Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!orcenl!bengsig
From: bengsig@dk.oracle.com (Bjorn Engsig)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: SQL Problem
Keywords: INFORMIX SQL Query 4GL
Message-ID: <1253@dkunix9.dk.oracle.com>
Date: 13 Feb 91 13:59:53 GMT
References: <1991Feb12.023644.14504@i88.isc.com>
Reply-To: bengsig@dk.oracle.com (Bjorn Engsig)
Organization: Oracle Denmark
Lines: 20

Article <1991Feb12.023644.14504@i88.isc.com> by egn@i88.isc.com (E. G. Nadhan) says:
|
|The data in this table has got the following physical sequence on the disk:
In a relational database system, you should not care about the physical
structure of the storage, and in particular not the sequence of rows.  You
might even see the sequence change if you update one of the rows.

Anyway, you write:
|I need to retrieve the data in the following sequence:
|
| [ a non-sequentail ordering 1,8,4 is wanted ]
|
If you know the set of possible values for data_2, you can use
select * from <your table>
order by
  decode(data_2, 1,1, 8,2, 4,3, 0);
-- 
Bjorn Engsig, ORACLE Corporation, E-mail: bengsig@oracle.com, bengsig@oracle.nl

            "Stepping in others footsteps, doesn't bring you ahead"