title: Apache-POI sorting rows in excel
body: <p>I'd like to sort rows in a sheet by one of string column. I tried to achive that using Sheet.shiftRows method, but I cannot manage with that. It doesn't switch positions of rows in my method. What's wrong in my code? Or maybe there is better way to sort rows by any String column in excel?</p>
  
  <pre><code>/**
   * Sorts (A-Z) rows by String column
   * @param sheet - sheet to sort
   * @param column - String column to sort by
   * @param rowStart - sorting from this row down
   */
  private void sortSheet(Sheet sheet, int column, int rowStart) {
      boolean sorting = true;
      int lastRow = sheet.getLastRowNum();
      while (sorting == true) {
          sorting = false;
          for (Row row : sheet) {
              // skip if this row is before first to sort
              if (row.getRowNum()&lt;rowStart) continue;
              // end if this is last row
              if (lastRow==row.getRowNum()) break;
              Row row2 = sheet.getRow(row.getRowNum()+1);
              if (row2 == null) continue;
              String firstValue = (row.getCell(column) != null) ? row.getCell(column).getStringCellValue() : "";
              String secondValue = (row2.getCell(column) != null) ? row2.getCell(column).getStringCellValue() : "";
              //compare cell from current row and next row - and switch if secondValue should be before first
              if (secondValue.compareToIgnoreCase(firstValue)&lt;0) {                    
                  sheet.shiftRows(row2.getRowNum(), row2.getRowNum(), -1);
                  sheet.shiftRows(row.getRowNum(), row.getRowNum(), 1);
                  sorting = true;
              }
          }
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any idea how to manage row sorting in a sheet?</p>
  
  <p><strong>UPDATE</strong> The method above works since Apache-POI 3.9 version.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT: Added missing bracket -helvio</p>