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From: lugnut@sequent.UUCP (Don Bolton)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: SQL Problem
Keywords: INFORMIX SQL Query 4GL
Message-ID: <53029@sequent.UUCP>
Date: 13 Feb 91 18:42:04 GMT
References: <1991Feb12.023644.14504@i88.isc.com> <1253@dkunix9.dk.oracle.com>
Reply-To: lugnut@sequent.UUCP (Don Bolton)
Organization: Sequent Computer Systems, Inc
Lines: 25

In article <1253@dkunix9.dk.oracle.com> bengsig@dk.oracle.com (Bjorn Engsig) writes:
>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);

I'm not aware Informix has the decode function available.
Better check my book. Ie: RTFM :-)

>-- 
>Bjorn Engsig, ORACLE Corporation, E-mail: bengsig@oracle.com, bengsig@oracle.nl
>
>            "Stepping in others footsteps, doesn't bring you ahead"