Retrieving data in a specific order

You might want to retrieve data in a particular order. For instance, in the Member table, you might want members organized in alphabetical order by last name. Or, in the Pet table, you might want the pets grouped by type of pet. In a SELECT query, ORDER BY and GROUP BY affect the order in which the data is delivered to you:

• ORDER BY: To sort information, use the phrase ORDER BY columnname The data is sorted by columnname in ascending order. For instance, if columnname is lastName, the data is delivered to you in alphabetical order by the last name. You can sort in descending order by adding the word DESC before the column name. For example: SELECT * FROM Member ORDER BY DESC lastName
  
• GROUP BY: To group information, use the following phrase: GROUP BY columnname The rows that have the same value of columnname are grouped together. For example, use this query to group the rows that have the same value as petType:
  
• SELECT * FROM Pet GROUP BY petType
  
• You can use GROUP BY and ORDER BY in the same query.