The SQL ORDER BY Keyword
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by one or more columns.
The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword.
SQL ORDER BY Syntax
SELECT column_name, column_name
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name ASC|DESC, column_name ASC|DESC;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfreds Futterkiste | Maria Anders | Obere Str. 57 | Berlin | 12209 | Germany |
| 2 | Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados | Ana Trujillo | Avda. de la Constitución 2222 | México D.F. | 05021 | Mexico |
| 3 | Antonio Moreno Taquería | Antonio Moreno | Mataderos 2312 | México D.F. | 05023 | Mexico |
| 4 | Around the Horn | Thomas Hardy | 120 Hanover Sq. | London | WA1 1DP | UK |
| 5 | Berglunds snabbköp | Christina Berglund | Berguvsvägen 8 | Luleå | S-958 22 | Sweden |
ORDER BY Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;
ORDER BY DESC Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted DESCENDING by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;
ORDER BY Several Columns Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;
ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2
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;
