SQL ORDER BY Keyword
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
Sort the products from lowest to highest 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 |
ORDER BY DESC
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
sort the values in the column alphabetically:
Example
Sort the ProductName column in alphabetically order:
SELECT * FROM Products
ORDER BY ProductName;
Try it Yourself »
Alphabetically DESC
To sort the text values in a column in a descending order, use the DESC keyword:
Example
Sort the ProductName column in descending alphabetically 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 - 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:
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:
Video: SQL ORDER BY Keyword
