Natural Sort in MySQL
Same function as posted by @plalx, but rewritten to MySQL:
DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS `udf_FirstNumberPos`;
DELIMITER ;;
CREATE FUNCTION `udf_FirstNumberPos` (`instring` varchar(4000))
RETURNS int
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
NO SQL
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
BEGIN
DECLARE position int;
DECLARE tmp_position int;
SET position = 5000;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('0', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('1', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('2', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('3', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('4', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('5', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('6', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('7', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('8', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
SET tmp_position = LOCATE('9', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
IF (position = 5000) THEN RETURN 0; END IF;
RETURN position;
END
;;
DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS `udf_NaturalSortFormat`;
DELIMITER ;;
CREATE FUNCTION `udf_NaturalSortFormat` (`instring` varchar(4000), `numberLength` int, `sameOrderChars` char(50))
RETURNS varchar(4000)
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
NO SQL
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
BEGIN
DECLARE sortString varchar(4000);
DECLARE numStartIndex int;
DECLARE numEndIndex int;
DECLARE padLength int;
DECLARE totalPadLength int;
DECLARE i int;
DECLARE sameOrderCharsLen int;
SET totalPadLength = 0;
SET instring = TRIM(instring);
SET sortString = instring;
SET numStartIndex = udf_FirstNumberPos(instring);
SET numEndIndex = 0;
SET i = 1;
SET sameOrderCharsLen = CHAR_LENGTH(sameOrderChars);
WHILE (i <= sameOrderCharsLen) DO
SET sortString = REPLACE(sortString, SUBSTRING(sameOrderChars, i, 1), ' ');
SET i = i + 1;
END WHILE;
WHILE (numStartIndex <> 0) DO
SET numStartIndex = numStartIndex + numEndIndex;
SET numEndIndex = numStartIndex;
WHILE (udf_FirstNumberPos(SUBSTRING(instring, numEndIndex, 1)) = 1) DO
SET numEndIndex = numEndIndex + 1;
END WHILE;
SET numEndIndex = numEndIndex - 1;
SET padLength = numberLength - (numEndIndex + 1 - numStartIndex);
IF padLength < 0 THEN
SET padLength = 0;
END IF;
SET sortString = INSERT(sortString, numStartIndex + totalPadLength, 0, REPEAT('0', padLength));
SET totalPadLength = totalPadLength + padLength;
SET numStartIndex = udf_FirstNumberPos(RIGHT(instring, CHAR_LENGTH(instring) - numEndIndex));
END WHILE;
RETURN sortString;
END
;;
Usage:
SELECT name FROM products ORDER BY udf_NaturalSortFormat(name, 10, ".")
Here is a quick solution:
SELECT alphanumeric,
integer
FROM sorting_test
ORDER BY LENGTH(alphanumeric), alphanumeric
Just found this:
SELECT names FROM your_table ORDER BY games + 0 ASC
Does a natural sort when the numbers are at the front, might work for middle as well.