order by

[SkyRanger]

I am trying to figure out how to order a list of names by last name (not really sure if this is possible):

 

This is what I have so far but it's not working right:

 

$resultab = mysql_query( "SELECT abname from address where fname='$logged' order by abname ASC") or die( "Unable to select database");

 

So If I had:

 

John Smith

Jack Brown

Chris Andrews

Jane Doe

 

I need the list to output

 

Chris Andrews

Jack Brown

Jane Doe

John Smith

[MadTechie]

do you have a field for last name ?

[SkyRanger]

No, first and last are in the same field

[MadTechie]

OK thats a pain, personally i don't think so..

if you can i don't think it's easy (someone surprise me, and prove me wrong)

[SkyRanger]

I wasn't sure either, going to be doing some research on this to find out if possible, maybe even email the mysql developers to see what they say.  If anybody else has an answer though please post, this may be helpful for allot of people

[SkyRanger]

~bump~

[SkyRanger]

~bump~

[neel_basu]

You can select abname.

and then explode by ' ' <space>.

then order (sort) the array in Ascending or descending order.

[SkyRanger]

huh....lol, can anybody elaborate for us noob's please

[MadTechie]

basically neel_basu is saying do it outside the mysql request,

[neel_basu]

Use array_multisort() to sort the exploded array.

array_multisort()

explode

-----------------------------------------------

First get the contents from Database Using Select Statements and Store it in a string array named $full_name.

And then Do this following.

<?php
$last_name = array();
foreach($full_name as $val)
{
$tmp = explode(" ", $val);
$last_name[] = $tmp[1];
}
unset($full_name);
array_multisort($last_name, SORT_ASC, SORT_STRING, $filtered_array);
print_r($filtered_array);
?>

[SkyRanger]

Awsome, thank you very much, I bet this will help allot of people out.

[neel_basu]

Dont forget to unset the $last_name for more speed and performance at the end.