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SQL ORDER BY Keyword


The SQL ORDER BY

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;
Try it Yourself »

Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;


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


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;
Try it Yourself »

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;
Try it Yourself »

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;
Try it Yourself »

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;
Try it Yourself »

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;
Try it Yourself »

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Select all records from the Customers table, sort the result alphabetically by the column City.

SELECT * FROM Customers
 ;

Start the Exercise


Video: SQL ORDER BY Keyword

SQL Tutorial on YouTube
SQL Tutorial on YouTube



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