ORDER BY
Make result ordering deterministic and intentional.
Syntax
ORDER BY column_name [ASC | DESC], secondary_column [ASC | DESC]Why it matters
Without a unique tiebreaker, the order of rows that share the same value is not guaranteed. That can affect paging, ranking, and results that are later exported or compared.
Example
SELECT
product_id,
sales
FROM product_sales
ORDER BY sales DESC, product_id ASC;Good practice
- add a stable tie-breaker such as a primary key or timestamp
- document the business rule behind the order
- be explicit when results are expected to be stable across runs
Safety check before shipping
If the query is used for pagination or ranking, verify that the ordering is deterministic enough to support repeated results and audits.