SQL ORDER BY Clause Tutorial

Example Table

We will use the following table named products for our examples:


    CREATE TABLE products (
        product_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
        product_name VARCHAR(50),
        category VARCHAR(50),
        price DECIMAL(10, 2)
    );
    
    INSERT INTO products (product_id, product_name, category, price) VALUES
    (1, 'Laptop', 'Electronics', 1200.00),
    (2, 'Desk', 'Furniture', 300.00),
    (3, 'Chair', 'Furniture', 150.00),
    (4, 'Smartphone', 'Electronics', 800.00),
    (5, 'Monitor', 'Electronics', 200.00);

Products Table

product_id	product_name	category	price
1	Laptop	Electronics	1200.00
2	Desk	Furniture	300.00
3	Chair	Furniture	150.00
4	Smartphone	Electronics	800.00
5	Monitor	Electronics	200.00

Using the SQL ORDER BY Clause

The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the result set of a query by one or more columns. By default, it sorts the results in ascending order. You can also specify descending order using the DESC keyword.

Example: Ordering by Price (Ascending)

To sort the products by price in ascending order, use the following query:


    SELECT product_name, category, price
    FROM products
    ORDER BY price;

Result:

product_name	Chair
category	Furniture
price	150.00
product_name	Monitor
category	Electronics
price	200.00
product_name	Desk
category	Furniture
price	300.00
product_name	Smartphone
category	Electronics
price	800.00
product_name	Laptop
category	Electronics
price	1200.00

Example: Ordering by Category (Ascending) and Price (Descending)

To sort the products first by category in ascending order and then by price in descending order within each category, use the following query:


    SELECT product_name, category, price
    FROM products
    ORDER BY category, price DESC;