It is possible to create SQL functions that will represent your
natural sort. You can use db.executesql("") to call the function.Read the following comments in the below link for examples on performing this with postgresql. http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/interactive/queries-order.html -- Thadeus On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 8:01 PM, Jonathan Lundell <[email protected]> wrote: > On Jul 23, 2010, at 5:39 PM, DJ wrote: > >> I have sorting problem with a column in the database (string) that >> stores alphanumeric data. The data is A1, A2, A3..A10, A11, A12. >> >> When I sort by column type, I get A1, A10, A11, A12 but I would like >> to get A1, A2, A3...A10, A11, A12. Is there anything I can try with >> orderby="columntype"? What other kind of operations does orderby >> allow? (I saw field.upper and field.month). > > What you're looking for is a natural (as opposed to lexical) sort, which most > (all?) databases lack. > > A common solution is to create another column to serve as a sort key. In your > example, it might be A01, A02, ... A10. Or two columns, one with the leading > alpha, sorted lexically, and the other with the number, sorted numerically > (and a two-column major-minor sort).
