Question

I have the following data:

    a b c d f g h i j
    a b d e f h i j
    a b c d e f j k l
    a b c d e f g h m

I would like to output it (into Excel for example) as follows:

    a b c d e f g h i j
    a b   d e f   h i j
    a b c d e f       j k l
    a b c d e f g h         m

In excel terms I want to shift cells across so the text matches up in columns.

NOTE: I have used alphabetic ordering for simplicity but in reality there is no such ordering – but I need to maintain the original sequencing.

Updated Example:

    Original Data                                                   
    a   b   c   d   f   g   h   i   j                   
    a   b   d   e   f   h   i   j                       
    a   b   c   d   e   f   j   k   l                   
    a   b   x   d   e   f   g   h   m                   

    Dougs Output                                                    
    a   b   c   d           f   g   h   i   j           
    a   b       d       e   f       h   i   j           
    a   b   c   d       e   f               j   k   l   
    a   b       d   x   e   f   g   h                   m

    My Manual Output (Required) 
    a   b   c       d       f   g   h   i   j           
    a   b           d   e   f       h   i   j           
    a   b   c       d   e   f               j   k   l   
    a   b       x   d   e   f   g   h                   m

Above x occurs at index 2 but d occurs at indices 2 and 3 therefore x should come before d.

Answer 1

I have solved it in Java. There is a custom compare which looks at the max and min indices of each values and sorts on that. Then I printed them out to screen.

**Note my data is in a HashMap for reasons not explained here but it could have easily been in a simple List.

**Note excuse my inexperienced coding practices.

@Doug-Glancy if you are able to do with in VB it would be great!

ValueComparator.java

import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.Map;

public class ValueComparator implements Comparator<String> {

    private Map<String, Integer[]> base;

    public ValueComparator(Map<String, Integer[]> m) {
        this.base = m;
    }

    public int compare(String so1, String so2) {

        // get the max and min indices from each data peice
        Integer[] o1 = base.get(so1);
        Integer[] o2 = base.get(so2);

        // compare their min index first
        if (o1[0] < o2[0]) {
            return -1;
        }
        if (o1[0] == o2[0]) { //if they are the same
            if ( o1[1] < o2[1]) { // then look at the max index
                return -1;
            }
            else {
                return 1;
            }                   
        }
        else { 
            return 1;
        }
    }
}

App.java

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import localhost.ValueComparator;


public class App 
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {

        // create a list to store our original data
        ArrayList<HashMap<String, String>> keyValuePairs = new ArrayList<HashMap<String,String>>();

        // add the data to the list
        HashMap<String, String> a = new LinkedHashMap<String, String>();
        a.put("a", "1"); a.put("b", "1"); a.put("c", "1"); a.put("d", "1"); a.put("f", "1"); a.put("g", "1"); a.put("h", "1"); a.put("i", "1"); a.put("j", "1");
        keyValuePairs.add(a);

        HashMap<String, String> e = new LinkedHashMap<String, String>();
        e.put("a", "1"); e.put("b", "1"); e.put("d", "1"); e.put("e", "1"); e.put("f", "1"); e.put("h", "1"); e.put("i", "1"); e.put("j", "1");
        keyValuePairs.add(e);

        HashMap<String, String> b = new LinkedHashMap<String, String>();
        b.put("a", "1"); b.put("b", "1"); b.put("c", "1"); b.put("d", "1"); b.put("e", "1"); b.put("f", "1"); b.put("j", "1"); b.put("k", "1"); b.put("l", "1");
        keyValuePairs.add(b);

        HashMap<String, String> c = new LinkedHashMap<String, String>();
        c.put("a", "1"); c.put("b", "1"); c.put("x", "1"); c.put("d", "1"); c.put("e", "1"); c.put("f", "1"); c.put("g", "1"); c.put("h", "1"); c.put("m", "1");
        keyValuePairs.add(c);

        // create a map to store the max and min indices
        Map<String, Integer[]> m = new HashMap<String, Integer[]>();

        Integer curpos = new Integer(0);

        // loop through the data and find the max and min indices of each data (key)
        for ( Map<String,String> s : keyValuePairs) {
            curpos = 0;
            for ( String t : s.keySet() ) {

                if ( !m.containsKey(t) ){
                    // if its the first time to see the data, just add its current index as max and min
                    m.put(t,new Integer[] {curpos, curpos});

                }
                else {
                    // check if index is lower than existing minimum
                    Integer[] i = m.get(t);
                    if ( i[0] > curpos) {
                        m.put(t, new Integer[] {curpos, i[1]});
                    }
                    //check if index is greater than current maximum
                    if ( curpos > i[1] ) {
                        m.put(t, new Integer[] {i[0], curpos});
                    }
                }
                curpos++;
            }
        }

        System.out.println("The unsorted data");

        for ( HashMap<String,String> h : keyValuePairs ) {
            for ( String s : h.keySet() ) {
                System.out.print(" " + s + " ");
            }
            System.out.println();
        }
        System.out.println("\n");

        // Sort the data using our custom comparator
        ValueComparator com = new ValueComparator(m);
        List<String> toSort = new LinkedList<String>(m.keySet());
        Collections.sort(toSort, com);

        System.out.println("The sorted data");

        for ( HashMap<String,String> h : keyValuePairs) {

            for ( String s : toSort ) {
                if ( h.containsKey(s) ) {
                    System.out.print(s + " ");
                }
                else {
                    System.out.print("  ");
                }
            }
            System.out.println();
        }

    }

}