Using ORDER BY in SQL: A Comprehensive Guide

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.

Syntax:

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

Prerequisite Codes

If you don't have table please create below table and practice it.

My database name is SQLExamples

USE SQLExamples

Create this below Employee table

DROP TABLE Employee
CREATE TABLE Employee(
EmpId INT,
EmpName VARCHAR(25),
EmpAddress VARCHAR(100),
EmpDept VARCHAR(25)
)

Insert data inside table

INSERT INTO Employee VALUES
(1, 'Rambo', 'Kolkata', 'IT'),
(2, 'Rohit', 'Kolkata', 'IT'),
(3, 'Rohon', 'Kolkata', 'ITIS'),
(4, 'Ronok', 'Kolkata', 'ITIS'),
(5, 'Rubin', 'Kolkata', 'ITIS'),
(6, 'Sorif', 'Kolkata', 'ADMIN'),
(7, 'Soriful', 'Kolkata', 'ADMIN'),
(8, 'Sofik', 'Kolkata', 'ADMIN')

SELECT * FROM Employee

Output:

The above code will produce the following result-

EmpId	EmpName	EmpAddress	EmpDept
1	Rambo	Kolkata	IT
2	Rohit	Kolkata	IT
3	Rohon	Kolkata	ITIS
4	Ronok	Kolkata	ITIS
5	Rubin	Kolkata	ITIS
6	Sorif	Kolkata	ADMIN
7	Soriful	Kolkata	ADMIN
8	Sofik	Kolkata	ADMIN

Example 1: ORDER BY

Code:

SELECT * FROM Employee
ORDER BY EmpDept

Output:

The above code will produce the following result-

EmpId	EmpName	EmpAddress	EmpDept
6	Sorif	Kolkata	ADMIN
7	Soriful	Kolkata	ADMIN
8	Sofik	Kolkata	ADMIN
1	Rambo	Kolkata	IT
2	Rohit	Kolkata	IT
3	Rohon	Kolkata	ITIS
4	Ronok	Kolkata	ITIS
5	Rubin	Kolkata	ITIS

Example 2: ORDER BY DESC

Code:

SELECT * FROM Employee
ORDER BY EmpDept DESC

Output:

The above code will produce the following result-

EmpId	EmpName	EmpAddress	EmpDept
3	Rohon	Kolkata	ITIS
4	Ronok	Kolkata	ITIS
5	Rubin	Kolkata	ITIS
1	Rambo	Kolkata	IT
2	Rohit	Kolkata	IT
6	Sorif	Kolkata	ADMIN
7	Soriful	Kolkata	ADMIN
8	Sofik	Kolkata	ADMIN

Example 3: ORDER BY Several Columns

Code:

SELECT * FROM Employee
ORDER BY EmpDept, EmpName

Example 4: ORDER BY Several Columns

Code:

SELECT * FROM Employee
ORDER BY EmpDept DESC, EmpName ASC