SQL Order By
The SQL ORDER BY
To arrange the result-set in either ascending or descending order, use the ORDER BY keyword.
Example
Sort the products by price:
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY Price;
Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, …
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, … ASC|DESC;
Demo Database
| 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 |
DESC
By default, the records are sorted in ascending order using the ORDER BY keyword. Use the DESC keyword to sort the records in descending order.
Example
Sort the products from highest to lowest price:
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY Price DESC;
Order Alphabetically
The ORDER BY keyword will sort string items alphabetically:
Example
Sort the products alphabetically by ProductName:
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName;
Alphabetically DESC
Use the DESC keyword to sort the table in reverse alphabetical order:
Example
Sort the products by ProductName in reverse order:
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName DESC;
ORDER BY Several Columns
Sorted by “Country” and “CustomerName” columns, the “Customers” table contains all of the customers that are selected by the SQL query that follows. This indicates that rows are sorted by CustomerName if several rows have the same Country, otherwise they are sorted by Country:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;
Using Both ASC and DESC
With the “Country” column ordered ascending and the “CustomerName” column sorted descending, the SQL statement that follows chooses every customer from the “Customers” table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;
