Matrix sort

[vijayendramunikoti at gmail.com]

Hi
I have a matrix of numbers representing the nodal points as follows:

Element No.    Nodes

1                 1 2 3 4
2                 5 6 7 8
3                 2 3 9 10
...........................
...........................
x                 9 10 11 12
...........................

so this is a matrix of numbers 4 x n
Elements 1 and 3 are neighbours (as they share nodes 2 3). Similarly elements 3 and x are neighbours (they share nodes 9 and 10). I want to sort the matrix in such a way all the elements are sequentially arranged. How could I script it? can any one help me?
Thanks!
Vijayendra