How to compare software versions using SQL Server?

When trying to compare software versions 5.12 to 5.8, version 5.12 is newer, however mathematically 5.12 is less than 5.8. How would I compare the two versions so that a newer version returns 'Y'?

SELECT CASE WHEN 5.12 > 5.8 THEN 'Y' ELSE 'N' END

Possible Solutions

1. Add a 0 after the decimal in 5.8 so that it compares 5.08 to 5.12, however it seems like this would require a bit of code.
2. Simply compare values after the decimal (ie. 12 > 8), however this fails when the version rolls to 6.0.
3. Use reverse logic and assume that if 5.12 is less than 5.8 to return 'Y'. I believe this would fail when the version rolls to 6.0.

You could use hierarchyid Which you can use by putting a / at the end and start of the string and casting it

e.g.

SELECT CASE WHEN cast('/5.12/' as hierarchyid) > cast('/5.8/' as hierarchyid) THEN 'Y' ELSE 'N' END

That returns a Y

declare @v1 varchar(100) = '5.12'
declare @v2 varchar(100) = '5.8'

select 
    case 
    when CONVERT(int, LEFT(@v1, CHARINDEX('.', @v1)-1)) < CONVERT(int, LEFT(@v2, CHARINDEX('.', @v2)-1)) then 'v2 is newer'
    when CONVERT(int, LEFT(@v1, CHARINDEX('.', @v1)-1)) > CONVERT(int, LEFT(@v2, CHARINDEX('.', @v2)-1)) then 'v1 is newer'
    when CONVERT(int, substring(@v1, CHARINDEX('.', @v1)+1, LEN(@v1))) < CONVERT(int, substring(@v2, CHARINDEX('.', @v2)+1, LEN(@v1))) then 'v2 is newer'
    when CONVERT(int, substring(@v1, CHARINDEX('.', @v1)+1, LEN(@v1))) > CONVERT(int, substring(@v2, CHARINDEX('.', @v2)+1, LEN(@v1))) then 'v1 is newer'
    else 'same!'

    end

I recommend to create a SQL CLR function:

public partial class UserDefinedFunctions
{
    [SqlFunction(Name = "CompareVersion")] 
    public static bool CompareVersion(SqlString x, SqlString y)
    {
        return Version.Parse(x) > Version.Parse(y);
    }
}

Notes:

• SqlString has explicit cast to string.
• Pass full version string as of a.b.c.d

There was a very good solution from a duplicate question here: How to compare SQL strings that hold version numbers like .NET System.Version class?

After playing with the query for a while, I learned that it was not able to compare the last part when there are 4 or more parts (say, if the version number was 1.2.3.4, it would always treat the last one as 0). I have fixed that issue as well as came up with another function to compare two version numbers.

CREATE Function [dbo].[VersionNthPart](@version as nvarchar(max), @part as int) returns int as
Begin

Declare
    @ret as int = null,
    @start as int = 1,
    @end as int = 0,
    @partsFound as int = 0,
    @terminate as bit = 0

  if @version is not null
  Begin
    Set @ret = 0
    while @partsFound < @part
    Begin
      Set @end = charindex('.', @version, @start)
      If @end = 0 -- did not find the dot. Either it was last part or the part was missing.
      begin
        if @part - @partsFound > 1 -- also this isn't the last part so it must bail early.
        begin
            set @terminate = 1
        end
        Set @partsFound = @part
        SET @end = len(@version) + 1; -- get the full length so that it can grab the whole of the final part.
      end
      else
      begin
        SET @partsFound = @partsFound + 1
      end
      If @partsFound = @part and @terminate = 0
      begin
            Set @ret = Convert(int, substring(@version, @start, @end - @start))
      end
      Else
      begin
            Set @start = @end + 1
      end
    End
  End
  return @ret
End
GO

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers]
(
    @Source nvarchar(max),
    @Target nvarchar(max),
    @Parts int = 4
)
RETURNS INT
AS
BEGIN
/*
-1 : target has higher version number (later version)
0 : same
1 : source has higher version number (later version)
*/ 
    DECLARE @ReturnValue as int = 0;
    DECLARE @PartIndex as int = 1;
    DECLARE @SourcePartValue as int = 0;
    DECLARE @TargetPartValue as int = 0;
    WHILE (@PartIndex <= @Parts AND @ReturnValue = 0)
    BEGIN
        SET @SourcePartValue = [dbo].[VersionNthPart](@Source, @PartIndex);
        SET @TargetPartValue = [dbo].[VersionNthPart](@Target, @PartIndex);
        IF @SourcePartValue > @TargetPartValue
            SET @ReturnValue = 1
        ELSE IF @SourcePartValue < @TargetPartValue
            SET @ReturnValue = -1
        SET @PartIndex = @PartIndex + 1;
    END
    RETURN @ReturnValue
END

Usage/Test case:

declare @Source as nvarchar(100) = '4.9.21.018'
declare @Target as nvarchar(100) = '4.9.21.180'
SELECT [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers](@Source, @Target, DEFAULT) -- default version parts are 4

SET @Source = '1.0.4.1'
SET @Target = '1.0.1.8'
SELECT [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers](@Source, @Target, 4) -- typing out # of version parts also works

SELECT [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers](@Source, @Target, 2) -- comparing only 2 parts should be the same

SET @Target = '1.0.4.1.5'
SELECT [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers](@Source, @Target, 4) -- only comparing up to parts 4 so they are the same
SELECT [dbo].[CompareVersionNumbers](@Source, @Target, 5) -- now comparing 5th part which should indicate that the target has higher version number

I encountered this when trying to filter SQL rows based on semantic versioning. My solution was a bit different, in that I wanted to store configuration rows tagged with a semantic version number and then select rows compatible with a running version of our software.

Assumptions:

• My software will include a configuration setting containing the current version number
• Data-driven configuration rows will include a min version number
• I need to be able to select configuration rows where min <= current.

Examples:

• Version 1.0.0 should include: 1.0.0, 1.0.0-*, 1.0.0-beta.1
• Version 1.0.0 should exclude: 1.0.1, 1.1.0, 2.0.0
• Version 1.1.0-beta.2 should include: 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.1.0-beta.1, 1.1.0-beta.2
• Version 1.1.0-beta.2 should exclude: 1.1.0, 1.1.1, 1.2.0, 2.0.0, 1.1.1-beta.1

The MSSQL UDF is:

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[SemanticVersion] (
    @Version nvarchar(50)
)
RETURNS nvarchar(255)

AS
BEGIN

    DECLARE @hyphen int = CHARINDEX('-', @version)
    SET @Version = REPLACE(@Version, '*', ' ')
    DECLARE 
        @left nvarchar(50) = CASE @hyphen WHEN 0 THEN @version ELSE SUBSTRING(@version, 1, @hyphen-1) END,
        @right nvarchar(50) = CASE @hyphen WHEN 0 THEN NULL ELSE SUBSTRING(@version, @hyphen+1, 50) END,
        @normalized nvarchar(255) = '',
        @buffer int = 8

    WHILE CHARINDEX('.', @left) > 0 BEGIN
        SET @normalized = @normalized + CASE ISNUMERIC(LEFT(@left, CHARINDEX('.', @left)-1))
            WHEN 0 THEN LEFT(@left, CHARINDEX('.', @left)-1)
            WHEN 1 THEN REPLACE(STR(LEFT(@left, CHARINDEX('.', @left)-1), @buffer), SPACE(1), '0')
        END  + '.'
        SET @left = SUBSTRING(@left, CHARINDEX('.', @left)+1, 50)
    END
    SET @normalized = @normalized + CASE ISNUMERIC(@left)
        WHEN 0 THEN @left
        WHEN 1 THEN REPLACE(STR(@left, @buffer), SPACE(1), '0')
    END

    SET @normalized = @normalized + '-'
    IF (@right IS NOT NULL) BEGIN
        WHILE CHARINDEX('.', @right) > 0 BEGIN
            SET @normalized = @normalized + CASE ISNUMERIC(LEFT(@right, CHARINDEX('.', @right)-1))
                WHEN 0 THEN LEFT(@right, CHARINDEX('.', @right)-1)
                WHEN 1 THEN REPLACE(STR(LEFT(@right, CHARINDEX('.', @right)-1), @buffer), SPACE(1), '0')
            END  + '.'
            SET @right = SUBSTRING(@right, CHARINDEX('.', @right)+1, 50)
        END
        SET @normalized = @normalized + CASE ISNUMERIC(@right)
            WHEN 0 THEN @right
            WHEN 1 THEN REPLACE(STR(@right, @buffer), SPACE(1), '0')
        END
    END ELSE 
        SET @normalized = @normalized + 'zzzzzzzzzz'

    RETURN @normalized

END

SQL tests include:

SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-alpha') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-alpha.1') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-alpha.1') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-alpha.beta') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-alpha.beta') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta.2') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta.2') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta.11') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-beta.11') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-rc.1') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-rc.1') < dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END


SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END

SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0-*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.1-*') > dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.1-*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.1') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.1.*') > dbo.SemanticVersion('1.0.9') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.1.*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('1.2.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('2.0.0') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('1.*') > dbo.SemanticVersion('0.9.9-beta-219') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END
SELECT CASE WHEN dbo.SemanticVersion('*') <= dbo.SemanticVersion('0.0.1-alpha-1') THEN 'Success' ELSE 'Failure' END