java order by_ORDER BY varchar column

Order by first part by taking substring and casting to signed:

CAST(SUBSTRING_INDEX(session_number, '-', 1) AS SIGNED) ASC,

CAST(SUBSTRING_INDEX(session_number, '-', -1) AS SIGNED) ASC

Or create view of already sorted items:

CREATE VIEW v_sessions_ordered_by_session_number

AS

SELECT *

FROM sessions

ORDER BY

CAST(SUBSTRING_INDEX(session_number, '-', 1) AS SIGNED) ASC,

CAST(SUBSTRING_INDEX(session_number, '-', -1) AS SIGNED) ASC;

and then use Your view as table:

SELECT some_field, session_number FROM v_sessions_ordered_by_session_number;

But better solution is:

make session_number to be decimal like: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1 and etc

if modification of field type not allowed then just

create extra: session_number_order field and keep decimalized data