Numeric sorting for string columns#126

Right now string columns are sorted alphanumeric for values that are a mixture of chars/numbers (e. g. AB12). The problem with alphanumeric sorting is, that AB105 comes before AB11. But AB11 should come before AB105 of course. To solve that problem we would need an option for numeric sorting in string columns.

I was just thinking about this too, would be very important in my use scenario, I hope there will be a solution to this. Upvoted.

A kind of complex workaround exists for specific scenarios where the users don’t need to change the way the records are sorted (they just happily search and filter the data).
It involves creating an SQL view which is sorted as desired, using a stored function doing the actual “natural sorting”. The view needs to have an added dynamic row number column used as a sort index in wpDataTables.
Google “Natural Sort in MySQL”… I use the NatSortKey function, but if you have MariaDB, there’s even a built-in function for this.
I hope this helps someone.