The SQL ORDER BY
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.
The ORDER BY keyword sorts the result-set in ascending order (ASC) by default.
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY Price;
ORDER BY Syntax
<p><code class="sqlHigh">
SELECT <em>column1</em>,<em> column2, ...</em><br/>
FROM <em>table_name</em><br/>
ORDER BY <em>column1, column2, ... </em>ASC|DESC;
</code></p>
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 |
ORDER BY DESC
To sort the records in descending order, use the DESC keyword.
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY Price DESC;
Order Alphabetically
For string values, the ORDER BY keyword will sort the values in the column alphabetically:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName;
Alphabetically DESC
To sort the text values in a column in a descending order, use the DESC keyword:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName DESC;
ORDER BY Several Columns
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table - and sorts it by the "Country" and the "CustomerName" column.
This means that it sorts it first by Country, and if some records have the same Country, it sorts them by CustomerName:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;
Combine ASC and DESC
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, and sorts it ASCENDING by the "Country" and DESCENDING by the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;