Sorting Query Results - MySQL - page 233

CHAPTER 7
Sorting Query Results
7.0. Introduction
This chapter covers sorting, an extremely important operation for controlling how
MySQL displays results from SELECT statements. To sort a query result, add an ORDER
BY clause to the query. Without such a clause, MySQL is free to return rows in any order,
so sorting helps bring order to disorder and makes query results easier to examine and
understand.
You can sort rows of a query result several ways:
• Using a single column, a combination of columns, or even parts of columns or
expression results
• Using ascending or descending order
• Using case-sensitive or case-insensitive string comparisons
• Using temporal ordering
Several examples in this chapter use the driver_log table, which contains columns for
recording daily mileage logs for a set of truck drivers:
mysql> SELECT * FROM driver_log;
+--------+-------+------------+-------+
| rec_id | name | trav_date | miles |
+--------+-------+------------+-------+
| 1 | Ben | 2014-07-30 | 152 |
| 2 | Suzi | 2014-07-29 | 391 |
| 3 | Henry | 2014-07-29 | 300 |
| 4 | Henry | 2014-07-27 | 96 |
| 5 | Ben | 2014-07-29 | 131 |
| 6 | Henry | 2014-07-26 | 115 |
| 7 | Suzi | 2014-08-02 | 502 |
| 8 | Henry | 2014-08-01 | 197 |