Often, sorting is done with symbols sorted to the top, like 0
or *
or &
. This is the default way that mysql sorts; numbers and symbols and then A-Z. However, that makes the often ugliest or most badly formatted results float to the top (e.g. a result of @#$@3423
or 8 inch
or &
).
So I'd like to do a modified form of that, letters first A-Z, and then special characters last.
How would I go about creating that type of sort? Something in the ORDER BY
clause?
Based on a google-cached link to this page:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCUQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.feedmarker.com%2F2006%2F02%2F01%2Fhow-to-do-natural-alpha-numeric-sort-in-mysql%2F&ei=Zg2_TZyKDaffiALjjqwo&usg=AFQjCNGS-rX7AmfrumXK8J7bVSj96bSSmQ
EDIT: Original link is dead.
Here is another link which actually explains what is happening better than the first link did:
http://matthewturland.com/2008/11/05/natural-ordering-in-mysql/
You might try this
SELECT names FROM your_table ORDER BY names + 0 ASC
Select ...
From ...
Order By Case When Col Like '[0-9]%' Then 1 Else 0 End Asc
, Col
Another solution that would account for special characters:
Select ...
From ...
Order By Case When Col Like '[A-Z]%' Then 0 Else 1 End Asc
, Col
This works for me:
SELECT * FROM `yourTable` ORDER BY `yourDatabase`.`yourColumn` ASC