ORDER BY

ORDER BY is an SQL Keyword used to allow the ordering of results in either ascending or descending order.

SELECT First Name, Surname, Class FROM Pupil

ORDER BY Surname ASC;

This would return:

First Name	Surname	Class
Davie	Boland	1I2
Antonia	Gallagher	1M2
Tom	Glacney	1M1
Amy	Jones	1M1
Tabiso	Matazinadze	1T1
James	McNamee	1T1
Amy	McNamee	1T1
Pawel	McTavish	1I1
Beatrice	Panner	1T2
Nisa	Singh	1T1

First Name	Davie
Surname	Boland
Class	1I2

First Name	Antonia
Surname	Gallagher
Class	1M2

First Name	Tom
Surname	Glacney
Class	1M1

First Name	Amy
Surname	Jones
Class	1M1

First Name	Tabiso
Surname	Matazinadze
Class	1T1

First Name	James
Surname	McNamee
Class	1T1

First Name	Amy
Surname	McNamee
Class	1T1

First Name	Pawel
Surname	McTavish
Class	1I1

First Name	Beatrice
Surname	Panner
Class	1T2

First Name	Nisa
Surname	Singh
Class	1T1

By default, the surname column/field is sorted in ascending order but the ASC keyword is shown to exemplify its existence. To sort in descending order, add DESC at the end of the statement.

SELECT First Name, Surname, Class FROM Pupil

ORDER BY Surname DESC;

This would return:

First Name	Surname	Class
Nisa	Singh	1T1
Beatrice	Panner	1T2
Pawel	McTavish	1I1
James	McNamee	1T1
Amy	McNamee	1T1
Tabiso	Matazinadze	1T1
Amy	Jones	1M1
Tom	Glacney	1M1
Antonia	Gallagher	1M2
Davie	Boland	1I2

First Name	Nisa
Surname	Singh
Class	1T1

First Name	Beatrice
Surname	Panner
Class	1T2

First Name	Pawel
Surname	McTavish
Class	1I1

First Name	James
Surname	McNamee
Class	1T1

First Name	Amy
Surname	McNamee
Class	1T1

First Name	Tabiso
Surname	Matazinadze
Class	1T1

First Name	Amy
Surname	Jones
Class	1M1

First Name	Tom
Surname	Glacney
Class	1M1

First Name	Antonia
Surname	Gallagher
Class	1M2

First Name	Davie
Surname	Boland
Class	1I2

Sorting multiple columns

It is possible to apply a sort on more than one column.

The first sort would be applied in its entirety, with the second sort only applied if two records in the column used for the first sort have the same value.

SELECT First Name, Class, Merit Points FROM Pupil

ORDER BY Class DESC, Merit Points ASC;

Would return:

The class column is fully sorted in descending order. Within each class group, the Merit Points column is sorted in ascending order.

ImplementationORDER BY

ORDER BY

Sorting multiple columns

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