Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Databases

Organize Output I: Use the Order By Clause

Just as you will always use the Where clause to filter irrelevant data, you will always use the Order By clause to sort the data in your resultset. Furthermore, based on the fields you choose to sort the data, you will want to sort the data ascending, descending, or some combination thereof. All of these operations are accomplished with the Order By clause. To illustrate how the Order By clause works, consider the following code:

SELECT  lastname  + ",  " + firstname As client
   From Client
   Where ClientType = "I"
   Order By lastname

Figure 8.13 illustrates the results of this query.

Figure 8.13. The Order By clause allows you to sort the data in your resultset.

By default, any field you select to order ...