Question

I’m wondering if there is a way to do a numeric sort when the number is a string. Take a look at example:

The query:

SELECT * FROM t_tables t order by id_string asc

This is the list from DB:

13
4
6
8
10
1
3
2
5
12
7
9
11

I need to extract it in this way:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

But as result I get this:

1
10
11
12
13
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Answer 1

If you know that you always have numeric values in the column you can use the CAST() operator. Also have a look at this question.

SELECT * FROM t_tables t ORDER BY CAST(id_string AS UNSIGNED) ASC