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`ORDER BY` is an operator that **sorts** a query's results in SQL.
It determines **the order** rows are returned in after the selection.

### Syntax

```sql
SELECT *
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary;
```

Sorts rows ascending (`ASC` is used by default).

### Sort variants

1. **Ascending (ASC)**, from smaller to larger:

```sql
  ORDER BY age ASC
  ```
2. **Descending (DESC)**, from larger to smaller:

```sql
  ORDER BY age DESC
  ```

### Example 1: sorting by a number

```sql
SELECT name, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY salary DESC;
```

Returns employees with the highest salary first.

### Example 2: sorting by text

```sql
SELECT name, city
FROM employees
ORDER BY city ASC;
```

Sorts alphabetically, from A to Z.

### Example 3: sorting by several fields

```sql
SELECT name, department, salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY department ASC, salary DESC;
```

Sorts by department first,
then within each department, by salary (largest to smallest).

### Example 4: sorting by a computed value

```sql
SELECT name, (salary * 0.9) AS net_salary
FROM employees
ORDER BY net_salary;
```

You can even sort by the result of an expression.

**Summary:**
`ORDER BY` controls the order of rows in the results.
- By default: **ascending** (`ASC`).
- For reverse order: `DESC`.
- You can sort by one or several columns, including computed values.

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