From: "prabahar" <prabahar@questech.co.in>
To: Ian Barwick <barwick@gmx.net>, pgsql-sql@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: sorting chinese characters
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 07:25:48 +0530
Message-Id: <20030426015548.M3479@questech.co.in>
In-Reply-To: <200304252010.11373.barwick@gmx.net>
References: <20030425082222.M48563@questech.co.in>
	<200304252010.11373.barwick@gmx.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Thanks for your reply, Let me explain a bit more about my problem. I have a 
member master table where in i have member_name_hiragana, member_name_chinese 
[member_name_hiragana has member names in hiragana chars and 
member_name_chinese has member names in chinese chars]. 
when i execute the query "select * from member_master orderby 
member_name_hiragana" then the sort it a proper sort order. But when i 
execute "select * from member_master orderby member_name_chinese" then it 
does not sort properly. I am not sure about the sort order, but my clients 
say that that is not a proper sort. How can i fix this?

Thanks again,
Prabahar

> On Friday 25 April 2003 10:22, prabahar wrote:
> > Hi, I have a requirement where I have to sort a field which has euc-jp
> > characters in it. When i sort them we find that Japanese Hiragana
> > Characters are sorted properly. But Chinese characters are not sorted
> > properly.
> 
> Can you define "properly"? What is it you want to sort?
> 
> > Can any one give some sujestions how to fix it? I have set the
> > LC_ALL=ja_JP in the profile.
> 
> Unfortunately with Japanese "Chinese" characters there is no algorithmically
> determinable sort order  You will need some kind of lookup table containing
> hiragana (and possibly katakana) if you want to sort in phonetic dictionary
> order as there is a "many to many" relationship between characters / 
> combinations of characters and their pronuncation(s).
> 
> If the data you are dealing with represents names you don't have a chance
> unless the data comes with the pronunciation in a seperate field (which
> is why Japanese forms usually have space for both characters and 
> pronuncation).
> 
> It should be possible using a lookup table to determine sort order 
> of a given set of characters based on their structure (radical / 
> stroke count), but this method of sorting is archaic and generally 
> not used.
> 
> Ian Barwick
> barwick@gmx.net


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