Question

How can I order by dash?

For instance, I have these data below,

page_id   url
1         - a
2         - b
3         --- c
4         --- d
5         - e
6         - f
7         -- g
8         -- h

Result that I am after,

page_id   url
1         - a
2         - b
5         - e
6         - f
7         -- g
8         -- h
3         --- c
4         --- d

If I do this,

ORDER by x.url ASC

I still get this,

page_id   url
1         - a
2         - b
3         --- c
4         --- d
5         - e
6         - f
7         -- g
8         -- h

Any ideas?

EDIT:

My actual SQL,

SELECT 
    *,
    IF(grandparentURL REGEXP '^[a-z0-9\-]+$', CONCAT('--- ', url), IF(parentURL REGEXP '^[a-z0-9\-]+$', CONCAT('-- ', url), CONCAT('- ', url))) AS url
FROM
(
    SELECT 
        p.page_id,
        p.url,
        p2.url AS parentURL,
        p3.url AS grandparentURL

    FROM page AS p

    LEFT JOIN page AS p2 
    ON p.parent_id = p2.page_id AND p.page_id != p2.page_id

    LEFT JOIN page AS p3 
    ON p2.parent_id = p3.page_id AND p2.page_id != p3.page_id

    WHERE IF('5' REGEXP '^[0-9]+$', p.page_id != '5', p.page_id IS NOT NULL)
    AND p.url != 'cms' 
) x

ORDER by x.url ASC

Answer 1

Do MULTIPLE order by… FIRST by the position where space is found first all grouped… from that, then sort by the entire URL. Since the common – b and – a will be in the same grouping, their space keeps them in group “1”… then, from that, the entire URL will force your proper – a, – b, – c, etc

ORDER BY INSTR('x.url', ' '), x.url