ORDER BY usage and examples

Overview

ORDER BY sorts the final result by one or more expressions. ASC is the default and DESC reverses the direction. Add a unique tie-breaker when sort values can repeat so the order remains deterministic. Without ORDER BY, a database does not guarantee row order.

Basic syntax

SELECT * FROM orders ORDER BY amount DESC, id;

Examples

ORDER BY example

Sort orders by amount descending, use id as a deterministic tie-breaker, and verify that the largest amount appears first.

Sample table

Table：orders

orders
id	customer_id	product_id	name	department	amount	status	created_at	discount
1	101	201	Alice	Sales	1200	paid	2026-01-03	0
2	102	202	Bob	IT	900	pending	2026-01-08	50
3	101	201	Cindy	Sales	1500	paid	2026-02-02	100
4	104	203	David	HR	700	cancelled	2026-02-15	0

Run result

result
id	customer_id	product_id	name	department	amount	status	created_at	discount
3	101	201	Cindy	Sales	1500	paid	2026-02-02	100
1	101	201	Alice	Sales	1200	paid	2026-01-03	0
2	102	202	Bob	IT	900	pending	2026-01-08	50
4	104	203	David	HR	700	cancelled	2026-02-15	0

Common issues

What order is used when ASC or DESC is omitted?

ASC is the default; write DESC explicitly for descending order.

Can ORDER BY sort by multiple columns?

Yes. Later columns break ties left by earlier sort columns.

Why is ORDER BY important with LIMIT?

Without ORDER BY, the selected subset has no stable business meaning.

Keep reading

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ORDER BY