how to sort numbers in varchar2

I have a varchar2 column which stores characters as well as numbers in string such as '12345'. I would like to sort the column so that it orders by the actual number in the number string. However, if I do a simple order by, 111 is smaller than 22. Is there a easy way to accomplish this in sql instead of doing in programming?

Thanks,
Susan Received on Mon Jul 07 2003 - 18:24:03 CDT