Question

Okay, the question is mildly misleading… I know a couple different ways to get the MMYYYY format from a date, but it requires converting the string into VARCHAR. While that’s all fine and dandy, ordering the results is where it becomes a real pain.

Here’s what I’m using:

SELECT  
CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),MONTH(TransactionDte)) + '/' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),YEAR(TransactionDte) AS MMYYYY  
,SUM(TransactionCt) AS TransCt  
,SUM(TransactionAmt) AS TransAmt  
FROM Transactions  
GROUP BY CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),MONTH(TransactionDte)) + '/' + CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),YEAR(TransactionDte)

The results appear as follows:
1/2010
1/2011
10/2010
10/2011
11/2010
11/2011
12/2010
12/2011
2/2010
2/2011
3/2010
3/2011
etc…

I’m trying them to order by the date ascending. As you can see, they do not… Is there a way to get what I’m trying to achieve?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

;WITH t AS
(
SELECT GETDATE() AS TransactionDte UNION ALL 
SELECT GETDATE()+1 AS TransactionDte UNION ALL 
SELECT GETDATE()+90
)
SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(2),MONTH(TransactionDte)) + '/' + 
       CONVERT(VARCHAR(4),YEAR(TransactionDte)) AS MMYYYY,
       COUNT(*)
FROM t
GROUP BY MONTH(TransactionDte), YEAR(TransactionDte)
ORDER BY MIN(TransactionDte)