MySQL ORDER BY

The MySQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword arranges the result-set in either ascending or descending order.

By default, it sorts records in ascending order, and you can specify DESC to sort in descending order.

ORDER BY Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, …
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, … ASC|DESC;

Demo Database

Here is a portion of the “Customers” table from the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds FutterKiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la Constitución 2222	México D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds snabbköp	Christina Berglund	Berguvsvägen 8	Luleå	S-958 22	Sweden

ORDER BY Example

The following SQL statement retrieves all customers from the “Customers” table, ordered by the “Country” column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;

ORDER BY DESC Example

The following SQL statement retrieves all customers from the “Customers” table, sorted in descending order by the “Country” column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the “Customers” table, sorted first by the “Country” column and then by the “CustomerName” column. This ensures that rows are ordered by Country, and if multiple rows have the same Country, they are further ordered by CustomerName.

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2

The following SQL statement retrieves all customers from the “Customers” table, sorted in ascending order by the “Country” column and in descending order by the “CustomerName” column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;