How Can I Sort MySQL Rows Numerically When the Sort Field Contains Hybrid Text-Numeric Data?

Extracting Numbers from Hybrid Text-Numeric Fields in MySQL

The challenge arises when dealing with columns that contain a mix of text and numeric values. In such cases, conventional sorting methods based on character order may result in incorrect numerical sequencing.

To address this issue and sort based on the embedded numbers, you can leverage the following MySQL query:

SELECT field,CONVERT(SUBSTRING_INDEX(field,'-',-1),UNSIGNED INTEGER) AS num
FROM table
ORDER BY num;

This query performs the following steps:

• SUBSTRING_INDEX() extracts the number from the field by splitting it at the last hyphen (-).
• CONVERT() converts the extracted number to an unsigned integer, ensuring it's treated as a numeric value.
• ORDER BY num sorts the rows based on the extracted and converted numeric field.

By using this method, you can effectively sort the rows based on the embedded numbers, regardless of any preceding text in the field. Note that this assumes the number is always present at the end of the field, separated by a hyphen (-).

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