_column, is_ascending) with is_ascending FALSE sorts descending. Here, sort_column is 1 because B2:B7 is a single column.

📊 Formula Result

advanced

Sorting by Multiple Columns

You have a table with names in column A and scores in column B:

A2:A6: Anna, John, Mike, Zoe, Bob
B2:B6: 85, 92, 85, 92, 85

You want to sort the table first by scores descending, then by names ascending.

Which formula achieves this?

A =SORT(A2:B6, 2, TRUE, 1, FALSE)

B =SORT(A2:B6, 1, TRUE, 2, FALSE)

C =SORT(A2:B6, 2, FALSE, 1, TRUE)

D =SORT(A2:B6, 1, FALSE, 2, TRUE)

💡 Hint

The SORT function can take multiple pairs of sort_column and is_ascending arguments.

SORT(range, sort_column1, is_ascending1, sort_column2, is_ascending2) sorts first by column 2 descending (FALSE), then by column 1 ascending (TRUE).

🎯 Scenario

advanced

Sorting a Table with Dates and Text

You have a table with event names in column A and event dates in column B:

A2:A7: Meeting, Workshop, Seminar, Conference, Webinar, Training
B2:B7: 2023-05-10, 2023-04-15, 2023-05-10, 2023-03-20, 2023-04-15, 2023-05-10

You want to sort the table by date ascending, then by event name ascending.

Which formula will correctly sort this table?

A =SORT(A2:B7, 2, TRUE, 1, TRUE)

B =SORT(A2:B7, 2, FALSE, 1, FALSE)

C =SORT(A2:B7, 1, TRUE, 2, TRUE)

D =SORT(A2:B7, 1, FALSE, 2, TRUE)

💡 Hint

Remember the order of sorting columns and their ascending/descending flags.

SORT(A2:B7, 2, TRUE, 1, TRUE) sorts first by date ascending (column 2), then by event name ascending (column 1).

❓ data_analysis

expert

Analyzing Sort Output with Mixed Data Types

You have this data in columns A and B:

A2:A6: 10, 2, 30, 4, 25
B2:B6: Apple, Banana, Cherry, Date, Elderberry

You apply the formula:

=SORT(A2:B6, 1, TRUE)

What will be the value in cell B3 of the sorted output?

A Apple

B Cherry

C Date

D Banana

💡 Hint

Look at the sorted order of column A and match the corresponding B values.

Sorting column A ascending gives: 2,4,10,25,30. The third smallest number is 10, which corresponds to 'Apple' in column B.