SQL ORDER BY

Oct 13, 2024Ikki

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The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.

Example

Sort the products by price:

SELECT \* FROM Products  
ORDER BY Price;

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Syntax

SELECT _column1_, _column2, ..._ FROM _table_name_ ORDER BY _column1, column2, ..._ ASC|DESC;

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Demo Database

Below is a selection from the Products table used in the examples:

ProductID	ProductName	SupplierID	CategoryID	Unit	Price
1	Chais	1	1	10 boxes x 20 bags	18
2	Chang	1	1	24 - 12 oz bottles	19
3	Aniseed Syrup	1	2	12 - 550 ml bottles	10
4	Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning	2	2	48 - 6 oz jars	22
5	Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix	2	2	36 boxes	21.35

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DESC

The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in descending order, use the DESC keyword.

Example

Sort the products from highest to lowest price:

SELECT \* FROM Products  
ORDER BY Price DESC;

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Order Alphabetically

For string values the ORDER BY keyword will order alphabetically:

Example

Sort the products alphabetically by ProductName:

SELECT \* FROM Products  
ORDER BY ProductName;

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Alphabetically DESC

To sort the table reverse alphabetically, use the DESC keyword:

Example

Sort the products by ProductName in reverse order:

SELECT \* FROM Products  
ORDER BY ProductName DESC;

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ORDER BY Several Columns

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the "CustomerName" column. This means that it orders by Country, but if some rows have the same Country, it orders them by CustomerName:

Example

SELECT \* FROM Customers  
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

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Using Both ASC and DESC

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by the "Country" and descending by the "CustomerName" column:

Example

SELECT \* FROM Customers  
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;

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