Correcting "The" Sorting Problem in MySQL
Names that contain "The ", like "The Eagles", don't sort in a useful way.
You can use MySQL string functions to rememdy this. Below is a quick trick to sort a table by a column containing names, ignoring names that begin with "The ".
SELECT
IF (
LEFT(my_name_column, 4) = 'the ',
CONCAT(RIGHT(my_name_column, LENGTH(my_name_column) - 4), ', The'),
my_name_column
)
AS my_sortable_name_column
FROM my_table
ORDER BY my_sortable_name_column ASC
