Search results
People also ask
How do you order a result set in SQL?
How do I sort results in SQL Server?
How to reorder a SQL query?
What is order by in SQL?
How to sort SQL results in descending order?
How to sort a query?
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order. Example. Sort the products by price: SELECT * FROM Products. ORDER BY Price; Try it Yourself » Syntax. SELECT column1, column2, ... FROM table_name. ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC; Demo Database.
- Try It Yourself
ORDER BY Country; Edit the SQL Statement, and click "Run...
- SQL Insert Into
2. If you are adding values for all the columns of the...
- SQL and Operator
The SQL AND Operator. The WHERE clause can contain one or...
- SQL Select Top
With our online code editor, you can edit code and view the...
- SQL Update
SQL Update - SQL ORDER BY Keyword - W3Schools
- AVG
AVG - SQL ORDER BY Keyword - W3Schools
- SQL DELETE Statement
SQL DELETE Statement - SQL ORDER BY Keyword - W3Schools
- Try It Yourself
Summary: This tutorial shows you how to use the SQL ORDER BY clause to sort the result set based on specified criteria in ascending or descending orders.
- In this article
- Syntax
- Arguments
- Best Practices
- Interoperability
- Limitations and Restrictions
- Using OFFSET and FETCH to limit the rows returned
- Examples
- Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PD
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Sorts data returned by a query in SQL Server. Use this clause to:
Order the result set of a query by the specified column list and, optionally, limit the rows returned to a specified range. The order in which rows are returned in a result set are not guaranteed unless an ORDER BY clause is specified.
Determine the order in which
values are applied to the result set.
ORDER BY is not supported in SELECT/INTO or CREATE TABLE AS SELECT (CTAS) statements in Azure Synapse Analytics or Analytics Platform System (PDW).
[ COLLATE collation_name ]
[ ASC | DESC ]
OFFSET { integer_constant | offset_row_count_expression } { ROW | ROWS }
FETCH { FIRST | NEXT } {integer_constant | fetch_row_count_expression } { ROW | ROWS } ONLY
[ ASC | DESC ]
To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see
Specifies a column or expression on which to sort the query result set. A sort column can be specified as a name or column alias, or a nonnegative integer representing the position of the column in the select list.
Multiple sort columns can be specified. Column names must be unique. The sequence of the sort columns in the ORDER BY clause defines the organization of the sorted result set. That is, the result set is sorted by the first column and then that ordered list is sorted by the second column, and so on.
The column names referenced in the ORDER BY clause must correspond to either a column or column alias in the select list or to a column defined in a table specified in the FROM clause without any ambiguities. If the ORDER BY clause references a column alias from the select list, the column alias must be used standalone, and not as a part of some expression in ORDER BY clause, for example:
ORDER BY SchemaName; -- correct SELECT SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) AS SchemaName FROM sys.objects
Avoid specifying integers in the ORDER BY clause as positional representations of the columns in the select list. For example, although a statement such as SELECT ProductID, Name FROM Production.Production ORDER BY 2 is valid, the statement is not as easily understood by others compared with specifying the actual column name. In addition, changes to the select list, such as changing the column order or adding new columns, requires modifying the ORDER BY clause in order to avoid unexpected results.
In a SELECT TOP (
When used with a SELECT...INTO or INSERT...SELECT statement to insert rows from another source, the ORDER BY clause does not guarantee the rows are inserted in the specified order.
Using OFFSET and FETCH in a view does not change the updateability property of the view.
There is no limit to the number of columns in the ORDER BY clause; however, the total size of the columns specified in an ORDER BY clause cannot exceed 8,060 bytes.
cannot be used in an ORDER BY clause.
An integer or constant cannot be specified when
appears in a ranking function. For more information, see
If a table name is aliased in the FROM clause, only the alias name can be used to qualify its columns in the ORDER BY clause.
Column names and aliases specified in the ORDER BY clause must be defined in the select list if the SELECT statement contains one of the following clauses or operators:
We recommend that you use the OFFSET and FETCH clauses instead of the TOP clause to implement a query paging solution and limit the number of rows sent to a client application.
Using OFFSET and FETCH as a paging solution requires running the query one time for each "page" of data returned to the client application. For example, to return the results of a query in 10-row increments, you must execute the query one time to return rows 1 to 10 and then run the query again to return rows 11 to 20 and so on. Each query is independent and not related to each other in any way. This means that, unlike using a cursor in which the query is executed once and state is maintained on the server, the client application is responsible for tracking state. To achieve stable results between query requests using OFFSET and FETCH, the following conditions must be met:
Examples in this section demonstrate the basic functionality of the ORDER BY clause using the minimum required syntax.
A. Specifying a single column defined in the select list
The following example orders the result set by the numeric ProductID column. Because a specific sort order is not specified, the default (ascending order) is used.
SELECT ProductID, Name FROM Production.Product
WHERE Name LIKE 'Lock Washer%' ORDER BY ProductID;
B. Specifying a column that is not defined in the select list
The following example demonstrates ordering of a result set by the numerical EmployeeKey column in ascending order.
-- Uses AdventureWorks SELECT EmployeeKey, FirstName, LastName FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName LIKE 'A%' ORDER BY EmployeeKey;
The following example orders a result set by the numerical EmployeeKey column in descending order.
-- Uses AdventureWorks SELECT EmployeeKey, FirstName, LastName FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName LIKE 'A%' ORDER BY EmployeeKey DESC;
Jun 28, 2023 · To sort data using sql order by, you can follow these steps: Include the Order By clause in your SELECT statement. Specify the column or columns you want the results sorted by. If needed, indicate the direction of the sorting (ASC for ascending or DESC for descending). Here’s an example of a basic SELECT statement using the Order By clause:
May 13, 2021 · In this article, I’ll explain in detail how to use ORDER BY to sort output by one or more columns, in ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A) order, and by using existing column (s) or using column (s) calculated by an aggregate function. Don’t worry – it’s not as complicated as it sounds!
Sep 27, 2022 · The ORDER BY clause allows you to do that by specifying a list of columns; just separate the column names with commas. You can use the keywords ASC or DESC (if desired) with each column to sort that column in ascending or descending order.
Dec 12, 2021 · The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort your query result in ascending or descending order. Once you have written a query, you’ll naturally want to reorder the results. You can do so using the ORDER BY clause. SQL ORDER BY is versatile. Use the ORDER BY keyword to sort results with a SELECT statement.
