sorting - mysql custom sort

Question

I have a query like this: SELECT * FROM table WHERE id IN (2,4,1,5,3);

However, when I print it out, it's automatically sorted 1,2,3,4,5. How can we maintain the order (2,4,1,5,3) without changing the database structure?

Thanks!

Answer 1

SELECT * FROM table WHERE id IN (2,4,1,5,3) ORDER BY FIELD(id,2,4,1,5,3);

Source: http://imthi.com/blog/programming/mysql-order-by-field-custom-field-sorting.php