Question

how do i convert/cast a column contains strings e.g. Jan.08,Feb.08.. into date format so that i can sort them?

Greatest Thanks!

Answer 1

I’d just format as a convertible string for the first of the relevant month, and then cast to datetime, e.g.

CAST('1.' + YourMonthAndYearColumnName AS DATETIME)

…is an expression that will yield a datetime that should be sortable, so:

SELECT
  YourMonthAndYearColumnName
FROM
  YourTable
ORDER BY
  CAST('1.' + YourMonthAndYearColumnName AS DATETIME)

…should do what you’re looking for.