SQL ORDER BY - The Coding Shala

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SQL ORDER BY

The SQL 'Order By' clause is used to sort the result in ascending a descending order based on the one or more columns. The ORDER BY sorts the result in ascending order by default.

SQL ORDER BY SYNTAX

The basic SQL order by syntax as follows - 

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

SQL ORDER BY EXAMPLES

The following 'emp' table is used for the examples - 

Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 1     Akshay     22       Pune       40000  
 2     Mohit      21       Delhi       42000  
 3     Akash      21       Delhi       45000  
 4     Nikhil      24       Mumbai     50000  
 5     Smith      24       Pune        50000  
 6     Akshay      22       Pune        50000  
 7     Nikhil      24       Mumbai     43000  

The following query sort the data based on the 'Age' - 

SQL >> select * from emp   
        order by Age;  
 
Output >>   
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 2     Mohit      21     Delhi      42000  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi      45000  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune      40000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune      50000  
 4     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     50000  
 5     Smith      24       Pune      50000  
 7     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     43000  

If we want in descending order then - 

SQL >> select * from emp  
        order by Age desc;  

 Output >>   
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 4     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     50000  
 5     Smith      24     Pune       50000  
 7     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     43000  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune       40000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune       50000  
 2     Mohit      21     Delhi      42000  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi      45000

• We can use the column position to sort the result, the position of the 'Age' column is 3.
• The following query will be used to sort the result based on the column position - 

SQL >> select * from emp  
        order by 3;  
 
Output >>   
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 2     Mohit      21     Delhi       42000  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi       45000  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune       40000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune       50000  
 4     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     50000  
 5     Smith      24      Pune        50000  
 7     Nikhil     24     Mumbai     43000  

• We can use order by on more than one column together.
• The following query is used to sort data based on 'Name, and 'Age' column - 

SQL >> select * from emp  
        order by Name, Age;  
 
Output >>   
 Id     Name     Age     Address     Salary  
 3     Akash      21     Delhi     45000  
 1     Akshay     22     Pune      40000  
 6     Akshay     22     Pune      50000  
 2     Mohit      21     Delhi      42000  
 4     Nikhil     24     Mumbai      50000  
 7     Nikhil     24     Mumbai      43000  
 5     Smith      24       Pune       50000 

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