SQL ORDER BY

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What is SQL ORDER BY?

The SQL ORDER BY clause controls the sequence of information returned by the SELECT statement.

Why Use SQL ORDER BY?

Use the SQL ORDER BY clause whenever it is desirable to control the sequence output through a SELECT clause. It might be used to alphabetize a report or to print the most import items at the beginning of a report.

How To Use SQL ORDER BY

SQL ORDER BY is used as follows.

SQL ORDER BY Syntax

SELECT <column_name1>, <column_name2>
FROM <table_name>
ORDER BY <column_name1>[ASC|DESC], <column_name2>[ASC|DESC]

Multiple columns can be included in the ORDER BY clause. The direction of the sort is controlled by:

ASC - ascending sequence
DESC - descending sequence

SQL ORDER BY Example

The following example displays rows from the branch in region_nbr and branch_nbr ascending sequence.

Here are the contents of the table:

Table: BRANCH

branch_nbr branch_name region_nbr employee_count

108 New York 100 10

110 Boston 100 6

212 Chicago 200 5

404 San Diego 400 6

415 San Jose 400 3

This SQL Statement with ORDER BY is executed:

SELECT region_nbr, branch_nbr, branch_name
FROM branch
ORDER BY region_nbr ASC, branch_nbr ASC

Here is the result.

region_nbr branch_nbr branch_name

100 108 New York

100 110 Boston

200 212 Chicago

400 404 San Diego

400 415 San Jose