SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.

The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in descending order, use the DESC keyword.

ORDER BY Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;

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Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

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

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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;

Try it Yourself »

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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;

Try it Yourself »

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ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the "CustomerName" column. This means that it orders by Country, but if some rows have the same Country, it orders them by CustomerName:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

Try it Yourself »

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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;

Try it Yourself »

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Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Select all records from the Customers table, sort the result alphabetically by the column City.

SELECT * FROM Customers
 ;

Start the Exercise