Question

Suppose I have an array arr1 which contains date values as below :

Arr1(50)=(“9/3/2012 4:57:02 AM”,”22/3/2012 5:57:02 AM”,”9/5/2012 8:57:02 AM”,”9/3/2011 4:57:02 AM”)

Edit

 Dim CellCount
 Dim Arr(10)

 CellCount=0
 Do Untill arr(CellCount)="" And Ubound(Arr)>9

  If CStr(arr(CellCount) < arr(CellCount+1)) Then

    MsgBox(arr(CellCount)&"is good")

   Else

     MsgBox(arr(CellCount +1)&"is bad")
     Exit Do

   End if

CellCount=CellCount+1
Loop

Now, Is there any direct way,without using any Looping technique,to find out if the Arr1() has the date values ascending or not?

Thanks,

Answer 1

He is answering your question. You asked, is there a way to find if sorted without a loop?
He said no. Your eyes, my eyes can see if it’s sorted or not. But how do you expect Excel/computer to do so without going through collections elements?

When data is in an array, you need to loop through its elements. Hope it’s clear.

So the best I could say,

• split it by the comma delimiter into a variant if required. But not necessary since Array() can put elements into a 1D variant
• dump it into a Range using Transpose

• use Sheet sorting method/function to sort the range as a whole

  —> so you know it’s now sorted.

• then traspose back into a variant array

Some code snippet to get you going on this direction:

Option Explicit

    Sub omgArraySort()
       Dim inputArray As Variant
       Dim outputArray As Variant
       Dim upperB as Long

       inputArray = Array("9/3/2012 4:57:02 AM","22/3/2012 5:57:02 AM", _ 
                          "9/5/2012 8:57:02 AM","9/3/2011 4:57:02 AM")
       '-- sorted array
       outputArray = sortRange(inputArray)

          upperB = UBound(iArray, 1) '-- for 1D array you may also use UBound(iArray)
          If (Err.Number <> 0) Then '-- if there's an error, it's erro code is > 0
            MsgBox "Dates sorted, not empty"
          End If
    End Sub

    '-- dump into sheet and sort in the sheet and dump back into the array
    Function sortRange(ByVal iArray As Variant) As Variant
       Dim rngSort as Range
       Dim i As Long

       Set rngSort = WorkSheets(1).Range("B2")
       i = Ubound(iArray,1)

       With rngSort.Resize(i)
          .Value = WorksheetFunction.Transpose(iArray)
          .Sort rngSort, xlDescending, Header:=xlNo
          sortRange = .Value              
       End With
    End Function

---

In terms of to-from sheet to code traffic can slow down your performance when you are handling large amount of data.

And please do know that when someone in SO who has credibility answers (E.g. Ekkehard’s answer) you gotta pay some attention. They don’t say it for no proper reason.