Sort varchar by its numeric fields

Question

I'm sure this has been asked before, but since the question can be formulated in many different ways it's difficult to find the proper answer.

I have an orders table with a varchar field for the order number, which is formatted with 4-digits year, a dash (-), and a progressive numeric value. For example it may contain the following values:

SELECT number FROM orders ORDER BY number LIMIT 10;

  number  
----------
 1999-13
 2019-11
 2020-1
 2020-10
 2020-100
 2020-12
 2020-2
 2020-21
 2020-3
 2021-1

I need to sort that field by year and then by the progressive number, with this expected result:

  number  
----------
 1999-13
 2019-11
 2020-1
 2020-2
 2020-3
 2020-10
 2020-12
 2020-21
 2020-100
 2021-1

A DB fiddle is here.

My questions are:

1. Which is the simplest way to achieve this with an ORDER subclause?
2. How to add an efficient index using this custom sort without having to modify the table?

I would like to keep at least the first answer as database-agnostic as possible (that's why I haven't included db specific tags), but if different best answers are possible for different DBMS/versions, let's assume PostgreSQL 12.

Answer 1

I would convert that value to an integer array, then sort on that array:

SELECT number 
FROM orders 
ORDER BY string_to_array(number, '-')::int[] 
LIMIT 10;

Online example

Answer 2

You can splitthe number and sort by it parts

CREATE TABLE test  
    ("number" varchar(8))
;
    
INSERT INTO test  
    ("number")
VALUES
    ('1999-13'),
    ('2019-11'),
    ('2020-1'),
    ('2020-10'),
    ('2020-100'),
    ('2020-12'),
    ('2020-2'),
    ('2020-21'),
    ('2020-3'),
    ('2021-1')
;

SELECT "number"
FROM test
ORDER BY 
split_part("number", '-', 1)::numeric,split_part("number", '-', 2)::numeric;

| number   |
| :------- |
| 1999-13  |
| 2019-11  |
| 2020-1   |
| 2020-2   |
| 2020-3   |
| 2020-10  |
| 2020-12  |
| 2020-21  |
| 2020-100 |
| 2021-1   |

db<>fiddle here

Answer 3

I have an orders table with a varchar field for the order number ... year ... dash ... progressive numeric value

Sorry, but I would suggest that this is a classic case of storing multiple pieces of information in a single database field - and that's a Bad Idea.

Most order tables I've ever seen simply use a single, numeric field to uniquely identify the order and include the order date as a separate field, from which the year can be derived, if required.