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RANDOM order by - SQL Server 2000

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  #1  
Old March 12th, 2004, 05:35 AM
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RANDOM order by - SQL Server 2000
Hi,

I am wanting to create a SQL query which allows me to order a list by a random letter of the alphabet every time the query is run. So for instance the first time the list will be ordered starting from letter F, second time list is ordered by letter W, and so on.

Several attempts at writing this SQL statement proved fruitless, so does anyone have any ideas?

Much appreciated!

Leila
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  #2  
Old March 12th, 2004, 06:14 AM
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what does "starting from letter F" mean? can you give a small example?
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Old March 12th, 2004, 07:33 AM
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Let me give you an example.

Say I had a list of names in my database
Ann
Albert
Alfred
Bernard
Catherine
Derrick
Emma
Fred
Greg
Ingrid
James
Kate
Leila
Mark
Paul
Richard
Sarah
Willam

Now I want to list them alphabetically from a randomly chosen letter of the alphabet, so say the random letter happens to be 'f' the list should look like this:

Fred
Greg
Ingrid
James
Kate
Leila
Mark
Paul
Richard
Sarah
Willam
Ann
Albert
Alfred
Bernard
Catherine
Derrick
Emma

If the randmoly chosen letter doesn't happen to exist in the list then the list should still be ordered by it eg: random letter is 't'. No names starting with the letter 't' in list, but list must still be ordered as in:

Willam
Ann
Albert
Alfred
Bernard
Catherine
Derrick
Emma
Fred
Greg
Ingrid
James
Kate
Leila
Mark
Paul
Richard
Sarah


My sql query needs to select a random letter and order list by the selected letter.
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Old March 12th, 2004, 07:37 AM
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select ...
from ...
where ...
order by case when left(name,1) >= '$letter' then 0 else 1 end, name
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Old March 12th, 2004, 09:10 AM
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Many thanks for your help!

My final code ended up looking like this

select ClientName
from Client
order by case when left(ClientName, 1) >= CHAR(65 + 26 * rand()) then 0 else 1 end, ClientName

It works like a dream - thanks again!
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Old March 12th, 2004, 09:26 AM
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well done! that's a cute single-letter-randomizer
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