How to Use ORDER BY in SQL

The ORDER BY clause is used to sort the result set of a query by one or more columns. You can sort data in ascending or descending order.

Syntax:

SELECT column1, column2, ...FROM table_nameORDER BY column1 [ASC|DESC], column2 [ASC|DESC], ...;

• ASC means ascending order (default).

• DESC means descending order.

Examples:

1. Sort employees by name in ascending order:

SELECT *FROM employeesORDER BY name ASC;

2. Sort employees by salary in descending order:

SELECT *FROM employeesORDER BY salary DESC;

3. Sort by multiple columns (e.g., by department ascending, then salary descending):

SELECT *FROM employeesORDER BY department ASC, salary DESC;

Notes:

• ORDER BY is usually the last clause in a SQL query.

• Sorting can be done on columns not included in SELECT (if the DB supports it).

• Sorting large result sets may affect query performance.

If you want, I can show you how to use ORDER BY with LIMIT or pagination!