SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set.

The SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by one or more columns.

The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword.

SQL ORDER BY Syntax

SELECT column_name, column_name
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name ASC|DESC, column_name ASC|DESC;

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

ORDER BY Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;

Try it Yourself »

ORDER BY DESC Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted DESCENDING by the "Country" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;

Try it Yourself »

ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the "CustomerName" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

Try it Yourself »

ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by the "Country" and descending by the "CustomerName" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;