Excel SORT/SORTBY function

equals =SORTBY(array;chooscol(array,3;1;2;-1;5;1;1;-1))

I know that with REDUCE I ca

..It can only takes a single sort_index and sort_order.

= = = = = = = = =

Hi. Just so you know, the A.I. bots are not totally correct.

=SORT(A1:B7,{1,2},{-1,1})

You should NOT use Sortby, and Reduce is not the best option either.

Hi @Henn Sarv,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Q&A forum.

I greatly appreciate your idea as currently SORT() does not support multi-key sorting with mixed directions encoded in the sort_index part. It can only takes a single sort_index and sort_order. The current approach fo mixed acsending/descending across multiple columns is using SORTBY() with order pairs as your example.

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Excel SORT does not support an array of sort indexes or negative column indexes in the way described. The documented syntax is:

=SORT(array, [sort_index], [sort_order], [by_col])

where sort_index is a single number (one row or column to sort by), and sort_order is a single number (1 or -1). There is no built‑in option to pass something like:

=SORT(array, {3;-2;5;-1})

to represent multiple keys and sort directions.

For multi-key sorting based on other ranges/arrays, the supported approach is to use SORTBY, whose syntax is:

=SORTBY(array, by_array1, [sort_order1], [by_array2, sort_order2], …)

This allows multiple sort keys and independent sort orders, but each by_array must be a valid one-row or one-column range/array; negative indexes or CHOOSECOL-style index lists are not part of the function’s design.

To achieve complex multi-column sorting today, the supported options are:

• Use SORTBY with explicit by_array arguments and sort_order values (1 or -1) for each key.
• Use helper arrays (e.g., via CHOOSECOLS, REDUCE, etc.) to construct the by_array inputs, then feed them into SORTBY.

The requested compact SORT syntax with mixed positive/negative indexes is not available in the current documented behavior of SORT or SORTBY.

References:

• SORT function
• SORTBY function
• Excel functions (alphabetical)