Thread: order by

> Is there a known problem with the SQL order by clause within 
> postgres version 7.2.3? I am trying to sort a field which holds file 
> names that have some spaces as well non-alphanumeric characters, 
> including underscores (see below). 
> 
> The results of:
> select study_name from study order by study_name;
> 
>   Study1a
>   Study 1b
>   Study  1c
>   Study1d
> 
> The results of sorting in Perl (which uses Linux's underlying sort 
> function)
> 
> Study  1c
> Study 1b
> Study1a
> Study1d
> 
> Is there any way around this difference? Blank spaces should show up 
> first in the sort.
I made a test table with varchar field and filled it with your values.
I got the same result as in Perl. I have Postgresql 7.3. I'm not sure what 
you really want to get.
template1=# create table test (x varchar);
template1=# insert into test values ('Study1a');
template1=# insert into test values ('Study 1b');
template1=# insert into test values ('Study  1c');
template1=# insert into test values ('Study1d');
template1=# SELECT * from test order by x asc;    x
-----------Study  1cStudy 1bStudy1aStudy1d
(4 rows)

Regards,
Tomasz Myrta

On Wed, 26 Mar 2003, Jodi Kanter wrote:

> Is there a known problem with the SQL order by clause within postgres
> version 7.2.3? I am trying to sort a field which holds file names that
> have some spaces as well non-alphanumeric characters, including
> underscores (see below).
>
> The results of:
> select study_name from study order by study_name;
>
>
>   Study1a
>   Study 1b
>   Study  1c
>   Study1d
>
>
> The results of sorting in Perl (which uses Linux's underlying sort function)
>
> Study  1c
> Study 1b
> Study1a
> Study1d
>
> Is there any way around this difference? Blank spaces should show up
> first in the sort.

Are you in "C" locale or something like "en_US"?  In the latter, the first
is the "correct" ordering.