Which clause specifies how to sort the results of a query?

• A. Order By
• B. Group By
• C. Sort By
• D. Having

Answer: (A)

Sorting the results of a query is controlled by the ORDER BY clause. You list one or more columns or expressions after ORDER BY, and optionally specify ASC or DESC for each to indicate ascending or descending order. If you omit ASC or DESC, ascending order is assumed. You can sort by multiple columns; the first column defines the primary sort, and additional columns break ties when values in the previous columns are equal. Other clauses serve different roles: GROUP BY collects rows into groups for aggregation, and HAVING filters those groups after aggregation. There isn’t a standard Sort By clause in SQL, so the correct way to specify sorting is ORDER BY.