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ORDER BY

The ORDER BY clause sorts the query results based on one or more columns in ascending or descending order. It determines the sequence in which rows appear in the query result.

Syntax

ORDER BY <column> [ASC|DESC] [, <column> [ASC|DESC]]...

Elements

column

A column name or expression by which to sort the results. Multiple columns can be specified, separated by commas.

ASC

Optional keyword indicating ascending order (the default if not specified). Results are sorted from lowest to highest value.

DESC

Optional keyword indicating descending order. Results are sorted from highest to lowest value.

Features

Sorting

Arranges the result rows based on the values in the specified columns.

Multi-column Ordering

Allows sorting by multiple columns, where the second column is used to break ties in the first column, and so on.

Direction Control

Supports both ascending and descending order for each column independently.

Examples

Sort in ascending order (default)
SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY price
Sort in descending order
SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY price DESC
Sort by multiple columns
SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY category, price DESC
Sort with nested fields
SELECT * FROM customers
ORDER BY address.city, name
Sort with filtering
SELECT * FROM products
WHERE category = 'Electronics'
ORDER BY price ASC
Sort with limiting results
SELECT * FROM products
ORDER BY price DESC
LIMIT 10

Notes

  • If no ORDER BY clause is specified, the results are returned in no guaranteed order

  • ASC is the default order if not specified

  • Sorting is based on the natural order for the data type of the column

  • NULL values are typically placed last in ascending sorts and first in descending sorts

  • When sorting by multiple columns, the order of columns in the ORDER BY clause determines the significance of the sort (primary, secondary, etc.)

  • Performance may be affected when sorting by columns that are not indexed

Ordering Constraints

Some order operations may be rejected if they cannot be efficiently implemented with the view’s index structure. Generally, to order by a field, it should also appear in the WHERE conditions or be directly related to fields that do.

For example, if you filter with WHERE category = :category, ordering by price within that category would be allowed, but ordering by an unrelated field might not be supported.

Related Features