ORDER BY Clause: How to Sort Data with the ORDER BY Clause in SQL

The ORDER BY clause is one of the most important clauses in SQL. It allows you to sort your data in a number of different ways. In this article, we will discuss how to use the ORDER BY clause and some of its options.

The ORDER BY clause can be used to sort data in ascending or descending order. You can also specify which column to use for sorting.

The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data in ascending order:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY last_name ASC;

In this example, the data will be sorted in ascending order based on the last_name column. You can also specify multiple columns for sorting by using the AND keyword. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data in ascending order based on the last_name and first_name columns:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY last_name ASC, first_name ASC;

In this example, the data will be sorted in ascending order based on both the last_name and first_name columns.

The ORDER BY clause can also be used to sort data in reverse order. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data in descending order:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY last_name DESC;

In this example, the data will be sorted in descending order based on the last_name column. You can also specify multiple columns for sorting by using the OR keyword. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data in descending order based on the last_name and first_name columns:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY last_name DESC, first_name DESC;

In this example, the data will be sorted in descending order based on both the last_name and first_name columns.

The ORDER BY clause can also be used to sort data based on a given expression. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data based on the employee’s salary:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary;

In this example, the data will be sorted in ascending order based on the employee’s salary.

You can also use the DESC keyword with the ORDER BY clause to sort data in descending order. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data based on the employee’s salary in descending order:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC;

In this example, the data will be sorted in descending order based on the employee’s salary.

You can also use the NULLS FIRST or NULLS LAST keywords with the ORDER BY clause to specify whether you want to sort null values first or last. The following example shows how to use the NULLS FIRST keyword with the ORDER BY clause:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary ASC NULLS FIRST;

In this example, null values will be sorted first based on the salary column. The following example shows how to use the NULLS LAST keyword with the ORDER BY clause:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC NULLS LAST;

In this example, null values will be sorted last based on the salary column.

The ORDER BY clause can also be used to sort data in random order. The following example shows how to use the ORDER BY clause to sort data in random order:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY rand ();

In this example, the data will be sorted in random order.

You can also use the LIMIT clause with the ORDER BY clause to specify the maximum number of rows that you want to return. The following example shows how to use the LIMIT clause with the ORDER BY clause to return the first five rows:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary LIMIT 5;

In this example, the first five rows based on the salary column will be returned. You can also use the OFFSET clause with the ORDER BY clause to specify the number of rows that you want to skip. The following example shows how to use the OFFSET clause with the ORDER BY clause to skip the first five rows:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary OFFSET 5;

In this example, the first five rows based on the salary column will be skipped.

Conclusion:

The ORDER BY clause can be used to sort data in ascending or descending order, based on a given expression, or in random order. You can also use the LIMIT and OFFSET clauses with the ORDER BY clause to specify the number of rows that you want to return or skip. To know more check RemoteDBA.com.