Question

I have an sqlite union query:

SELECT term,abstract, termid, nterm FROM 
(SELECT term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t1 WHERE (nterm like '%bayern%') 
UNION 
SELECT term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t2 WHERE (subterm like '%bayern%')
) ORDER BY nterm+0 ASC

Now in the result set I get every word matched in nterm/subterm natural ordered. What I want though is to add a sort, that brings me first the matched in nterm and then in subterm (each ordered by natsort).

Is this possible? I tried to give a name to the queries in parenthesis (using AS t1, AS t2 respectively) but it returns me an error.

Answer 1

Here’s one way

Select term,subterm,termid,nterm From
(
SELECT 1 as termkey,term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t1 WHERE (nterm like '%bayern%') 
UNION 
SELECT 2, term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t2 WHERE (subterm like '%bayern%')
) innerquery
order by termkey,nterm

If I get what you meant, easy to adapt anyway.

NB when you are doing select * From (somequery), you have to alias the query in the parentheses, otherwise the parser chokes on it.

This is a more verbose version of the above that makes what’s happening clearer

Select innerquery.term,innerquery.subterm,innerquery.termid,innerquery.nterm From
(
SELECT 1 as termkey,term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t1 WHERE (nterm like '%bayern%') 
UNION 
SELECT 2, term, subterm, termid, nterm FROM t2 WHERE (subterm like '%bayern%')
) innerquery
order by innerquery.termkey,innerquery.nterm