yogi_Sort A List Using Sort Function And Alternately Using Query Function

                                          Google Spreadsheet  Post  #990

Yogi Anand, D.Eng, P.E.      ANAND Enterprises LLC -- Rochester Hills MI     www.energyefficientbuild.com.    Jan 27, 2013

user William Rafferty said:(http://productforums.google.com/forum/?zx=rq2ugebf7h4a#!category-topic/docs/spreadsheets/3nDPfxp4UyM)
Google Spreadsheet Alphabetical Sorting Trouble 
I have a spreadsheet and I would like to sort each row alphabetically according to the information in column A. The information in each row of column A is a country name. The information in each row of column B is a positive rational number. 

First, I clicked the top left corner of the sheet to select all the cells. Then, from the data menu I select "Sort sheet by Column A, A to Z" Then nothing happens; my spreadsheet is unchanged.
I have also tried selecting only column A, only column A and B, right clicking and selecting "sort range", and a variety of other methods. Nothing seems to effect the order of information on the table.

If someone could explain how to do this properly I would appreciate it. Thank you.
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William Rafferty

Post reply 9:05 PM (44 minutes ago)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtOnpEHYx0hhdEVGUl8xQjY5bk4xN0k0NVpHYWJYbXc

I have made the document accessible to anyone with a link to the document. The link above is a link to a copy of the document. The information is contained in the first 204 rows and 2 columns.

I would like to sort the list in Column A alphabetically, but I would like the information in each row to stay with the information immediately adjacent to it.

The information is initially similar to the following:
Column A  Column B

Monaco                 0
Japan                   .4
Belize               41.4

Honduras          91.6

After the process I described earlier where I try to alphabetize the information, the information is identical.

My expected result is that the information would look similar to the following:
Column A  Column B
Belize               41.4

Honduras          91.6
Japan                   .4

Monaco                 0

My logic is that using the function "Sort sheet by column A, A to Z" or a similar function would result in the rows of the table being sorted according to their alphabetical order within column A because the name of the function seems to me that it would sort the rows of the table according to their alphabetical order within column A.

I appreciate your reply. Thank you for taking the time to read this and provide advice. I suspect it may either be a problem with my computer or I could be overlooking an obvious detail. Thank you for your help. Hopefully you will be able to do what I have not been able to do

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This is a simple problem requiring the use of SORT function or the QUERY function ...

since the user is having a lot of trouble with it, I present an illustration as follows