ORDER BY

Function

This statement is used to order the result set of a query by the specified field.

Syntax

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SELECT attr_expr_list FROM table_reference
  ORDER BY col_name
  [ASC | DESC] [,col_name [ASC | DESC],...];

Keyword

• ASC/DESC: ASC sorts from the lowest value to the highest value. DESC sorts from the highest value to the lowest value. ASC is the default sort order.
• ORDER BY: specifies that the values in one or more columns should be sorted globally. When ORDER BY is used with GROUP BY, ORDER BY can be followed by the aggregate function.

Precautions

The to-be-sorted table must exist. If this statement is used to sort a table that does not exist, an error is reported.

Example

To sort table student in ascending order according to field score and return the sorting result, run the following statement:

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SELECT * FROM student
  ORDER BY score;