How to sort categorical values by an arbitrary order?

I have a table called ANIMALS which looks like this

| name      | category |

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

| fluffer   | CAT      |

| tooter    | ELEPHANT |

| tooter_jr | ELEPHANT |

| woofer    | DOG      |

If I sort the table by category then I will get all CATs then DOGs then ELEPHANTs. But I need to order the table such that the sequence is CAT > ELEPHANT > DOG

How can I achieve this result?

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

Create a table (category - sorting weight) and use it in the query. Or use any trick (expression like ORDER BY INSTR('CAT,ELEPHANT,DOG', category,1,1)).

– Akina
16 hours ago

add a comment |

I have a table called ANIMALS which looks like this

| name      | category |

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

| fluffer   | CAT      |

| tooter    | ELEPHANT |

| tooter_jr | ELEPHANT |

| woofer    | DOG      |

If I sort the table by category then I will get all CATs then DOGs then ELEPHANTs. But I need to order the table such that the sequence is CAT > ELEPHANT > DOG

How can I achieve this result?

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

Create a table (category - sorting weight) and use it in the query. Or use any trick (expression like ORDER BY INSTR('CAT,ELEPHANT,DOG', category,1,1)).

– Akina
16 hours ago

add a comment |

I have a table called ANIMALS which looks like this

| name      | category |

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

| fluffer   | CAT      |

| tooter    | ELEPHANT |

| tooter_jr | ELEPHANT |

| woofer    | DOG      |

If I sort the table by category then I will get all CATs then DOGs then ELEPHANTs. But I need to order the table such that the sequence is CAT > ELEPHANT > DOG

How can I achieve this result?

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

I have a table called ANIMALS which looks like this

| name      | category |

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

| fluffer   | CAT      |

| tooter    | ELEPHANT |

| tooter_jr | ELEPHANT |

| woofer    | DOG      |

If I sort the table by category then I will get all CATs then DOGs then ELEPHANTs. But I need to order the table such that the sequence is CAT > ELEPHANT > DOG

How can I achieve this result?

oracle oracle-12c

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

asked 17 hours ago

Souradeep Nanda

395137

Create a table (category - sorting weight) and use it in the query. Or use any trick (expression like ORDER BY INSTR('CAT,ELEPHANT,DOG', category,1,1)).

– Akina
16 hours ago

add a comment |

Create a table (category - sorting weight) and use it in the query. Or use any trick (expression like ORDER BY INSTR('CAT,ELEPHANT,DOG', category,1,1)).

– Akina
16 hours ago

Create a table (category - sorting weight) and use it in the query. Or use any trick (expression like ORDER BY INSTR('CAT,ELEPHANT,DOG', category,1,1)).

– Akina
16 hours ago

add a comment |

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

This can be done using a CASE statement in the ORDER BY clause:

WITH

Animals (name, category) AS (

 SELECT 'fluffer', 'CAT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter_jr', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'woofer', 'DOG' FROM DUAL

)

SELECT

  name, category

FROM Animals

ORDER BY

  CASE category

  WHEN 'CAT' THEN 1

  WHEN 'ELEPHANT' THEN 2

  WHEN 'DOG' THEN 3

  END

;

Please comment, if and as this requires adjustment / further detail.

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

add a comment |

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1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

This can be done using a CASE statement in the ORDER BY clause:

WITH

Animals (name, category) AS (

 SELECT 'fluffer', 'CAT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter_jr', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'woofer', 'DOG' FROM DUAL

)

SELECT

  name, category

FROM Animals

ORDER BY

  CASE category

  WHEN 'CAT' THEN 1

  WHEN 'ELEPHANT' THEN 2

  WHEN 'DOG' THEN 3

  END

;

Please comment, if and as this requires adjustment / further detail.

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

add a comment |

This can be done using a CASE statement in the ORDER BY clause:

WITH

Animals (name, category) AS (

 SELECT 'fluffer', 'CAT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter_jr', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'woofer', 'DOG' FROM DUAL

)

SELECT

  name, category

FROM Animals

ORDER BY

  CASE category

  WHEN 'CAT' THEN 1

  WHEN 'ELEPHANT' THEN 2

  WHEN 'DOG' THEN 3

  END

;

Please comment, if and as this requires adjustment / further detail.

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

add a comment |

This can be done using a CASE statement in the ORDER BY clause:

WITH

Animals (name, category) AS (

 SELECT 'fluffer', 'CAT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter_jr', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'woofer', 'DOG' FROM DUAL

)

SELECT

  name, category

FROM Animals

ORDER BY

  CASE category

  WHEN 'CAT' THEN 1

  WHEN 'ELEPHANT' THEN 2

  WHEN 'DOG' THEN 3

  END

;

Please comment, if and as this requires adjustment / further detail.

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

This can be done using a CASE statement in the ORDER BY clause:

WITH

Animals (name, category) AS (

 SELECT 'fluffer', 'CAT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'tooter_jr', 'ELEPHANT' FROM DUAL UNION ALL

 SELECT 'woofer', 'DOG' FROM DUAL

)

SELECT

  name, category

FROM Animals

ORDER BY

  CASE category

  WHEN 'CAT' THEN 1

  WHEN 'ELEPHANT' THEN 2

  WHEN 'DOG' THEN 3

  END

;

Please comment, if and as this requires adjustment / further detail.

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

answered 16 hours ago

Abecee

31613

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

add a comment |

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

I am getting error: Error: ORA-00904: "DOG": invalid identifier I am still doing a little trial and error.

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

Oh ok. I was doing ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN ${TYPES.CAT} THEN 1 WHEN ${TYPES.ELEPHANT} THEN 2 WHEN ${TYPES.DOG} THEN 3 END ; ``` instead of ``` ORDER BY CASE category WHEN '${TYPES.CAT}' THEN 1 WHEN '${TYPES.ELEPHANT}' THEN 2 WHEN '${TYPES.DOG}' THEN 3 END ; ```

– Souradeep Nanda
16 hours ago

add a comment |

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