Lesson 7
Beginner Level
7 of 30 lessons
ORDER BY Clause
Learn how to sort query results using ORDER BY with ASC and DESC. Sorting data is essential for organizing query results in a meaningful order.
What is ORDER BY?
The ORDER BY clause in SQL is used to sort the result set of a query by one or more columns. By default, it sorts the results in ascending order.
Syntax
SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1 [ASC|DESC];Examples
-- Sort employees by first name in ascending order
SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM employees
ORDER BY first_name ASC;
-- Sort employees by salary in descending order
SELECT first_name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC;Practice Task
- Write a query to list departments ordered by department name (ascending).
- Display employees sorted by hire date, from newest to oldest.
- Try using multiple columns in
ORDER BY(e.g., last_name, first_name).