(SQL tutorials for Business Analyst & Beginners)

In this end-to-end example, you will learn – SQL Tutorials for Business Analyst: SQL | SORTING Results.

The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more columns. Some databases sort the query results in an ascending order by default.

Syntax

The basic syntax of the ORDER BY clause which would be used to sort the result in an ascending or descending order is as follows −

SELECT column-list 
FROM table_name 
[WHERE condition] 
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];

You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure that whatever column you are using to sort, that column should be in the column-list.

Example

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example, which would sort the result in an ascending order by NAME and SALARY.

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
   ORDER BY NAME, SALARY;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in a descending order by NAME.

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
   ORDER BY NAME DESC;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

To fetch the rows with their own preferred order, the SELECT query used would be as follows −

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
   ORDER BY (CASE ADDRESS
   WHEN 'DELHI' 	 THEN 1
   WHEN 'BHOPAL' 	 THEN 2
   WHEN 'KOTA' 	 THEN 3
   WHEN 'AHMADABAD' THEN 4
   WHEN 'MP' 	THEN 5
   ELSE 100 END) ASC, ADDRESS DESC;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

This will sort the customers by ADDRESS in your ownoOrder of preference first and in a natural order for the remaining addresses. Also, the remaining Addresses will be sorted in the reverse alphabetical order.

Disclaimer: The information and code presented within this recipe/tutorial is only for educational and coaching purposes for beginners and developers. Anyone can practice and apply the recipe/tutorial presented here, but the reader is taking full responsibility for his/her actions. The author (content curator) of this recipe (code / program) has made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information was correct at time of publication. The author (content curator) does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from accident, negligence, or any other cause. The information presented here could also be found in public knowledge domains.

SQL tutorials for Business Analyst – SQL | ORDER BY Clause