ORDER BY

Sorting by two columns

Module 3 of 9 SQLite in your browser

Lesson concept What you'll do

1 / 4

Sort by one column, then by another for rows that tie.

List both after ORDER BY, each with its own direction.

Next: Sorting by one column

On your own New data, same idea

Show the author and title of every book, sorted by author (A to Z), and by title within each author.

The database

11 rows

book_id	title	author	genre	year	pages
1	The Great Gatsby	F. Scott Fitzgerald	Fiction	1925	180
2	The Fault in Our Stars	John Green	Romance	2012	313
3	Angels & Demons	Dan Brown	Thriller	2000	616
4	Mockingjay	Suzanne Collins	Science Fiction	2010	390
5	The Shining	Stephen King	Horror	1977	447
6	Charlotte's Web	E.B. White	Children	1952	184
7	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen	Romance	1813	432
8	The Fellowship of the Ring	J.R.R. Tolkien	Fantasy	1954	423
9	The Time Machine	H.G. Wells	Science Fiction	1895	118
10	Emma	Jane Austen	Romance	1815	474
11	Carrie	Stephen King	Horror	1974	200

Your query Ctrl + Enter runs it

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Query output Ready to run

Run your query to see the result table.

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Study notes

How ORDER BY works

How do I sort by two columns?

ORDER BY genre, pages DESC
List them with a comma. Rows are sorted by the first column, and the second only decides the order of rows that tie on the first.
Does the order of the columns matter?

Yes. ORDER BY pages, genre sorts by pages first, and genre hardly ever matters. Put the main grouping first.
Where does DESC go?

After the column it applies to. Each column has its own direction: ORDER BY genre, pages DESC is genre A to Z, then longest first.
Can I sort by a column I don't show?

Yes: SELECT title FROM books ORDER BY year works. It's often clearer to show it, though.
How is this like Excel?

It's Sort with "Add Level": first sort by genre, then by pages. The SORTBY function works the same way.

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