Alphanumerical lists are sortable by alphabet and number, obviously, but if you have a list where each entry begins with a different punctuation mark (or any other kind of non-alphanumeric character), is there a similar standardised ordering method for them?

I imagine, for example, that a comma will come before whatever this is: ¦

I just tested an A-Z sort in Google Sheets where each cell was a different punctuation mark, and it seemed to rearrange what I’d entered into some sort of order, but is this order shared universally? Is there a global Unicode-compliant ordering method everyone uses?

Cheers!

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    2 months ago

    You mean like symbols and pipes? Punctuation and such?

    Usually those do go before numbers, and letters (punctuation>numbers>letters is generally how lists that contain all those are ordered alphabetically).

    They are probably further ordered by the order they appear in whatever it is that stores that stuff, which comes down to just how it was coded. I’m pretty sure the order of Unicode is universal and they are even numbered if you look at the character map tool in Windows. Assuming you’re using software to order things for you, anyway. For a handwritten list I don’t think there even is a standard for it. Would a period come before or after a comma? 🤔