How to sort the alpha numeric character into number?

Question

Hi Good day!
I have here a sample data as shown below that needs string manipulation to sort the metric sizes numerically.
Select MetricSize From Sizes Order By MetricSize; which yields the following result:
10 x 5.5 x 2
125 x 95 x 13.5/21
1264.01 x 1200 x 22.23
130 x 105 x 12
210 x 180 x 15
28 x 16 x 15.2
28 x 16.8 x 6/7.5
52 x 25 x 10
52 x 25 x 7/7.5
52/58 x 25 x 7
52/59 x 25 x 10/15.5
55/61 x 35 x 11.5/16
74.2/78.2 x 56 x 8/10.5
74.5/79.5 x 45/42.5 x 12/13.7
But the requirement is to sort this sizes numerically so that the output would be look like this:
10 x 5.5 x 2
28 x 16 x 15.2
28 x 16.8 x 6/7.5
52 x 25 x 7/7.5
52/58 x 25 x 7
52/59 x 25 x 10/15.5
52 x 25 x 10
55/61 x 35 x 11.5/16
74.2/78.2 x 56 x 8/10.5
74.5/79.5 x 45/42.5 x 12/13.7
125 x 95 x 13.5/21
130 x 105 x 12
210 x 180 x 15
1264.01 x 1200 x 22.23
By the way the format for these sizes is composed of Outside Length x Inside Length x Thickness. But there are some sizes that contains slash '/' which is considered as special sizes.
So one of my solution is to separate the numbers into 3 columns so that I can sort it by outside, inside length and thickness.
Select MetricSize,
Convert(Numeric(18, 2), Left(SubString(MetricSize, PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', MetricSize), 100),PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%',
SubString(MetricSize, PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', MetricSize), 100) + 'X')-1)) As Outside,
Substring(MetricSize, charIndex('x', MetricSize) + 2, charIndex(reverse(Left(SubString(reverse(MetricSize),
PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', reverse(MetricSize)), 100),
PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%', SubString(reverse(MetricSize), PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%',
reverse(MetricSize)), 100)))), MetricSize) - 4 - charIndex('x', MetricSize)) As Inside,
Convert(Numeric(18, 2), Reverse(Left(SubString(reverse(MetricSize), PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', reverse(MetricSize)), 100),PatIndex('%[^0-9.-]%',
SubString(reverse(MetricSize), PatIndex('%[0-9.-]%', reverse(MetricSize)), 100) + 'X')-1))) As Thickness
From Sizes Order By Outside , Inside, Thickness
It is almost there but the result is not yet the exact result that I really wanted. There's a problem if the sizes contains slash '/' especially on the middle or the last portion of the character, which give me headache for a several minutes/hours. :)
I need help for this problem. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Hardz

Answer 1

create table #t (col varchar(100))
insert into #t values ('10 x 5.5 x 2')
insert into #t values ('125 x 95 x 13.5/21')
insert into #t values ('1264.01 x 1200 x 22.23')
insert into #t values ('130 x 105 x 12')
insert into #t values ('130 x 95 x 12') --added
insert into #t values ('210 x 180 x 15')
insert into #t values ('28 x 16 x 15.2')
insert into #t values ('28 x 16.8 x 6/7.5')
insert into #t values ('52 x 25 x 10')
insert into #t values ('52 x 25 x 7/7.5')
insert into #t values ('52/58 x 25 x 7')
insert into #t values ('52/59 x 25 x 10/15.5')
insert into #t values ('55/61 x 35 x 11.5/16')
insert into #t values ('74.2/78.2 x 56 x 8/10.5')
insert into #t values ('74.5/79.5 x 45/42.5 x 12/13.')
;with mycte as (
select col,
parsename(Replace(replace(col,'.','*'),'X','.'),3) col1
,parsename(Replace(replace(col,'.','*'),'X','.'),2) col2
,parsename(Replace(replace(col,'.','*'),'X','.'),1) col3 from #t)
,mycte1 as (
Select col,
Cast(ISNULL(Replace(parsename(Replace(col1,'/','.'),2),'*','.'), Replace(parsename(Replace(col1,'/','.'),1),'*','.')) as Decimal(6,2)) col11
, Cast(Replace(parsename(Replace(col1,'/','.'),1),'*','.') as Decimal(6,2)) as col12
, Cast(ISNULL(Replace(parsename(Replace(col2,'/','.'),2),'*','.'), Replace(parsename(Replace(col2,'/','.'),1),'*','.')) as Decimal(6,2)) col21
, Cast(Replace(parsename(Replace(col2,'/','.'),1),'*','.') as Decimal(6,2)) as col22
, Cast(ISNULL(Replace(parsename(Replace(col3,'/','.'),2),'*','.'), Replace(parsename(Replace(col3,'/','.'),1),'*','.')) as Decimal(6,2)) col31
, Cast(Replace(parsename(Replace(col3,'/','.'),1),'*','.') as Decimal(6,2)) as col32
from mycte )
Select col from mycte1
Order by col11,col12,col21,col22,col31,col32
drop table #t