Ping Lau wrote:
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul DuBois <paul@stripped>
> To: Ping Lau <pinglau@stripped>; mysql@stripped
> <mysql@stripped>
> Date: Monday, August 09, 1999 11:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Order By Problem
>
> >At 12:10 PM -0500 8/10/99, Ping Lau wrote:
> >>I have a simple table POITEM looks like this:
> >>
> >>po char(10)
> >>itemno char(10)
> >>desc char(50)
> >>unitprice float(4)
> >>
> >>I have inserted 11 items against PO number 123. The item numbers are 1,
> 2,
> >>3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1A. I then tried to query PO 123,
> >>
> >>select * from poitem where po = "123" order by itemno
> >>
> >>But the result did not show item numbers in the correct order: 1, 10, 2,
> 3,
> >>4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,1A! How can I force item number 10 to appear after 1A?
> >
> >
> >You're trying to sort strings as though they are numbers.
> >
> >Why?
> >
> >--
> >Paul DuBois, paul@stripped
>
> Because I don't have a choice. Some of the purchase orders sent over by our
> customers have strange item numbers. I have seen item number 001A11, 2A10,
> 1.1.A, etc. So I have to assign itemno as char data type.
>
> Regards,
> Ping
Hi Ping
If this is really the case, then ordering on this column is not that useful anyway.
But if you really nead a proprietary sorting order, then you should add another column,
which contains the needed sorting.
Tschau
Christian
