Alastair, As I think about it, I would say not, we should not expect the order by to work this way. The ORDER BY is sorting the rows in your result set. But there is only one row in your result set. Compare what you would like with LISTOF here to what you would get with:
SELECT MIN (extension) INTO vResponse FROM FileExtensions ORDER BY extension There is nothing to sort, since there is truly a one-row answer. The database engine build a NOTE value as it worked its way through the rows that were being summarized, but built only one row. Also, think what the database engine would do if you asked it to: SELECT sharename, LISTOF(extension) from fileextensions group by sharename, order by 2 Bill On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 07:56:04 -0000, Alastair Burr wrote: >This got lost in the mists of time in the sonetmail hiccup: > > Does anybody agree with me that this fails: > > SELECT (LISTOF(Extension)) INTO vResponse FROM FileExtensions order by > Extension > > but these work: > > SELECT (LISTOF(Extension)) INTO vResponse FROM FileExtensions > > SELECT (LISTOF(Extension)) INTO vResponse FROM FileExtensions where > Extension is not null > > SELECT (LISTOF(Extension)) INTO vResponse FROM FileExtensions where > Extension is not null order by Extension > > (They're all single-line commands.) > > If so, should I expect the first method to work or not? > > >Since then it has been discovered that the third "working" example doesn't >appear to actually sort but doesn't give the error message that the >non-working example does. > >A easy work-around of using a (temp) view to re-order the list has also been >suggested and the need, or otherwise, of two pairs of parenthesis has been >questioned. (R:Syntax shows both!) > >See what excitement you've missed while you were away! Welcome back. >Regards, >Alastair. > >---------------------------------- >A D B Burr, >St. Albans, UK. >---------------------------------- >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >---------------------------------- > >--- RBASE-L >================================================ >TO POST A MESSAGE TO ALL MEMBERS: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >(Don't use any of these words as your Subject: >INTRO, SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, SEARCH, >REMOVE, SUSPEND, RESUME, DIGEST, RESEND, HELP) >================================================ >TO SEE MESSAGE POSTING GUIDELINES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message SUBJECT, put just one word: INTRO >================================================ >TO UNSUBSCRIBE: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message SUBJECT, put just one word: UNSUBSCRIBE >================================================ >TO SEARCH ARCHIVES: >Send a plain text email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >In the message SUBJECT, put just one word: SEARCH-n >(where n is the number of days). In the message body, >place any >text to search for. >================================================
