Set ORDER BY order

[SPYDERIX]

Hi,

I have a weird question regarding double order by statements in sql and pre-loaing a user defined order.

Assume the following entries in mysql:

id     make      age
--     ----      ---
1      alpha     new
2      alpha     old
3      charlie   old
4      delta     new
5      beta      old
6      charlie   new

I want to do a double "order by" statement in mysql to go by 2 columns ie - show make in order but within that always show the order of age as well. This is easy enough to do and I already know the syntax - ORDER BY make,age

That will output the following:

1      alpha     new
2      alpha     old
5      beta      old
6      charlie   new
3      charlie   old
4      delta     new

BUT

My question is this:

Within ORDER BY make,age can you pre-set a user defined order so that `beta` will always return first before the rest does alphabetically.

Can you do anything like ORDER BY make('beta'),age so that it would output this:

5      beta      old
1      alpha     new
2      alpha     old
6      charlie   new
3      charlie   old
4      delta     new

I know I could do 2 sql queries and append the 2nd returned array onto the 1st returned array but I would rather not have to do that if possible. Is there any way to do this with one sql statement and 1 query?

Thanks alot!

NATE

http://www.mainframe-webdesign.com

Got a question? Search G O O G L E for links to the fastest answers: www.google.com

 

[sleipnir214]

No, there is no way to specify that a particular value should appear out-of-order in an ORDER BY clause.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

TANSTAAFL!!