How can the data type of a field affect sorting results in a MySQL query in PHP?

When sorting results in a MySQL query in PHP, the data type of a field can affect the sorting order. For example, if a field is stored as a string but contains numerical values, the sorting may not be accurate. To ensure correct sorting, it is important to use the appropriate data type for each field in the database. 

// Example of sorting results in a MySQL query in PHP with correct data types
$query = "SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY CAST(numeric_field AS UNSIGNED) ASC";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// Loop through the results
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)) {
    // Output or process the sorted data
}

Keywords

PHP MySQL data type sorting query

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