Re: PHP array or SQL problem

"Dean Householder" <dean@adoption.com> wrote in message news:007301c19d97$21968660$d5246541@daylightcreations...> >I've got a database with lname (lastname), fname (firstname), and nickname. > >What I want to do is search by either first name or last name. Either way, >I display the nickname instead of the firstname if it exists. I have no >problems on the last name, but when I sort by firstname, the people with >nicknames that are very different come up at the place where their first >name (not the displayed name) is. > >For example: > >Adam Smith >Joe Schmoe >Bill Somebody > >When Bill Somebody is really William Somebody in the database, his nickname >is bill and that's what's displayed but he 'bill' shows up in >'williams' >spot. Here is my SQL query: > >select * from employees order by fname; > >Should I create an array and sort it there or can I somehow query MySQL to >sort by nickname only if it exists and then by fname? > >Dean > > SELECT IF(nickname IS NOT NULL AND nickname != "", nickname, fname) AS fname, lname FROM table ORDER BY fname if it doesn't sort right, copy the IF(...) to the oRDER BY part -- Daniel Grace