Cast Problem

i do a sort by serial number.  in order to sort the
way i want, i need to cast serial_number (type text)
as an integer.

... ORDER By serial_number::integer ASC;

this works great in pgsql 7.4.x (whatever i'm using on
my dev box, i think 7.4.3, but not sure), but it
doesn't work in pgsql 7.3.9.

it doesn't allow the query to complete and i
eventually get a "non object" error.

is there someting equivalent to the above line that
will work in 7.3.9?

i know, these are old versions of pgsql.  we are going
to bring the db in house and i will start working the
latest and greatest pgsql and php shortly.  until
then, though, i'd like to display my serial numbers in
a manner that looks nice to the user (iow, "10" won't
come before "2").

as always, tia.



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