SQL Tutorial · SQL Basics · Lesson 6 of 36
SQL ORDER BY
Sort results ascending or descending, by one or more columns.
Sorting
ORDER BY sorts the result. ASC (ascending) is the default; DESC sorts descending:
SELECT name, price FROM products ORDER BY price DESC;
Output
name | price 4K Monitor | 329 Robot Kit | 120 Mechanical Keyboard | 89 Standing Desk Mat | 59.9 Desk Lamp | 45 The Pragmatic Programmer | 42 USB-C Hub | 39.95 Clean Code | 37.5 SQL for Beginners | 29.99 Wireless Mouse | 24.99 Coffee Mug | 12 Rubber Duck | 5.5
Multiple columns
Sort by a second column to break ties:
SELECT name, department, salary FROM employees ORDER BY department, salary DESC;
Output
name | department | salary Omar Haddad | Engineering | 210000 Mei Chen | Engineering | 165000 Jonas Berg | Engineering | 140000 Priya Nair | Engineering | 115000 Lucas Martin | Engineering | 112000 Sofia Reyes | Management | 250000 Hannah Okafor | Sales | 150000 Diego Silva | Sales | 90000 Emma Novak | Sales | 88000 Ravi Kumar | Support | 65000
Without ORDER BY, the database may return rows in any order — never rely on the "natural" order.
Test yourself
What is the default sort direction of ORDER BY?
ASCDESCRandomInsertion order
Show answer
Answer: ASC