By default, the rows in the result set produced by a SELECT statement are returned by the server to the client in no particular order. When a query is issued, the server is free to return the rows in any convenient order. This order can be affected by factors such as the order in which the rows are actually stored in the table, or which indexes are used to process the query. If the output rows need to be returned in a specific order, include an ORDER BY clause that indicates how to sort the results. There is no guarantee about the order in which the server returns rows, unless the order is specified. To do so, add an ORDER BY clause to the statement that defines the sort order desired. Single Column Sorts The following example returns country names (in the Country table of the world database) alphabetically by Country Name; mysql> SELECT Name FROM Country ORDER ...
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