SQL Order By: Learn With Simple Examples

Order By Keyword in SQL

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

Note: By default, the results are sorted in ascending order. 

Syntax: 

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name

ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC

For our learning purpose, we will be using the given below data to understand the ORDER BY keyword.

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Order By ASC

The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the customer table and sorts them in the ascending order of the first name alphabetically:

As you can see, your data is now sorted in ascending order by “first_name”.

Order By DESC

The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the customer table and sorts them in descending order:

The data is now sorted in descending order by “first_name”.

Order By Several Columns

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by the "first_name" and descending by the "city" column. This means that it orders by “first_name”, but if some rows have the same first name, it orders them by city:

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Conclusion

This article discussed the ORDER BY keyword in SQL and how it is used to sort the results. If you wish to learn more about SQL, then check out our SQL certification course.

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