MySQL order by string with numbers?

To MySQL order string with numbers, the following is the syntax, wherein we have used ORDER BY, SUBSTR() and CAST() −

SELECT *FROM yourTableName ORDER BY
SUBSTR(yourColumnName FROM 1 FOR 2),
CAST(SUBSTR(yourColumnName FROM 2) AS UNSIGNED);

To understand the above syntax, let us create a table. The query to create a table is as follows −

mysql> create table OrderByStringWithNumbers
   -> (
   -> Id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
   -> Words varchar(10),
   -> PRIMARY KEY(Id)
   -> );
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.86 sec)

Insert some records in the table using insert command. The query is as follows −

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A10');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec)

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A30');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.19 sec)

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A12');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A11');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.17 sec)

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A28');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.13 sec)

mysql> insert into OrderByStringWithNumbers(Words) values('A21');
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.20 sec)

Display all records from the table using select statement −

mysql> select *from OrderByStringWithNumbers;

The following is the output −

+----+-------+
| Id | Words |
+----+-------+
| 1  | A10   |
| 2  | A30   |
| 3  | A12   |
| 4  | A11   |
| 5  | A28   |
| 6  | A21   |
+----+-------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is the query to order by string with numbers −

mysql> select *from OrderByStringWithNumbers order by
   -> substr(Words from 1 for 2),
   -> cast(substr(Words from 2) AS UNSIGNED);

The following is the output −

+----+-------+
| Id | Words |
+----+-------+
| 1  | A10   |
| 4  | A11   |
| 3  | A12   |
| 6  | A21   |
| 5  | A28   |
| 2  | A30   |
+----+-------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)