Question

I’m trying to order some dates so that they are listed in a particular order closest to a specified date:

id  year
---------
1   2010
2   2011
3   1992
4   1996
5   1987
6   1988

The result should look like (if I specify 1992 as the year to order by):

id  year
---------

3   1992
4   1996 <4 away
5   1987 <5 away
6   1988 <6 away
1   2010 <8 away
2   2011 <9 away

I want it so that it returns all dates, but the most relevant (closest) first in the list.

Sorry I have revised my question to make it more clear what I’m trying to achieve.

Answer 1

This should solve your problem.

SELECT *
FROM `table`
ORDER BY ABS(1992-`year`) ASC