artlooksoftware wrote:

> My database is set to use ISO8859_1. With the following sql select
> statement
> select * from ATABLE order by AFIELD collate en_uk
> the sorted fields are somewhat erratic. For example:
>
> Brown, Douglas
> Browne, David
> Brown, Fiona
>
> Is this a bug or am I misunderstanding something?

I'm afraid you're misunderstanding something. In the EN_UK collation,
commas and spaces have only secondary significance - 'a, b, c' sorts at
the same level as 'abc' and before 'abd'


SQL> insert into t1 values ('abc');
SQL> insert into t1 values ('abd');
SQL> insert into t1 values ('a b c');
SQL> insert into t2 values ('a, b, c')'
SQL> insert into t1 values ('a, b, c');
SQL> insert into t1 values ('a, b, b');
SQL> insert into t1 values ('abb');
SQL> select * from t1 order by f1;

F1
==================================================

abb
a, b, b
abc
a b c
a, b, c


The ordering you're seeing makes sense - more or less - if you thing of
the data as BrownDouglas, BrowneDavid, BrownFiona. The correct answer
is to separate names inot their components and sort them separately.
E.g. select last_name || ', ' || first_name from names order by
last_name, first_name.

Regards,


Ann