SQL ORDER BY Clause

• Whenever we want to sort the records based on the columns stored in the tables of the SQL database, then we consider using the ORDER BY clause in SQL.
• The ORDER BY clause in SQL will help us to sort the records based on the specific column of a table. This means that all the values stored in the column on which we are applying ORDER BY clause will be sorted, and the corresponding column values will be displayed in the sequence in which we have obtained the values in the earlier step.
• Using the ORDER BY clause, we can sort the records in ascending or descending order as per our requirement. The records will be sorted in ascending order whenever the ASC keyword is used with ORDER by clause. DESC keyword will sort the records in descending order.
• If no keyword is specified after the column based on which we have to sort the records, in that case, the sorting will be done by default in the ascending order.

Before writing the queries for sorting the records, let us understand the syntax.

Syntax to sort the records in ascending order:

SELECT ColumnName1,...,ColumnNameN FROM TableName  ORDER BY ColumnName ASC;    

Syntax to sort the records in descending order:

SELECT ColumnName1,...,ColumnNameN FROM TableName  ORDER BY ColumnNameDESC;    

Syntax to sort the records in ascending order without using ASC keyword:

SELECT ColumnName1,...,ColumnNameN FROM TableName  ORDER BY ColumnName;    

Let us explore more on this topic with the help of examples. We will use the MySQL database for writing the queries in examples.

Consider we have customers table with the following records:

ID	NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	SALARY
1	Himani Gupta	21	Modinagar	22000
2	Shiva Tiwari	22	Bhopal	21000
3	Ajeet Bhargav	45	Meerut	65000
4	Ritesh Yadav	36	Azamgarh	26000
5	Balwant Singh	45	Varanasi	36000
6	Mahesh Sharma	26	Mathura	22000
7	Rohit Shrivastav	19	Ahemdabad	38000
8	Neeru Sharma	29	Pune	40000
9	Aakash Yadav	32	Mumbai	43500
10	Sahil Sheikh	35	Aurangabad	68800

Example 1:

Write a query to sort the records in the ascending order of the customer names stored in the customers table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM customers ORDER BY Name ASC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘Name’ to sort the records. ASC keyword will sort the records in ascending order.

You will get the following output:

ID	NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	SALARY
9	Aakash Yadav	32	Mumbai	43500
3	Ajeet Bhargav	45	Meerut	65000
5	Balwant Singh	45	Varanasi	36000
1	Himani Gupta	21	Modinagar	22000
6	Mahesh Sharma	26	Mathura	22000
8	Neeru Sharma	29	Pune	40000
4	Ritesh Yadav	36	Azamgarh	26000
7	Rohit Shrivastav	19	Ahemdabad	38000
10	Sahil Sheikh	35	Aurangabad	68800
2	Shiva Tiwari	22	Bhopal	21000

All the records present in the customers table are displayed in the ascending order of the customer’s name.

Example 2:

Write a query to sort the records in the ascending order of the addresses stored in the customers table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM customers ORDER BY Address;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied to the ‘Address’ column to sort the records. No keyword is used after the ORDER BY clause. Hence, the records, by default, will be sorted in ascending order.

You will get the following output:

ID	NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	SALARY
7	Rohit Shrivastav	19	Ahemdabad	38000
10	Sahil Sheikh	35	Aurangabad	68800
4	Ritesh Yadav	36	Azamgarh	26000
2	Shiva Tiwari	22	Bhopal	21000
6	Mahesh Sharma	26	Mathura	22000
3	Ajeet Bhargav	45	Meerut	65000
1	Himani Gupta	21	Modinagar	22000
9	Aakash Yadav	32	Mumbai	43500
8	Neeru Sharma	29	Pune	40000
5	Balwant Singh	45	Varanasi	36000

All the records present in the customers table are displayed in the ascending order of the customer’s address.

Example 3:

Write a query to sort the records in the descending order of the customer salary stored in the customers table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM customers ORDER BY Salary DESC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ?Salary? to sort the records. DESC keyword will sort the records in descending order.

You will get the following output:

ID	NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	SALARY
10	Sahil Sheikh	35	Aurangabad	68800
3	Ajeet Bhargav	45	Meerut	65000
9	Aakash Yadav	32	Mumbai	43500
8	Neeru Sharma	29	Pune	40000
7	Rohit Shrivastav	19	Ahemdabad	38000
5	Balwant Singh	45	Varanasi	36000
4	Ritesh Yadav	36	Azamgarh	26000
6	Mahesh Sharma	26	Mathura	22000
1	Himani Gupta	21	Modinagar	22000
2	Shiva Tiwari	22	Bhopal	21000

All the records present in the customers table are displayed in the descending order of the customer’s salary.

Example 4:

Write a query to sort the records in the descending order of the customer age stored in the customers table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM customers ORDER BY Age DESC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘Age’ to sort the records. DESC keyword will sort the records in descending order.

You will get the following output:

ID	NAME	AGE	ADDRESS	SALARY
3	Ajeet Bhargav	45	Meerut	65000
5	Balwant Singh	45	Varanasi	36000
4	Ritesh Yadav	36	Azamgarh	26000
10	Sahil Sheikh	35	Aurangabad	68800
9	Aakash Yadav	32	Mumbai	43500
8	Neeru Sharma	29	Pune	40000
6	Mahesh Sharma	26	Mathura	22000
2	Shiva Tiwari	22	Bhopal	21000
1	Himani Gupta	21	Modinagar	22000
7	Rohit Shrivastav	19	Ahemdabad	38000

All the records present in the customers table are displayed in the descending order of the customer’s age.

Consider we have another table named agents with the following records:

AID	Name	WorkArea	Profit_Percent	ContactNumber	Salary
1	Gurpreet Singh	Bangalore	1	9989675432	43000
2	Sakshi Kumari	Chennai	5	8190567342	25000
3	Prachi Desai	Mumbai	2	9056123432	60000
4	Shivani More	Pune	3	8894236789	35500
5	Pallavi Singh	Delhi	4	7798092341	38700
6	Rohini Kulkarni	Ambala	8	7890945612	25670
7	Shweta Dixit	Chandigarh	6	8898786453	31670
8	Sonakshi Tiwari	Udaipur	2	9809453421	25050
9	Anushka Tripathi	Ujjain	9	8909124326	38000
10	Devika Sharma	Goa	7	7864523145	44050

Example 1:

Write a query to sort the records in the ascending order of the agent names stored in the agents table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM agents ORDER BY Name ASC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘Name’ to sort the records. ASC keyword will sort the records in ascending order.

You will get the following output:

AID	Name	WorkArea	Profit_Percent	ContactNumber	Salary
9	Anushka Tripathi	Ujjain	9	8909124326	38000
10	Devika Sharma	Goa	7	7864523145	44050
1	Gurpreet Singh	Bangalore	1	9989675432	43000
5	Pallavi Singh	Delhi	4	7798092341	38700
3	Prachi Desai	Mumbai	2	9056123432	60000
6	Rohini Kulkarni	Ambala	8	7890945612	25670
2	Sakshi Kumari	Chennai	5	8190567342	25000
4	Shivani More	Pune	3	8894236789	35500
7	Shweta Dixit	Chandigarh	6	8898786453	31670
8	Sonakshi Tiwari	Udaipur	2	9809453421	25050

All the records present in the agents table are displayed in the ascending order of the agent’s name.

Example 2:

Write a query to sort the records in the descending order of the work area stored in the agents table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM agents ORDER BY WorkArea DESC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘WorkArea’ to sort the records. DESC keyword will sort the records in descending order.

You will get the following output:

AID	Name	WorkArea	Profit_Percent	ContactNumber	Salary
9	Anushka Tripathi	Ujjain	9	8909124326	38000
8	Sonakshi Tiwari	Udaipur	2	9809453421	25050
4	Shivani More	Pune	3	8894236789	35500
3	Prachi Desai	Mumbai	2	9056123432	60000
10	Devika Sharma	Goa	7	7864523145	44050
5	Pallavi Singh	Delhi	4	7798092341	38700
2	Sakshi Kumari	Chennai	5	8190567342	25000
7	Shweta Dixit	Chandigarh	6	8898786453	31670
1	Gurpreet Singh	Bangalore	1	9989675432	43000
6	Rohini Kulkarni	Ambala	8	7890945612	25670

All the records present in the agents table are displayed in the descending order of the customer’s work area.

Example 3:

Write a query to sort the records in the ascending order of the agent salary stored in the agents table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM agents ORDER BY Salary;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘Salary’ to sort the records. No keyword is used after the ORDER BY clause. Hence, the records, by default, will be sorted in ascending order.

You will get the following output:

AID	Name	WorkArea	Profit_Percent	ContactNumber	Salary
2	Sakshi Kumari	Chennai	5	8190567342	25000
8	Sonakshi Tiwari	Udaipur	2	9809453421	25050
6	Rohini Kulkarni	Ambala	8	7890945612	25670
7	Shweta Dixit	Chandigarh	6	8898786453	31670
4	Shivani More	Pune	3	8894236789	35500
9	Anushka Tripathi	Ujjain	9	8909124326	38000
5	Pallavi Singh	Delhi	4	7798092341	38700
1	Gurpreet Singh	Bangalore	1	9989675432	43000
10	Devika Sharma	Goa	7	7864523145	44050
3	Prachi Desai	Mumbai	2	9056123432	60000

All the records present in the agents table are displayed in the ascending order of the customer’s salary.

Example 4:

Write a query to sort the records in the descending order of the agent salary stored in the agents table.

Query:

mysql> SELECT *FROM agents ORDER BY Salary DESC;  

Here in a SELECT query, an ORDER BY clause is applied on the column ‘Salary’ to sort the records. DESC keyword will sort the records in descending order.

You will get the following output:

AID	Name	WorkArea	Profit_Percent	ContactNumber	Salary
3	Prachi Desai	Mumbai	2	9056123432	60000
10	Devika Sharma	Goa	7	7864523145	44050
1	Gurpreet Singh	Bangalore	1	9989675432	43000
5	Pallavi Singh	Delhi	4	7798092341	38700
9	Anushka Tripathi	Ujjain	9	8909124326	38000
4	Shivani More	Pune	3	8894236789	35500
7	Shweta Dixit	Chandigarh	6	8898786453	31670
6	Rohini Kulkarni	Ambala	8	7890945612	25670
8	Sonakshi Tiwari	Udaipur	2	9809453421	25050
2	Sakshi Kumari	Chennai	5	8190567342	25000

All the records present in the agents table are displayed in the descending order of the customer’s address.