SQL · Chapter 6 of 42

SQL ORDER BY

ORDER BY sorts the result set by one or more columns.

Add `ASC` (default) or `DESC` per column.

Syntax

SELECT ... FROM table ORDER BY col1 ASC, col2 DESC;

Multiple keys

`ORDER BY country ASC, age DESC` sorts by country A→Z, then by age high→low within each country.

You can order by a computed expression or by column position (though position is fragile).

Example 1 (sql)

SELECT name, age FROM users ORDER BY age DESC;

Output

name | age
Ben  | 30
Ana  | 25
Cara | 22

Highest age first.

Example 2 (sql)

SELECT name, country, age FROM users
ORDER BY country ASC, age DESC;

Output

sorted by country, then age

Multi-key sort.

💡 Note: Use `NULLS FIRST` / `NULLS LAST` (PostgreSQL, Oracle) to control where NULLs appear.