Sorting Challenge

hi all,

i have another sorting problem. i have data that
looks like...

sm2
sm101

i have a lot more data like this, but i want to keep
it simple. the first two alphas represent an area and
the foloowing digit(s) represent a unique id.

the data is currently held in a text field.

i'm using (this is trimmed down)...

$sql_ipc_defect_code = 'SELECT code, code || \' - \'
|| description FROM defect ORDER BY LOWER(code) ASC';

this will list sm101 prior to sm2, which i think it
expected given my current order scheme. but it isn't
what i want.

is there a way to sort this so that sm2 will come
before sm101? do i need to change my data types?

tia...

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