Hi,
Since the data is a mixture of numeric and alpha chars, maybe convert the data to base 26 fully padded and store in the indexes. All subsequent searches will have to be done at base 26.


>Hi all,
>
>I have I problem sorting records.
>
>I have an alpanumeric structure that should be sortet numerical. It contains digits and alphas in various compositions.
>example
>

>1.1
>1.02
>10.1
>01.3
>1.02.N
>1.02.N.R
>1.10.R
>1.10.R.1
>20DP
>20
>1.02.R
>

>
>The string lenght is limited by field lenght anything else is possible.
>There is a "normal" that means to separate anything by a point but as the example shows sometimes its ignored.
>
>So what I need is to order the stuff numerical.
>

>1.1
>1.02
>1.02.R
>1.02.N
>1.02.N.R
>01.3
>1.10.R
>1.10.R.1
>10.1
>20
>20DP
>

>
>Has somebody done things like this?
>
>TIA
>
>Agnes