While Doing sort in oracle the Normal sort works differently for the following Data
CREATE TABLE TestTable(Col1 VARCHAR2(20)); insert into TestTable values('A11'); insert into TestTable values('A260'); insert into TestTable values('A10'); insert into TestTable values('A5');
A11 A260 A10 A5
SELECT * FROM TestTable ORDER BY col1;
Output
A10 A11 A260 A5
You may expected A5 before A10 and A11. But It would have been before A10 and A11 when it is A05. The workaround for this is as below.
SELECT * FROM TestTable ORDER BY lpad(col1,9999999);
Output
A5 A10 A11 A260