SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The SQL ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the query results in ascending or descending order based on the columns(one or more) that you specify to order by.

It is used with SQL Select statement for arranging query result in particular order.

To sort query results in descending order, We can use DESC keyword with sql Order by clause.

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SQL ORDER BY Syntax

The basic syntax of SQL ORDER By clause is as follows:


SELECT column_name1, column_name2
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name ASC|DESC, column_name ASC|DESC;

Note: Which column you are going to use in order by clause, that column should be present in column-list.

Sample Database Table - Books

BookId	BookName	BookPrice	RelYear	DomainName	AuthorName
1	Oracle PL/sql By Example	150	2013	Administration	Padmavathi
2	Red Gate Guide to SQL Server	71.87	2010	Performance	Nirmala
3	SQL Design Patterns	85	2009	Administration	Ramanathan
4	MySql Interview Questions	75	2015	Optimization	Azaghu Varshith
5	SQL for students	65	2007	Administration	Balan
6	Data Analysis Using SQL	70	2006	Administration	Azaghu Varshith

SQL ORDER BY Clause Example

The following SQL statement selects all books which domainname "Administration" from the "Books" table, sorted by the "AuthorName" column:


SELECT * FROM Books
WHERE DomainName = 'Administration'
ORDER BY AuthorName;

The result of above query is:

BookId	BookName	BookPrice	RelYear	DomainName	AuthorName
6	Data Analysis Using SQL	70	2006	Administration	Azaghu Varshith
5	SQL for students	65	2007	Administration	Balan
1	Oracle PL/sql By Example	150	2013	Administration	Padmavathi
3	SQL Design Patterns	85	2009	Administration	Ramanathan

Note: The SQL ORDER BY keyword sorts the query result in ascending order by default.

SQL ORDER BY Clause Example By DESC Order

The following SQL statement selects all books which bookprice less than "100" from the "Books" table, sorted in the reverse order by the "BookId" column:


SELECT * FROM Books
WHERE BookPrice < 100
ORDER BY BookID DESC;

The result of above query is:

BookId	BookName	BookPrice	RelYear	DomainName	AuthorName
6	Data Analysis Using SQL	70	2006	Administration	Azaghu Varshith
5	SQL for students	65	2007	Administration	Balan
4	MySql Interview Questions	75	2015	Optimization	Azaghu Varshith
3	SQL Design Patterns	85	2009	Administration	Ramanathan
2	Red Gate Guide to SQL Server	71.87	2010	Performance	Nirmala

SQL ORDER BY Clause With Multiple Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all books which BookID greater than "6" from the "Books" table, sorted by the "DomainName" and "AuthorName" column:


SELECT AuthorName, DomainName FROM Books
WHERE BookID > 3
ORDER BY AuthorName DESC, DomainName ASC;

The result of above query is:

AuthorName	DomainName
Balan	Administration
Azagu Varshith	Administration
Azagu Varshith	Optimization

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