Insert New Line Numbers with an attached Letter without impacting 1-N sort

[hellyars]

Silly sort question.

I have a set of data that has a Line Number (LN).  The sequence is 1 to 999.  BUT, I need to insert new lines without conflicting with the existing LN assignment.  There's only one problem the new lines will have a letter A-Z attached to it (thought A-D is most likely the extent in the real world data).  The new lines come in from a different data flow.  This applies to multiple accounts, where each account has a 1-N different number of original LNs

ORIGINAL LNs	WITH NEW LINES
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	3A
5	4
6	5
7	6
8	7
	7A
	7B
	7C
	8

[Qiu]

@hellyars 
Would Join by position help?
and how do you insert new lines? what is the Joining Key?

[hellyars]

I add the new lines with a simple Union tool.  I then want to sort so the thew LNs with the letters sort in relative order

[PhilipMannering]

Can't you just use the sort tool? If you don't want to change the order of the other fields then you'll need to isolate that field (with the Select Tool) > Sort > and then join back on (use Join by Record Position)

[hellyars]

@PhilipMannering  LN is string.  20A sorts between 208 and 212 instead of between 20 and 21.  If I switch it to a Double it sorts correctly, but it drops the A.  I guess I can play with that angle.

[PhilipMannering · Accepted solution]

Good point!

Try ticking the "Use Dictionary Order" in the Sort Tool. 🙂

[Qiu · Accepted solution]

@hellyars 
Use the "Use Dictionary Order" option for sorting should do it.

[hellyars]

@PhilipMannering  Totally worked in Alteryx.  Tableau, however, did not like it.  But, I can cheat and now add a RecordID to fix it in order.