How to sequentially SORT numbers that also have a letter attached?

Hi
I'm hoping this will be straightforward for you guys to point me in the
right direction.
Friend of mine emailed me asking the following:
We have a table with a house plot number on it, which is varchar(5).
Example values are:
1
1a
1b
1c
2
2a
2b
2c
3
3a
3b
3c
11a
21c
When we sort these they come out as follows:
1
1a
1b
1c
11a
2
2a
2b
2c
21c
3
3a
3b
3c
Is there an easy way to get them to sort as per the first example? I.e.
1 first, then 1a, 1b, 1c followed by 2, 2a etc and not 11a?
I thought it'd be simple but not so! Would appreciate your advice on
the simplest way of achieving this please.Try:
declare @.t table
(
x varchar (5) primary key
, y as case when patindex ('%[a-z]', x) = 0 then ''
else right (x, len (x) - patindex ('%[a-z]', x) + 1) end
, z as case when patindex ('%[a-z]', x) = 0 then cast (x as int)
else cast (left (x, patindex ('%[a-z]', x) - 1) as int) end
)
insert @.t values ('1')
insert @.t values ('1a')
insert @.t values ('1b')
insert @.t values ('1c')
insert @.t values ('2')
insert @.t values ('2a')
insert @.t values ('2b')
insert @.t values ('2c')
insert @.t values ('3')
insert @.t values ('3a')
insert @.t values ('3b')
insert @.t values ('3c')
insert @.t values ('11a')
insert @.t values ('21c')
select x from @.t
order by z, y
--
Tom
----
Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA
SQL Server MVP
Toronto, ON Canada
.
"ALI" <kismet110@.yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1150111751.001833.272460@.f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Hi
I'm hoping this will be straightforward for you guys to point me in the
right direction.
Friend of mine emailed me asking the following:
We have a table with a house plot number on it, which is varchar(5).
Example values are:
1
1a
1b
1c
2
2a
2b
2c
3
3a
3b
3c
11a
21c
When we sort these they come out as follows:
1
1a
1b
1c
11a
2
2a
2b
2c
21c
3
3a
3b
3c
Is there an easy way to get them to sort as per the first example? I.e.
1 first, then 1a, 1b, 1c followed by 2, 2a etc and not 11a?
I thought it'd be simple but not so! Would appreciate your advice on
the simplest way of achieving this please.|||Thanks for your help Tom, hopefully this will get them what they want,
I don't feel totally stupid now too for thinking it would be _really_
simple!
Tom Moreau wrote:
> Try:
> declare @.t table
> (
> x varchar (5) primary key
> , y as case when patindex ('%[a-z]', x) = 0 then ''
> else right (x, len (x) - patindex ('%[a-z]', x) + 1) end
> , z as case when patindex ('%[a-z]', x) = 0 then cast (x as int)
> else cast (left (x, patindex ('%[a-z]', x) - 1) as int) end
> )
> insert @.t values ('1')
> insert @.t values ('1a')
> insert @.t values ('1b')
> insert @.t values ('1c')
> insert @.t values ('2')
> insert @.t values ('2a')
> insert @.t values ('2b')
> insert @.t values ('2c')
> insert @.t values ('3')
> insert @.t values ('3a')
> insert @.t values ('3b')
> insert @.t values ('3c')
> insert @.t values ('11a')
> insert @.t values ('21c')
> select x from @.t
> order by z, y
> --
> Tom
> ----
> Thomas A. Moreau, BSc, PhD, MCSE, MCDBA
> SQL Server MVP
> Toronto, ON Canada
> .
> "ALI" <kismet110@.yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1150111751.001833.272460@.f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi
> I'm hoping this will be straightforward for you guys to point me in the
> right direction.
> Friend of mine emailed me asking the following:
> We have a table with a house plot number on it, which is varchar(5).
> Example values are:
> 1
> 1a
> 1b
> 1c
> 2
> 2a
> 2b
> 2c
> 3
> 3a
> 3b
> 3c
> 11a
> 21c
> When we sort these they come out as follows:
> 1
> 1a
> 1b
> 1c
> 11a
> 2
> 2a
> 2b
> 2c
> 21c
> 3
> 3a
> 3b
> 3c
> Is there an easy way to get them to sort as per the first example? I.e.
> 1 first, then 1a, 1b, 1c followed by 2, 2a etc and not 11a?
> I thought it'd be simple but not so! Would appreciate your advice on
> the simplest way of achieving this please.