title: Sorting numerically with text stored values
body: <p>I have a table in SQL Server 2008 R2 which contains physical cable connection data.  In this table is an nchar field (text) which stores device port numbers.  This field cannot be an integer because some ports are "GE0" or "1/15".</p>
  
  <p>When a query is run to retrieve data from this table, it is sorted ascending by port number.  The problem is, because the field stores text, I get text sorted results like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>1/0
  1/4
  10/4
  10/8
  11/2
  12/19
  2/4
  3/2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Instead, I'd like the results to be formatted ascending so that these ports appear in an order like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>1/0
  1/4
  2/4
  3/2
  10/4
  10/8
  11/2
  12/19
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My problem is that I haven't the slightest clue where to begin.  This data is presented through a website running on Classic ASP (VBScript), so some reorganizing can be done there after the recordset is retrieved.</p>
  
  <p>How can I make this happen?</p>