Select from db Order by name (but with one exception)

[deansatch]

I have my db and fetch theresults in alphabetical order using "select * from table order by name" but I need on of the entries to be next to another as a one-off exception.

e.g

 

Alfred

Bob

Malcolm  <---the odd one

Edward

Frank

George

Larry

Kyle

Morris

Norris

 

Is there any way of doing this without creating an 'order' column and assigning numbers to every entry?

[onlyican]

You can create a SortBy field in your table.

Then populate the field with a numeric value to the order you would like

[Mark Baker]

I need on of the entries to be next to another as a one-off exception.

How do you identify which entry needs to be next to what other entry?

[Mchl]

(SELECT * FROM table WHERE name = 'Malcolm')
UNION
(SELECT * FROM table WHERE name !='Malcolm' ORDER BY name)

[fenway]

Or you can simply use an IF() in your ORDER BY clause.