Natural Sort in MySQL

Question

Here is a quick solution:

SELECT alphanumeric, 
       integer
FROM sorting_test
ORDER BY LENGTH(alphanumeric), alphanumeric

Just found this:

SELECT names FROM your_table ORDER BY games + 0 ASC

Does a natural sort when the numbers are at the front, might work for middle as well.

Same function as posted by @plalx, but rewritten to MySQL:

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS `udf_FirstNumberPos`;
DELIMITER ;;
CREATE FUNCTION `udf_FirstNumberPos` (`instring` varchar(4000)) 
RETURNS int
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
NO SQL
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
BEGIN
    DECLARE position int;
    DECLARE tmp_position int;
    SET position = 5000;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('0', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF; 
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('1', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('2', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('3', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('4', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('5', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('6', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('7', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('8', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;
    SET tmp_position = LOCATE('9', instring); IF (tmp_position > 0 AND tmp_position < position) THEN SET position = tmp_position; END IF;

    IF (position = 5000) THEN RETURN 0; END IF;
    RETURN position;
END
;;

DROP FUNCTION IF EXISTS `udf_NaturalSortFormat`;
DELIMITER ;;
CREATE FUNCTION `udf_NaturalSortFormat` (`instring` varchar(4000), `numberLength` int, `sameOrderChars` char(50)) 
RETURNS varchar(4000)
LANGUAGE SQL
DETERMINISTIC
NO SQL
SQL SECURITY INVOKER
BEGIN
    DECLARE sortString varchar(4000);
    DECLARE numStartIndex int;
    DECLARE numEndIndex int;
    DECLARE padLength int;
    DECLARE totalPadLength int;
    DECLARE i int;
    DECLARE sameOrderCharsLen int;

    SET totalPadLength = 0;
    SET instring = TRIM(instring);
    SET sortString = instring;
    SET numStartIndex = udf_FirstNumberPos(instring);
    SET numEndIndex = 0;
    SET i = 1;
    SET sameOrderCharsLen = CHAR_LENGTH(sameOrderChars);

    WHILE (i <= sameOrderCharsLen) DO
        SET sortString = REPLACE(sortString, SUBSTRING(sameOrderChars, i, 1), ' ');
        SET i = i + 1;
    END WHILE;

    WHILE (numStartIndex <> 0) DO
        SET numStartIndex = numStartIndex + numEndIndex;
        SET numEndIndex = numStartIndex;

        WHILE (udf_FirstNumberPos(SUBSTRING(instring, numEndIndex, 1)) = 1) DO
            SET numEndIndex = numEndIndex + 1;
        END WHILE;

        SET numEndIndex = numEndIndex - 1;

        SET padLength = numberLength - (numEndIndex + 1 - numStartIndex);

        IF padLength < 0 THEN
            SET padLength = 0;
        END IF;

        SET sortString = INSERT(sortString, numStartIndex + totalPadLength, 0, REPEAT('0', padLength));

        SET totalPadLength = totalPadLength + padLength;
        SET numStartIndex = udf_FirstNumberPos(RIGHT(instring, CHAR_LENGTH(instring) - numEndIndex));
    END WHILE;

    RETURN sortString;
END
;;

Usage:

SELECT name FROM products ORDER BY udf_NaturalSortFormat(name, 10, ".")

I think this is why a lot of things are sorted by release date.

A solution could be to create another column in your table for the "SortKey". This could be a sanitized version of the title which conforms to a pattern you create for easy sorting or a counter.

I've written this function for MSSQL 2000 a while ago:

/**
 * Returns a string formatted for natural sorting. This function is very useful when having to sort alpha-numeric strings.
 *
 * @author Alexandre Potvin Latreille (plalx)
 * @param {nvarchar(4000)} string The formatted string.
 * @param {int} numberLength The length each number should have (including padding). This should be the length of the longest number. Defaults to 10.
 * @param {char(50)} sameOrderChars A list of characters that should have the same order. Ex: '.-/'. Defaults to empty string.
 *
 * @return {nvarchar(4000)} A string for natural sorting.
 * Example of use: 
 * 
 *      SELECT Name FROM TableA ORDER BY Name
 *  TableA (unordered)              TableA (ordered)
 *  ------------                    ------------
 *  ID  Name                    ID  Name
 *  1.  A1.                 1.  A1-1.       
 *  2.  A1-1.                   2.  A1.
 *  3.  R1      -->         3.  R1
 *  4.  R11                 4.  R11
 *  5.  R2                  5.  R2
 *
 *  
 *  As we can see, humans would expect A1., A1-1., R1, R2, R11 but that's not how SQL is sorting it.
 *  We can use this function to fix this.
 *
 *      SELECT Name FROM TableA ORDER BY dbo.udf_NaturalSortFormat(Name, default, '.-')
 *  TableA (unordered)              TableA (ordered)
 *  ------------                    ------------
 *  ID  Name                    ID  Name
 *  1.  A1.                 1.  A1.     
 *  2.  A1-1.                   2.  A1-1.
 *  3.  R1      -->         3.  R1
 *  4.  R11                 4.  R2
 *  5.  R2                  5.  R11
 */
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.udf_NaturalSortFormat(
    @string nvarchar(4000),
    @numberLength int = 10,
    @sameOrderChars char(50) = ''
)
RETURNS varchar(4000)
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @sortString varchar(4000),
        @numStartIndex int,
        @numEndIndex int,
        @padLength int,
        @totalPadLength int,
        @i int,
        @sameOrderCharsLen int;

    SELECT 
        @totalPadLength = 0,
        @string = RTRIM(LTRIM(@string)),
        @sortString = @string,
        @numStartIndex = PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', @string),
        @numEndIndex = 0,
        @i = 1,
        @sameOrderCharsLen = LEN(@sameOrderChars);

    -- Replace all char that has to have the same order by a space.
    WHILE (@i <= @sameOrderCharsLen)
    BEGIN
        SET @sortString = REPLACE(@sortString, SUBSTRING(@sameOrderChars, @i, 1), ' ');
        SET @i = @i + 1;
    END

    -- Pad numbers with zeros.
    WHILE (@numStartIndex <> 0)
    BEGIN
        SET @numStartIndex = @numStartIndex + @numEndIndex;
        SET @numEndIndex = @numStartIndex;

        WHILE(PATINDEX('[0-9]', SUBSTRING(@string, @numEndIndex, 1)) = 1)
        BEGIN
            SET @numEndIndex = @numEndIndex + 1;
        END

        SET @numEndIndex = @numEndIndex - 1;

        SET @padLength = @numberLength - (@numEndIndex + 1 - @numStartIndex);

        IF @padLength < 0
        BEGIN
            SET @padLength = 0;
        END

        SET @sortString = STUFF(
            @sortString,
            @numStartIndex + @totalPadLength,
            0,
            REPLICATE('0', @padLength)
        );

        SET @totalPadLength = @totalPadLength + @padLength;
        SET @numStartIndex = PATINDEX('%[0-9]%', RIGHT(@string, LEN(@string) - @numEndIndex));
    END

    RETURN @sortString;
END

GO