Need help!!

[ceemac]

I have a problem..

I bring in a list of 3 variables from a database:

$a, $b, $c

Now $a is (unfortuanately) a variable character (varchar (4)). And has entries like:

2
203
A21
X53
43A
1
114
104

The problem is that i need these in numerical order. If i bring it in from the dbase using the ORDER BY function at the end of the SQL query it orders it in this manor:

1,104,114,2,203,43A,A21,X53

Which is understandable, but not in the numerical order I need...
1,2,104,114,203,etc...

the variables $b and $c are also connected with $a (obviously as it came in from a database). Can anyone please tell me how to sort this into numerical order??? PLEASE!!!

I've tried sort(), usort(), asort(), etc, etc.

please help!!!
even if it's a response telling me to give up all hope as it's not possible.

Cheers
Mark😕

[NoFear]

As long as the variable type isn't in some number format (ie - int), I'm not sure that you're going to get that to work.

[Kerry_Kobashi]

Do us a favor...

Put in a more meaningful subject line instead of a plea for help. Believe it or not, by doing what you did, it actually deters more than helps.

Your sorting character fields... not a numeric. So the lexicographic order is based on those characters. You'll need a translation step and a sort routine executed without the help of the database manager to get what you want....