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This wikiHow teaches you how to use the ORDER BY clause in SQL to sort results from a table. The ORDER BY clause allows you to sort one or more columns in both ascending and descending order.
Steps
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1Enter SELECT *. This means we'll be looking at all columns. Move to the next line.
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2Enter FROM table_name. Replace table_name with the name of the table, and then move to the next line.[1]Advertisement
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3Enter ORDER BY criteria;. Here are some examples:
- For example, if you wanted to display results in alphabetical order based on a column called NAME, you'd use ORDER BY NAME;. Ascending order is the default sort order, but you could also specify that you want it ascending using ORDER BY NAME ASC; if you'd like.
- If you'd rather show the results in the opposite order, you'd use ORDER BY NAME DESC;. DESC means "descending order."
- If you want to sort based on two columns, separate them by commas. For example, ORDER BY LAST_NAME ASC, FIRST_NAME DESC; would display results sorted alphabetically by last name. If the same LAST_NAME matches multiple FIRST_NAME entries, the results of FIRST_NAME will also display in descending order.
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4Execute the command. You will now see your SQL results in the appropriate order.
References
About This Article
The syntax for displaying results in alphabetical order is
SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name asc;.
