You shouldn't have to do that. the IFNULL() handles all that. If the item is null, it returns an emptry string ''. If it's blank/empty, it returns an empty string. This is just used for the comparison = ''. This determines if it's empty or null and if so, returns 'ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ', if not, it returns the unaltered value. And again, this returned value is only used for the sorting. The values you get from "select *" will be unaltered. Is this more efficient than doing two SELECTs and a UNION? I have no idea. But I like to keep things as clean as possible and in my reading and experience, letting the server handle an IFNULL() function should be quicker than doing four value checks (is null, is not null, = '' and != ''), collecting the values of two SELECTS then checking to see if it's able to UNION them together. Also, less code/typing typically means less chance of typos. BTW: In my example, realistically you could probably shorten the morphed value to "ZZ" or "ZZZ" unless you think you'll values in your database that will start with "ZZZZ" and get bumped lower on the sorting. -TG = = = Original message = = = In case the blank is a null or is really a blank: select * from blank where tchar_10 is not null and tchar_10 != '' union all select * from blank where tchar_10 is null or tchar_10 = '' - Dave On 12/21/06, tg-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <tg-php@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > This is a little weird looking, but should do the job. Remember that > items in your 'order by' can be manipulated conditionally. In this case, > I'm looking for NULL as well as '' (empty) and changing it to something that > should come after all your normal alphabetical values, but it doesn't change > what appears in your results. This only affects the sorting: > > select * from sometable order by if(ifnull(somecolumn, '') = '', > 'ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ', somecolumn) > > Hope that helps. > > -TG > > = = = Original message = = = > > I have this column in mysql: > > A > F > D > [ empty ] > A > C > > If I do an order by on that column, this is what I get: > > [ empty ] > A > A > C > D > F > > What I would like is this: > > A > A > C > D > F > [ empty ] > > Is there any way to achieve this in a single MySQL query? Using DESC > in this case doesn't work, because while it puts the empty row in the > last place, it does the rest as well. I could also do 2 queries where > it calls it once in order WHERE !='', and then do another query to > get the empty ones, but that seems a bit cumbersome. > > -- > Kevin Murphy > Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services > Western Nevada Community College > www.wncc.edu > 775-445-3326 > > > > > -- > Kevin Murphy > Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services > Western Nevada Community College > www.wncc.edu > 775-445-3326 ___________________________________________________________ Sent by ePrompter, the premier email notification software. Free download at http://www.ePrompter.com. -- PHP Database Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
