I do not think that an example is useless.
Let's take another
cd,bac,31,bca,af,11,23,08
Sorting this
08,11,23,31,af,bac,bca,cd
But I want
af,bac,bca,cd,08,11,23,31
I think that the problem is clear
I see one a solution, I have to do something before because vb.net can't do it immediately
The set of elements are from another greater and known set of 100 elements
so I can with a select case gaves all the elements an known prefix 100 or 200
125cd,115bac,20031,120bca,110af,20011,20023,20008
When I sort now I get a good ranking and I must now remove the prefix
Sorry if I was not clear in my problem.
Thanks for your answer, see you maybe a better way?