Hi,
I have a range of values in a column in this format

0-4
4-8
8-12
12-16
16-20
20-24
24-28
28-32
32-36
36-40
40-44
44-48
48-52
52-56
56-60
60-64
64-68
68-72
72-76
76-80
80-84
84-88
88-92
92-96
96-100

Now how do I retreive and maintain data in the same sequence?

When I run a select * query the data is retreived as

0-4
12-16
16-20
20-24
24-28
28-32
32-36
36-40
4-8
40-44
44-48
48-52
52-56
56-60
60-64
64-68
68-72
72-76
76-80
8-12
80-84
84-88
88-92
92-96
96-100

So as we see the sequence is different I want the data to be retreived in the first format shown.Kindly help me with a query or procedure to do the same.

Thanks in advance

there's your problem right there

use two integer columns -- range_from and range_to

or if you must insist on your current design, make certtian you write the values either zero or space padded. so if you thinkt hre number range is going to be say 1..999, then at the very least store 1 or two orders of magnitude so for upto 999 I'd suggest store as 00999.

but thats a kludge worksaround bad design, do as r937 says and dtore the two values as discrete numbers

Correct.....I am trying to incorporate the values in a bar chart as x axis.So all values in the column that I refer to in the previous mail would be the values in x-axis.In this case I may not be able to prefix a zero to a value say "04-08".Is there any other way out of this problem?

why do you think 'you may not be able to prefix a zero', have you tried?

what generates the ranges?

fix the problem there, or fix it at source, fixing at a later stage is a PIA, is fraught with problems and means you need to apply the same fix elsewhere whne you need to use the same data subset.