Order by # Characters (Database Query)

[geosite]

I know how to use the ORDER BY clause to display data from a database table in a certain order, as dictated by a particular field. But is there a way to order the display according to the number of characters?

It would help me implement my linkify script - http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=485677 - if I could order various terms from the longest (e.g. South_Pole) to shortest (e.g. South).

Thanks.

[baileylo]

This seems to be more of a SQL; but you could do it in php have all the data stored in an array, modify a bubble sort or prefered sorting alogrythm so that it sorts on strlegn() and no on numeric value.


BUt in mysql do it like this


SELECT * FROM TABLENAME order by char_Length(TUPLENAME);

[longneck]

i'm sure there's a function in mysql that will count the number of characters in a string. let's see, where would i find such a function?

hmmm.... i think the "String Functions" page would have it: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/...functions.html

[geosite]

i'm sure there's a function in mysql that will count the number of characters in a string. let's see, where would i find such a function?

hmmm.... i think the "String Functions" page would have it: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/...functions.html

That's perfect. But how do you REVERSE the order? The following doesn't work:

$Word = mysql_query ("SELECT Name Term, Plural
FROM g_glossary
GROUP BY Name
ORDER BY REVERSE(CHARACTER_LENGTH(Name))") or die (mysql_error()); 

It looks like they're inserting REVERSE in the SELECT CLAUSE in the Manual, but that doesn't work for me, either, nor does it make sense.

Thanks.

[Dan Grossman]

You're right, that doesn't make sense

ORDER BY CHAR_LENGTH(Name) DESC

[geosite]

Ah, I should have remembered from my JavaScript table-column sort scripts. Thanks.