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PostgreSQL ORDER BY

The ORDER BY clause is used to sort the result set based on one or more columns. By default, results are sorted in ascending order.

Key Topics

1. Basic Usage

SELECT *
FROM employees
ORDER BY last_name ASC;

This sorts employees in ascending order by their last_name.

2. Sorting by Multiple Columns

SELECT first_name, last_name, department
FROM employees
ORDER BY department, last_name DESC;

This sorts first by department (ascending by default), then by last_name descending within each department.

Best Practices

  • Index columns used in ORDER BY when performance is critical.
  • Use ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC) order to get the desired sorting.

Key Takeaways

  • ORDER BY organizes query results for easier readability and data analysis.
  • You can specify multiple columns with different sort directions.
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