sorting a non-date field by date? :\

[sgray]

heyas,

Im trying to sort a 'text' field (named: date) which contains dates in the format of May-14-02. Ive been sorting other fields using the command '$sql="SELECT * FROM db ORDER BY <value>"; and its been working fine. using 'date' in the place of <value> doesnt work because it just lists the dates in alphebetical order (ie april before december). I realise I should have made the field a 'date' type right from the start but theres not much I can do about it now. Is there a way to sort the dates so that they are listed from newest to oldest or vica versa?

Thanks,

Stewart

[GBahle]

Easiest thing to do would probably to add a column to the table which is of type date, then write a little script which copies the value from your text column to the new column in proper date format.
Then sort by SQL whenever you want to.

Sth like

get all IDs and associated old dates from your db

UPDATE divx SET newDate='/ parse your old date in here /' WHERE divx.ID /or whatever you use as primary key/='/loop through all keys with this statement/

delete oldDate column

Shouldnt be too much trouble