Hi Sergio,

thats my idea too.

Agnes
>Determine deepest structure
>Create dummy field that can store surogate key according to structure dept.
>Break each string into substring, pad with zeroes on the left and you get your surogate key
>(This would be function)
>
>

>&&From
>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
>
>**You create
>000.000.001.001
>001.002.000.000
>001.002.00R.000
>001.002.00N.000
>.
>.
>.
>

>
>Index or order subquery by that surogate field
>
>
>HTH
>Sergio
>
>
>
>
>.
>.