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Sorting Data with ORDER BY
In a SELECT query, rows are displayed in an undetermined order.
To guarantee that the rows will be returned from SELECT in a specific order,
you must add the ORDER BY clause to the end of the SELECT.
<![CDATA[
SELECT * FROM table WHERE condition ORDER BY column [ DESC ]
]]>
Example:
<![CDATA[
> SELECT * FROM stud ORDER BY gender;
id | name | semester | diploma | gender
----+------+----------+---------+-----
2 | lisa | 2 | bio | f
1 | fred | 2 | bio | m
3 | tom | 1 | bio | m
4 | john | 3 | phy | m
]]>
You can reverse the order by adding DESC:
<![CDATA[
> SELECT * FROM stud ORDER BY semester DESC;
id | name | semester | diploma | gender
----+------+----------+---------+-----
4 | john | 3 | phy | m
2 | lisa | 2 | bio | f
1 | fred | 2 | bio | m
3 | tom | 1 | bio | m
]]>
You can additionally use a WHERE condition
(ORDER BY appears after the WHERE clause):
<![CDATA[
> SELECT * FROM stud WHERE diploma='bio' ORDER BY gender;
id | name | semester | diploma | gender
----+------+----------+---------+-----
2 | lisa | 2 | bio | f
1 | fred | 2 | bio | m
3 | tom | 1 | bio | m
]]>
You can ORDER BY more than one column by specifying multiple columns
separated by commas (priority as listed):
<![CDATA[
> SELECT * FROM stud WHERE diploma='bio'
ORDER BY gender, semester;
id | name | semester | diploma | gender
----+------+----------+---------+-----
2 | lisa | 2 | bio | f
3 | tom | 1 | bio | m
1 | fred | 2 | bio | m
]]>