SQL: How can I order null and empty entries to the front in an orderby?

Question

If I have the following entries in my database:

ID Name
1 [null]
2 [empty string]
3 Alpha
4 Bravo
5 Charlie

..then how can I order

Answer 1

You can do it like this:

ORDER BY CASE WHEN Name IS NULL then 3 WHEN Name = '' THEN 2 ELSE 1 END, Name

It will order with by the number in the case first and afterwords by the Name.