I came across the following solution but it does not work on Sybase
SELECT CONVERT(varchar, CAST(987654321 AS money), 1)
I have read the Convert Sybase information but still i receive the same number without the commas.
Have you tried giving a varchar (20) for example instead ? something like :
SELECT CONVERT(varchar(20), CAST(987654321 AS money), 1)
In SqlAnywhere money datatype is a domain, implemented as NUMERIC(19,4).
in CAST function , If you do not indicate a length for character string types, the database server chooses an appropriate length. If neither precision nor scale is specified for a DECIMAL conversion, the database server selects appropriate values.
So maybe this is what's causing the issue, what do you get as output ? do you get 987654321.00 , or just 987654321 ?
Update:
My last suggestion would be using insertstr() function and loop through the char value of your number to insert comma every 3 digits .. this is not the cleanest/easiest way but apparently SQLAnywhere deal with money datatype as normal NUMERIC datatype ...
insertstr() documentation is here.
I would give you a code sample but I don't have SQLAnywhere installed to test it ...
Here is the SP i created based on F Karam suggestion.
CREATE FUNCTION "DBA"."formattednumber"( in #number numeric)
returns char(60)
begin
declare #returnnumber char(60);
declare #workingnumber char(60);
declare #n_ind char(1);
declare #decimalnumber char(10);
declare #tempnumber char(60);
declare #decimalpos integer;
if isnull(#number,'') = '' then
return null
end if;
if #number < 0 then set #n_ind = 'Y'
else set #n_ind = 'N'
end if;
set #workingnumber = convert(char(60),ABS(#number));
set #decimalpos = patindex('%.%',#workingnumber);
if #decimalpos > 0 then
set #decimalnumber = substr(#workingnumber,#decimalpos);
set #decimalnumber = "left"(#decimalnumber,3+1);
set #workingnumber = "left"(#workingnumber,#decimalpos-1)
end if end if;
set #returnnumber = '';
while length(#workingnumber) > 3 loop
set #tempnumber = "right"(#workingnumber,3);
set #returnnumber = insertstr(0,#returnnumber,#tempnumber);
set #workingnumber = "left"(#workingnumber,length(#workingnumber)-3);
if length(#workingnumber) > 0 then
set #returnnumber = insertstr(0,#returnnumber,',')
end if
end loop;
if length(#workingnumber) > 0 then
set #returnnumber = insertstr(0,#returnnumber,#workingnumber)
end if;
if length(#decimalnumber) > 0 then
set #returnnumber = #returnnumber+#decimalnumber
end if;
if #n_ind = 'Y' then set #returnnumber = '-' || #returnnumber
end if;
return(#returnnumber)
end;
You need to distinguish between server-side and client-side formatting. When you use the 'isql' client for example (the TDS client), then the result will be this:
1> select convert(money, 9876543210)
2> go
9876543210
------------------------
9,876,543,210.00
(1 row affected)
But this is purely because the client application happens to format 'money' values this way. Also, this is actually not specific for SQLA, since isql is originally the client tool for ASE (a different Sybase database).
When you run the same conversion at the SQLA server (i.e. as part of an expression in a SQL statement), those commas will not be there since SQLA doesn't have such a built-in formatting style.
If you want this, you should write a SQL function that formats the number as you desire.
I have a stored procedure that works fine but it has inside it three "select"s.
The selects are not from an inner temporary table.
This is mainly the format of the procedure:
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[STProce]
#param1 int,
#param2 int,
#param3 int,
#param4 int,
#param5 int
AS
select #param1 as p1, #param2 as p2, #param3 as p3
.
.
.
select #param4 as p4
.
.
.
select #param5 as p5
I'm executing the procedure from another procedure and need to catch it there.
I created a table and inserts into it the "exec" from the procedure, like that:
CREATE TABLE #stalledp
(
RowNumber INT,
fldid INT,
fldLastUpdated datetime,
fldCreationDate datetime,
fldName nvarchar(255),
fldPending nvarchar(255)
)
INSERT INTO #stalledp (RowNumber,fldid,fldLastUpdated,fldCreationDate,fldName,fldPending)
EXEC spDebuggerViews_GetStuckWorkflowInstances #workflowSpaceId='00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000',#pageNum=1,#pageSize=100000,#orderByColumn=N'fldid',#sortOrder=1,#workflowInstanceId=0,#stuckInstanceType=1,#createdDateFrom='1900-01-01 00:00:00',#createdDateTo='9999-01-01 23:59:59',#updatedDateFrom='1900-01-01 00:00:00',#updatedDateTo='9999-01-01 23:59:59'
Afterwards I receive this error:
Column name or number of supplied values does not match table definition.
The order and name of columns of the table is exactly like the procedure returns.
Is there a possibility to catch only one of the tables that the procedure returns and avoid the other? I cannot change the procedure at all.
I tried declaring a table the same fields as the first select of the procedure and I get an error says that
Thank you in advance!
If all of the result sets returned are of the same structure, then you can dump them to a temp table as you are trying to do. However, that only gets you so far because if the data in the fields cannot be used to determine which result set a particular row came from, then you just have all of the result sets with no way to filter out the ones you don't want.
The only way to interact with multiple result sets individually, regardless of them having the same or differing structures, is through app code (i.e. a client connection). And if you want to do this within the context of another query, then you need to use SQLCLR.
The C# code below shows a SQLCLR stored procedure that will execute a T-SQL stored procedure that returns 4 result sets. It skips the first 2 result sets and only returns the 3rd result set. This allows the SQLCLR stored procedure to be used in an INSERT...EXEC as desired.
The code for the T-SQL stored proc that is called by the following code is shown below the C# code block. The T-SQL test proc executes sp_who2 and only return a subset of the fields being returned by that proc, showing that you don't need to return the exact same result set that you are reading; it can be manipulated in transit.
C# SQLCLR proc:
using System;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
public class TheProc
{
[Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedure]
public static void Get3rdResultSetFromGetStuckWorkflowInstances()
{
int _ResultSetsToSkip = 2; // we want the 3rd result set
SqlConnection _Connection = null;
SqlCommand _Command = null;
SqlDataReader _Reader = null;
try
{
_Connection = new SqlConnection("Context Connection = true;");
_Command = _Connection.CreateCommand();
_Command.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
_Command.CommandText = "tempdb.dbo.MultiResultSetTest";
// (optional) add parameters (but don't use AddWithValue!)
// The SqlDataRecord will be used to define the result set structure
// and act as a container for each row to be returned
SqlDataRecord _ResultSet = new SqlDataRecord(
new SqlMetaData[]
{
new SqlMetaData("SPID", SqlDbType.Char, 5),
new SqlMetaData("Status", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 30),
new SqlMetaData("Login", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 128),
new SqlMetaData("HostName", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 128),
new SqlMetaData("BlkBy", SqlDbType.VarChar, 5),
new SqlMetaData("DBName", SqlDbType.NVarChar, 128)
});
SqlContext.Pipe.SendResultsStart(_ResultSet); // initialize result set
_Connection.Open();
_Reader = _Command.ExecuteReader();
// Skip a predefined number of result sets
for (int _Index = 0;
_Index < _ResultSetsToSkip && _Reader.NextResult();
_Index++) ;
// Container used to move 1 full row from the result set being read
// to the one being sent, sized to the number of fields being read
Object[] _TempRow = new Object[_Reader.FieldCount];
while (_Reader.Read())
{
_Reader.GetValues(_TempRow); // read all columns
_ResultSet.SetValues(_TempRow); // set all columns
SqlContext.Pipe.SendResultsRow(_ResultSet); // send row
}
}
catch
{
throw;
}
finally
{
if(SqlContext.Pipe.IsSendingResults)
{
SqlContext.Pipe.SendResultsEnd(); // close out result set being sent
}
if(_Reader != null && !_Reader.IsClosed)
{
_Reader.Dispose();
}
_Command.Dispose();
if (_Connection != null && _Connection.State != ConnectionState.Closed)
{
_Connection.Dispose();
}
}
return;
}
}
T-SQL test proc:
USE [tempdb]
SET ANSI_NULLS ON;
IF (OBJECT_ID('dbo.MultiResultSetTest') IS NOT NULL)
BEGIN
DROP PROCEDURE dbo.MultiResultSetTest;
END;
GO
CREATE PROCEDURE dbo.MultiResultSetTest
AS
SET NOCOUNT ON;
SELECT 1 AS [ResultSet], 'asa' AS [test];
SELECT 2 AS [ResultSet], NEWID() AS [SomeGUID], GETDATE() AS [RightNow];
EXEC sp_who2;
SELECT 4 AS [ResultSet], CONVERT(MONEY, 131.12) AS [CashYo];
GO
EXEC tempdb.dbo.MultiResultSetTest;
To do:
Adjust _ResultSetsToSkip as appropriate. If you only want the first result set, simply remove both _ResultSetsToSkip and the for loop.
Define _ResultSet as appropriate
Set _Command.CommandText to be "spDebuggerViews_GetStuckWorkflowInstances"
Create the necessary parameters via SqlParameter (i.e. #workflowSpaceId='00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000',#pageNum=1,#pageSize=100000,#orderByColumn=N'fldid',#sortOrder=1,#workflowInstanceId=0,#stuckInstanceType=1,#createdDateFrom='1900-01-01 00:00:00',#createdDateTo='9999-01-01 23:59:59',#updatedDateFrom='1900-01-01 00:00:00',#updatedDateTo='9999-01-01 23:59:59')
If needed, add input parameters to the SQLCLR proc so that they can be used to set the values of certain SqlParameters
Then use as follows:
INSERT INTO #stalledp
(RowNumber,fldid,fldLastUpdated,fldCreationDate,fldName,fldPending)
EXEC Get3rdResultSetFromGetStuckWorkflowInstances;
There is a way to get the first record set but the others, I'm afraid, you're out of luck.
EXEC sp_addlinkedserver #server = 'LOCALSERVER', #srvproduct = '',
#provider = 'SQLOLEDB', #datasrc = ##servername
SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY(LOCALSERVER, 'EXEC testproc2')
EDIT: If you only need to check the other result set for columns to be not null you could predefine the expected results sets like so:
EXEC testproc2 WITH RESULT SETS (
(a VARCHAR(MAX) NOT NULL, b VARCHAR(MAX) NOT NULL),
(a VARCHAR(MAX) NOT NULL)
);
If the query within the stored procedure returns null values a exception is raised at that point in procedure. This will only work on sql server 2012 and upwards though.
Problem:
When values are provided to the following script then executed using a setup in C# like below (or in SQL Server environment) the values do not update in the database.
Stored procedure:
-- Updates the Value of any type of PropertyValue
-- (Type meaining simple Value, UnitValue, or DropDown)
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_UpdatePropertyValue]
#PropertyValueID int,
#Value varchar(max) = NULL,
#UnitValue float = NULL,
#UnitOfMeasureID int = NULL,
#DropDownOptionID int = NULL
AS
BEGIN
-- If the Property has a #Value, Update it.
IF #Value IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE [dbo].[PropertyValue]
SET
Value = #Value
WHERE
[dbo].[PropertyValue].[ID] = #PropertyValueID
END
-- Else check if it has a #UnitValue & UnitOfMeasureID
ELSE IF #UnitValue IS NOT NULL AND #UnitOfMeasureID IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE [dbo].[UnitValue]
SET
UnitValue = #UnitValue,
UnitOfMeasureID = #UnitOfMeasureID
WHERE
[dbo].[UnitValue].[PropertyValueID] = #PropertyValueID
END
-- Else check if it has just a #UnitValue
ELSE IF #UnitValue IS NOT NULL AND #UnitOfMeasureID IS NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE [dbo].[UnitValue]
SET
UnitValue = #UnitValue
WHERE
[dbo].[UnitValue].[PropertyValueID] = #PropertyValueID
END
-- Else check if it has a #DropDownSelection to update.
ELSE IF #DropDownOptionID IS NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE [dbo].[DropDownSelection]
SET
SelectedOptionID = #DropDownOptionID
WHERE
[dbo].[DropDownSelection].[PropertyValueID] = #PropertyValueID
END
END
When I do an execution of this script, like below, it does not update any values.
Example execution:
String QueryString = "EXEC [dbo].[usp_UpdatePropertyValue] #PropertyValueID, #Value, #UnitValue, #UnitOfMeasureID, #DropDownOptionID";
SqlCommand Cmd = new SqlCommand(QueryString, this._DbConn);
Cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#PropertyValueID", System.Data.SqlDbType.Int));
Cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#Value", System.Data.SqlDbType.Int));
Cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#UnitValue", System.Data.SqlDbType.Int));
Cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#UnitOfMeasureID", System.Data.SqlDbType.Int));
Cmd.Parameters.Add(new SqlParameter("#DropDownOptionID", System.Data.SqlDbType.Int));
Cmd.Parameters["#PropertyValueID"].Value = Property.Value.ID; // 1
Cmd.Parameters["#Value"].IsNullable = true;
Cmd.Parameters["#Value"].Value = DBNull.Value;
Cmd.Parameters["#UnitValue"].IsNullable = true;
Cmd.Parameters["#UnitValue"].Value = DBNull.Value;
Cmd.Parameters["#UnitOfMeasureID"].IsNullable = true;
Cmd.Parameters["#UnitOfMeasureID"].Value = DBNull.Value;
Cmd.Parameters["#DropDownOptionID"].IsNullable = true;
Cmd.Parameters["#DropDownOptionID"].Value = 2; // Current Value in DB: 3
Details:
After running an execute (via C# code or SQL Server environment) it does not update dbo.DropDownSelection.SelectedOptionID. I'm guessing that it might be because dbo.DropDownSelection.SelectedOptionID is non-nullable and the parameter I'm using to set it is nullable (despite that when setting it shouldn't ever be null). Upon execution the return value is 0. If I run one of the Updates outside of the procedure they work perfectly, hence my suspicion that it has to do with null-able types.
Question(s):
Could this be because the parameters to the stored procedure are nullable and the fields I'm setting aren't?
If not, what could it be?
It looks like you're passing in Null for every argument except for PropertyValueID and DropDownOptionID, right? I don't think any of your IF statements will fire if only these two values are not-null. In short, I think you have a logic error.
Other than that, I would suggest two things...
First, instead of testing for NULL, use this kind syntax on your if statements (it's safer)...
ELSE IF ISNULL(#UnitValue, 0) != 0 AND ISNULL(#UnitOfMeasureID, 0) = 0
Second, add a meaningful PRINT statement before each UPDATE. That way, when you run the sproc in MSSQL, you can look at the messages and see how far it's actually getting.
You can/should set your parameter to value to DBNull.Value;
if (variable == "")
{
cmd.Parameters.Add("#Param", SqlDbType.VarChar, 500).Value = DBNull.Value;
}
else
{
cmd.Parameters.Add("#Param", SqlDbType.VarChar, 500).Value = variable;
}
Or you can leave your server side set to null and not pass the param at all.
We have a large database on which we have DB side pagination. This is quick, returning a page of 50 rows from millions of records in a small fraction of a second.
Users can define their own sort, basically choosing what column to sort by. Columns are dynamic - some have numeric values, some dates and some text.
While most sort as expected text sorts in a dumb way. Well, I say dumb, it makes sense to computers, but frustrates users.
For instance, sorting by a string record id gives something like:
rec1
rec10
rec14
rec2
rec20
rec3
rec4
...and so on.
I want this to take account of the number, so:
rec1
rec2
rec3
rec4
rec10
rec14
rec20
I can't control the input (otherwise I'd just format in leading 000s) and I can't rely on a single format - some are things like "{alpha code}-{dept code}-{rec id}".
I know a few ways to do this in C#, but can't pull down all the records to sort them, as that would be to slow.
Does anyone know a way to quickly apply a natural sort in Sql server?
We're using:
ROW_NUMBER() over (order by {field name} asc)
And then we're paging by that.
We can add triggers, although we wouldn't. All their input is parametrised and the like, but I can't change the format - if they put in "rec2" and "rec10" they expect them to be returned just like that, and in natural order.
We have valid user input that follows different formats for different clients.
One might go rec1, rec2, rec3, ... rec100, rec101
While another might go: grp1rec1, grp1rec2, ... grp20rec300, grp20rec301
When I say we can't control the input I mean that we can't force users to change these standards - they have a value like grp1rec1 and I can't reformat it as grp01rec001, as that would be changing something used for lookups and linking to external systems.
These formats vary a lot, but are often mixtures of letters and numbers.
Sorting these in C# is easy - just break it up into { "grp", 20, "rec", 301 } and then compare sequence values in turn.
However there may be millions of records and the data is paged, I need the sort to be done on the SQL server.
SQL server sorts by value, not comparison - in C# I can split the values out to compare, but in SQL I need some logic that (very quickly) gets a single value that consistently sorts.
#moebius - your answer might work, but it does feel like an ugly compromise to add a sort-key for all these text values.
order by LEN(value), value
Not perfect, but works well in a lot of cases.
Most of the SQL-based solutions I have seen break when the data gets complex enough (e.g. more than one or two numbers in it). Initially I tried implementing a NaturalSort function in T-SQL that met my requirements (among other things, handles an arbitrary number of numbers within the string), but the performance was way too slow.
Ultimately, I wrote a scalar CLR function in C# to allow for a natural sort, and even with unoptimized code the performance calling it from SQL Server is blindingly fast. It has the following characteristics:
will sort the first 1,000 characters or so correctly (easily modified in code or made into a parameter)
properly sorts decimals, so 123.333 comes before 123.45
because of above, will likely NOT sort things like IP addresses correctly; if you wish different behaviour, modify the code
supports sorting a string with an arbitrary number of numbers within it
will correctly sort numbers up to 25 digits long (easily modified in code or made into a parameter)
The code is here:
using System;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
public class UDF
{
[SqlFunction(DataAccess = DataAccessKind.None, IsDeterministic=true)]
public static SqlString Naturalize(string val)
{
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(val))
return val;
while(val.Contains(" "))
val = val.Replace(" ", " ");
const int maxLength = 1000;
const int padLength = 25;
bool inNumber = false;
bool isDecimal = false;
int numStart = 0;
int numLength = 0;
int length = val.Length < maxLength ? val.Length : maxLength;
//TODO: optimize this so that we exit for loop once sb.ToString() >= maxLength
var sb = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < length; i++)
{
int charCode = (int)val[i];
if (charCode >= 48 && charCode <= 57)
{
if (!inNumber)
{
numStart = i;
numLength = 1;
inNumber = true;
continue;
}
numLength++;
continue;
}
if (inNumber)
{
sb.Append(PadNumber(val.Substring(numStart, numLength), isDecimal, padLength));
inNumber = false;
}
isDecimal = (charCode == 46);
sb.Append(val[i]);
}
if (inNumber)
sb.Append(PadNumber(val.Substring(numStart, numLength), isDecimal, padLength));
var ret = sb.ToString();
if (ret.Length > maxLength)
return ret.Substring(0, maxLength);
return ret;
}
static string PadNumber(string num, bool isDecimal, int padLength)
{
return isDecimal ? num.PadRight(padLength, '0') : num.PadLeft(padLength, '0');
}
}
To register this so that you can call it from SQL Server, run the following commands in Query Analyzer:
CREATE ASSEMBLY SqlServerClr FROM 'SqlServerClr.dll' --put the full path to DLL here
go
CREATE FUNCTION Naturalize(#val as nvarchar(max)) RETURNS nvarchar(1000)
EXTERNAL NAME SqlServerClr.UDF.Naturalize
go
Then, you can use it like so:
select *
from MyTable
order by dbo.Naturalize(MyTextField)
Note: If you get an error in SQL Server along the lines of Execution of user code in the .NET Framework is disabled. Enable "clr enabled" configuration option., follow the instructions here to enable it. Make sure you consider the security implications before doing so. If you are not the db admin, make sure you discuss this with your admin before making any changes to the server configuration.
Note2: This code does not properly support internationalization (e.g., assumes the decimal marker is ".", is not optimized for speed, etc. Suggestions on improving it are welcome!
Edit: Renamed the function to Naturalize instead of NaturalSort, since it does not do any actual sorting.
I know this is an old question but I just came across it and since it's not got an accepted answer.
I have always used ways similar to this:
SELECT [Column] FROM [Table]
ORDER BY RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 1000) + LTRIM(RTRIM(CAST([Column] AS VARCHAR(MAX)))), 1000)
The only common times that this has issues is if your column won't cast to a VARCHAR(MAX), or if LEN([Column]) > 1000 (but you can change that 1000 to something else if you want), but you can use this rough idea for what you need.
Also this is much worse performance than normal ORDER BY [Column], but it does give you the result asked for in the OP.
Edit: Just to further clarify, this the above will not work if you have decimal values such as having 1, 1.15 and 1.5, (they will sort as {1, 1.5, 1.15}) as that is not what is asked for in the OP, but that can easily be done by:
SELECT [Column] FROM [Table]
ORDER BY REPLACE(RIGHT(REPLICATE('0', 1000) + LTRIM(RTRIM(CAST([Column] AS VARCHAR(MAX)))) + REPLICATE('0', 100 - CHARINDEX('.', REVERSE(LTRIM(RTRIM(CAST([Column] AS VARCHAR(MAX))))), 1)), 1000), '.', '0')
Result: {1, 1.15, 1.5}
And still all entirely within SQL. This will not sort IP addresses because you're now getting into very specific number combinations as opposed to simple text + number.
RedFilter's answer is great for reasonably sized datasets where indexing is not critical, however if you want an index, several tweaks are required.
First, mark the function as not doing any data access and being deterministic and precise:
[SqlFunction(DataAccess = DataAccessKind.None,
SystemDataAccess = SystemDataAccessKind.None,
IsDeterministic = true, IsPrecise = true)]
Next, MSSQL has a 900 byte limit on the index key size, so if the naturalized value is the only value in the index, it must be at most 450 characters long. If the index includes multiple columns, the return value must be even smaller. Two changes:
CREATE FUNCTION Naturalize(#str AS nvarchar(max)) RETURNS nvarchar(450)
EXTERNAL NAME ClrExtensions.Util.Naturalize
and in the C# code:
const int maxLength = 450;
Finally, you will need to add a computed column to your table, and it must be persisted (because MSSQL cannot prove that Naturalize is deterministic and precise), which means the naturalized value is actually stored in the table but is still maintained automatically:
ALTER TABLE YourTable ADD nameNaturalized AS dbo.Naturalize(name) PERSISTED
You can now create the index!
CREATE INDEX idx_YourTable_n ON YourTable (nameNaturalized)
I've also made a couple of changes to RedFilter's code: using chars for clarity, incorporating duplicate space removal into the main loop, exiting once the result is longer than the limit, setting maximum length without substring etc. Here's the result:
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Server;
public static class Util
{
[SqlFunction(DataAccess = DataAccessKind.None, SystemDataAccess = SystemDataAccessKind.None, IsDeterministic = true, IsPrecise = true)]
public static SqlString Naturalize(string str)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(str))
return str;
const int maxLength = 450;
const int padLength = 15;
bool isDecimal = false;
bool wasSpace = false;
int numStart = 0;
int numLength = 0;
var sb = new StringBuilder();
for (var i = 0; i < str.Length; i++)
{
char c = str[i];
if (c >= '0' && c <= '9')
{
if (numLength == 0)
numStart = i;
numLength++;
}
else
{
if (numLength > 0)
{
sb.Append(pad(str.Substring(numStart, numLength), isDecimal, padLength));
numLength = 0;
}
if (c != ' ' || !wasSpace)
sb.Append(c);
isDecimal = c == '.';
if (sb.Length > maxLength)
break;
}
wasSpace = c == ' ';
}
if (numLength > 0)
sb.Append(pad(str.Substring(numStart, numLength), isDecimal, padLength));
if (sb.Length > maxLength)
sb.Length = maxLength;
return sb.ToString();
}
private static string pad(string num, bool isDecimal, int padLength)
{
return isDecimal ? num.PadRight(padLength, '0') : num.PadLeft(padLength, '0');
}
}
Here's a solution written for SQL 2000. It can probably be improved for newer SQL versions.
/**
* Returns a string formatted for natural sorting. This function is very useful when having to sort alpha-numeric strings.
*
* #author Alexandre Potvin Latreille (plalx)
* #param {nvarchar(4000)} string The formatted string.
* #param {int} numberLength The length each number should have (including padding). This should be the length of the longest number. Defaults to 10.
* #param {char(50)} sameOrderChars A list of characters that should have the same order. Ex: '.-/'. Defaults to empty string.
*
* #return {nvarchar(4000)} A string for natural sorting.
* Example of use:
*
* SELECT Name FROM TableA ORDER BY Name
* TableA (unordered) TableA (ordered)
* ------------ ------------
* ID Name ID Name
* 1. A1. 1. A1-1.
* 2. A1-1. 2. A1.
* 3. R1 --> 3. R1
* 4. R11 4. R11
* 5. R2 5. R2
*
*
* As we can see, humans would expect A1., A1-1., R1, R2, R11 but that's not how SQL is sorting it.
* We can use this function to fix this.
*
* SELECT Name FROM TableA ORDER BY dbo.udf_NaturalSortFormat(Name, default, '.-')
* TableA (unordered) TableA (ordered)
* ------------ ------------
* ID Name ID Name
* 1. A1. 1. A1.
* 2. A1-1. 2. A1-1.
* 3. R1 --> 3. R1
* 4. R11 4. R2
* 5. R2 5. R11
*/
ALTER FUNCTION [dbo].[udf_NaturalSortFormat](
#string nvarchar(4000),
#numberLength int = 10,
#sameOrderChars char(50) = ''
)
RETURNS varchar(4000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #sortString varchar(4000),
#numStartIndex int,
#numEndIndex int,
#padLength int,
#totalPadLength int,
#i int,
#sameOrderCharsLen int;
SELECT
#totalPadLength = 0,
#string = RTRIM(LTRIM(#string)),
#sortString = #string,
#numStartIndex = PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', #string),
#numEndIndex = 0,
#i = 1,
#sameOrderCharsLen = LEN(#sameOrderChars);
-- Replace all char that have the same order by a space.
WHILE (#i <= #sameOrderCharsLen)
BEGIN
SET #sortString = REPLACE(#sortString, SUBSTRING(#sameOrderChars, #i, 1), ' ');
SET #i = #i + 1;
END
-- Pad numbers with zeros.
WHILE (#numStartIndex <> 0)
BEGIN
SET #numStartIndex = #numStartIndex + #numEndIndex;
SET #numEndIndex = #numStartIndex;
WHILE(PATINDEX('[0-9]', SUBSTRING(#string, #numEndIndex, 1)) = 1)
BEGIN
SET #numEndIndex = #numEndIndex + 1;
END
SET #numEndIndex = #numEndIndex - 1;
SET #padLength = #numberLength - (#numEndIndex + 1 - #numStartIndex);
IF #padLength < 0
BEGIN
SET #padLength = 0;
END
SET #sortString = STUFF(
#sortString,
#numStartIndex + #totalPadLength,
0,
REPLICATE('0', #padLength)
);
SET #totalPadLength = #totalPadLength + #padLength;
SET #numStartIndex = PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', RIGHT(#string, LEN(#string) - #numEndIndex));
END
RETURN #sortString;
END
I know this is a bit old at this point, but in my search for a better solution, I came across this question. I'm currently using a function to order by. It works fine for my purpose of sorting records which are named with mixed alpha numeric ('item 1', 'item 10', 'item 2', etc)
CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[fnMixSort]
(
#ColValue NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS NVARCHAR(1000)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #p1 NVARCHAR(255),
#p2 NVARCHAR(255),
#p3 NVARCHAR(255),
#p4 NVARCHAR(255),
#Index TINYINT
IF #ColValue LIKE '[a-z]%'
SELECT #Index = PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', #ColValue),
#p1 = LEFT(CASE WHEN #Index = 0 THEN #ColValue ELSE LEFT(#ColValue, #Index - 1) END + REPLICATE(' ', 255), 255),
#ColValue = CASE WHEN #Index = 0 THEN '' ELSE SUBSTRING(#ColValue, #Index, 255) END
ELSE
SELECT #p1 = REPLICATE(' ', 255)
SELECT #Index = PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%', #ColValue)
IF #Index = 0
SELECT #p2 = RIGHT(REPLICATE(' ', 255) + #ColValue, 255),
#ColValue = ''
ELSE
SELECT #p2 = RIGHT(REPLICATE(' ', 255) + LEFT(#ColValue, #Index - 1), 255),
#ColValue = SUBSTRING(#ColValue, #Index, 255)
SELECT #Index = PATINDEX('%[0-9,a-z]%', #ColValue)
IF #Index = 0
SELECT #p3 = REPLICATE(' ', 255)
ELSE
SELECT #p3 = LEFT(REPLICATE(' ', 255) + LEFT(#ColValue, #Index - 1), 255),
#ColValue = SUBSTRING(#ColValue, #Index, 255)
IF PATINDEX('%[^0-9]%', #ColValue) = 0
SELECT #p4 = RIGHT(REPLICATE(' ', 255) + #ColValue, 255)
ELSE
SELECT #p4 = LEFT(#ColValue + REPLICATE(' ', 255), 255)
RETURN #p1 + #p2 + #p3 + #p4
END
Then call
select item_name from my_table order by fnMixSort(item_name)
It easily triples the processing time for a simple data read, so it may not be the perfect solution.
Here is an other solution that I like:
http://www.dreamchain.com/sql-and-alpha-numeric-sort-order/
It's not Microsoft SQL, but since I ended up here when I was searching for a solution for Postgres, I thought adding this here would help others.
EDIT: Here is the code, in case the link goes away.
CREATE or REPLACE FUNCTION pad_numbers(text) RETURNS text AS $$
SELECT regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(regexp_replace(($1 collate "C"),
E'(^|\\D)(\\d{1,3}($|\\D))', E'\\1000\\2', 'g'),
E'(^|\\D)(\\d{4,6}($|\\D))', E'\\1000\\2', 'g'),
E'(^|\\D)(\\d{7}($|\\D))', E'\\100\\2', 'g'),
E'(^|\\D)(\\d{8}($|\\D))', E'\\10\\2', 'g');
$$ LANGUAGE SQL;
"C" is the default collation in postgresql; you may specify any collation you desire, or remove the collation statement if you can be certain your table columns will never have a nondeterministic collation assigned.
usage:
SELECT * FROM wtf w
WHERE TRUE
ORDER BY pad_numbers(w.my_alphanumeric_field)
For the following varchar data:
BR1
BR2
External Location
IR1
IR2
IR3
IR4
IR5
IR6
IR7
IR8
IR9
IR10
IR11
IR12
IR13
IR14
IR16
IR17
IR15
VCR
This worked best for me:
ORDER BY substring(fieldName, 1, 1), LEN(fieldName)
If you're having trouble loading the data from the DB to sort in C#, then I'm sure you'll be disappointed with any approach at doing it programmatically in the DB. When the server is going to sort, it's got to calculate the "perceived" order just as you would have -- every time.
I'd suggest that you add an additional column to store the preprocessed sortable string, using some C# method, when the data is first inserted. You might try to convert the numerics into fixed-width ranges, for example, so "xyz1" would turn into "xyz00000001". Then you could use normal SQL Server sorting.
At the risk of tooting my own horn, I wrote a CodeProject article implementing the problem as posed in the CodingHorror article. Feel free to steal from my code.
Simply you sort by
ORDER BY
cast (substring(name,(PATINDEX('%[0-9]%',name)),len(name))as int)
##
I've just read a article somewhere about such a topic. The key point is: you only need the integer value to sort data, while the 'rec' string belongs to the UI. You could split the information in two fields, say alpha and num, sort by alpha and num (separately) and then showing a string composed by alpha + num. You could use a computed column to compose the string, or a view.
Hope it helps
You can use the following code to resolve the problem:
Select *,
substring(Cote,1,len(Cote) - Len(RIGHT(Cote, LEN(Cote) - PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', Cote)+1)))alpha,
CAST(RIGHT(Cote, LEN(Cote) - PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', Cote)+1) AS INT)intv
FROM Documents
left outer join Sites ON Sites.IDSite = Documents.IDSite
Order BY alpha, intv
regards,
rabihkahaleh#hotmail.com
I'm fashionably late to the party as usual. Nevertheless, here is my attempt at an answer that seems to work well (I would say that). It assumes text with digits at the end, like in the original example data.
First a function that won't end up winning a "pretty SQL" competition anytime soon.
CREATE FUNCTION udfAlphaNumericSortHelper (
#string varchar(max)
)
RETURNS #results TABLE (
txt varchar(max),
num float
)
AS
BEGIN
DECLARE #txt varchar(max) = #string
DECLARE #numStr varchar(max) = ''
DECLARE #num float = 0
DECLARE #lastChar varchar(1) = ''
set #lastChar = RIGHT(#txt, 1)
WHILE #lastChar <> '' and #lastChar is not null
BEGIN
IF ISNUMERIC(#lastChar) = 1
BEGIN
set #numStr = #lastChar + #numStr
set #txt = Substring(#txt, 0, len(#txt))
set #lastChar = RIGHT(#txt, 1)
END
ELSE
BEGIN
set #lastChar = null
END
END
SET #num = CAST(#numStr as float)
INSERT INTO #results select #txt, #num
RETURN;
END
Then call it like below:
declare #str nvarchar(250) = 'sox,fox,jen1,Jen0,jen15,jen02,jen0004,fox00,rec1,rec10,jen3,rec14,rec2,rec20,rec3,rec4,zip1,zip1.32,zip1.33,zip1.3,TT0001,TT01,TT002'
SELECT tbl.value --, sorter.txt, sorter.num
FROM STRING_SPLIT(#str, ',') as tbl
CROSS APPLY dbo.udfAlphaNumericSortHelper(value) as sorter
ORDER BY sorter.txt, sorter.num, len(tbl.value)
With results:
fox
fox00
Jen0
jen1
jen02
jen3
jen0004
jen15
rec1
rec2
rec3
rec4
rec10
rec14
rec20
sox
TT01
TT0001
TT002
zip1
zip1.3
zip1.32
zip1.33
I still don't understand (probably because of my poor English).
You could try:
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY dbo.human_sort(field_name) ASC)
But it won't work for millions of records.
That why I suggested to use trigger which fills separate column with human value.
Moreover:
built-in T-SQL functions are really
slow and Microsoft suggest to use
.NET functions instead.
human value is constant so there is no point calculating it each time
when query runs.