OQL Order by Clause

Last modified: August 27, 2024

Description

The ORDER BY clause specifies the sort order used on columns returned in a SELECT statement. Multiple columns can be specified. Columns are ordered in the sequence of the items in the ORDER BY clause.

This clause can include items that do not appear in the SELECT clause, except when SELECT DISTINCT is specified or when a GROUP BY clause exists. When UNION is used, the column names or aliases must be those specified in the SELECT clause of the first part of the query.

Syntax

The syntax is as follows:

ORDER BY
	{
		order_by_expression [ ASC | DESC ]
	}

order_by_expression

order_by_expression specifies an attribute of an entity or an alias from the FROM clause to sort on.

ASC

ASC specifies that the results must be ordered ascending, from the lowest to the highest value. This is the default sort type.

DESC

DESC specifies that the results must be ordered descending, from the highest to the lowest value.

For details on the default ordering behavior of NULL values, see the NULL Values Order Behavior section of Order By Behavior.

Examples

This query retrieves all customers and returns the first names sorted on the last name, ascending:

SELECT FirstName FROM Sales.Customer
ORDER BY LastName

This query retrieves all customers and returns the first and last name sorted on the last name, descending:

SELECT FirstName + ' ' + LastName FROM Sales.Customer
ORDER BY LastName DESC