---
title: "ORDER BY clause"
description: "The ORDER BY clause is a fundamental SQL command that lets you control the sequence in which your query results are returned."
canonical: "https://motherduck.com/glossary/order-by-clause/"
related:
  - title: "Query syntax | MotherDuck Docs"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/docs/sql-reference/duckdb-sql-reference/query-syntax/"
  - title: "DuckLake Architecture Deep Dive"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/blog/ducklake-architecture-deep-dive/"
  - title: "DuckDB statements | MotherDuck Docs"
    url: "https://motherduck.com/docs/sql-reference/duckdb-sql-reference/duckdb-statements/"
gated_asset:
  title: "DuckLake on MotherDuck"
  url: "https://motherduck.com/product/ducklake/"
---

# ORDER BY clause

> The ORDER BY clause is a fundamental SQL command that lets you control the sequence in which your query results are returned.

## Overview
The `ORDER BY` clause is a fundamental SQL command that lets you control the sequence in which your query results are returned. It appears near the end of a SQL query and sorts the rows based on one or more columns you specify.

<glossary-callout guide="duckdb-cheatsheet-full" />

## Basic Usage
In DuckDB, you can sort results in either ascending (`ASC`) or descending (`DESC`) order. If you don't specify a direction, ascending order is used by default. Here's a simple example:

```sql
SELECT name, age 
FROM users
ORDER BY age DESC;
```

## Multiple Column Sorting
You can sort by multiple columns, creating a hierarchy of sort criteria. Each subsequent column is used to break ties in the previous columns:

```sql
SELECT city, state, population
FROM cities
ORDER BY state ASC, population DESC;
```

## DuckDB Extensions
DuckDB adds some helpful extensions to standard SQL sorting. You can use `ORDER BY ALL` to sort by all columns in the SELECT list from left to right:

```sql
SELECT city, state, population
FROM cities
ORDER BY ALL;
```

You can also reference column aliases defined in the SELECT clause directly in your `ORDER BY`, which isn't always supported in other databases:

```sql
SELECT 
  first_name || ' ' || last_name AS full_name,
  age
FROM users
ORDER BY full_name;
```

## Performance Considerations
DuckDB implements sorting using a vectorized quicksort algorithm, making it highly efficient for large datasets. However, sorting large result sets can still be memory-intensive, so it's good practice to combine `ORDER BY` with `LIMIT` when you only need a subset of sorted results:

```sql
SELECT city, population
FROM cities
ORDER BY population DESC
LIMIT 10;
```