How to Custom Sort in SQL ORDER BY Clause?

By default SQL ORDER BY sort, the column in ascending order but when the descending order is needed ORDER BY DESC can be used. In case when we need a custom sort then we need to use a CASE statement where we have to mention the priorities to get the column sorted.

In this article let us see how we can custom sort in a table using order by using MSSQL as a server.

Syntax:

SELECT * FROM table_name
ORDER BY CASE 
     WHEN column_field = "value1" THEN priority1
     WHEN column_field = "value2" THEN priority2
     WHEN column_field = "value3" THEN priority3
     .
     ELSE priorityn 
     END ASC

Step 1: We are creating a Database. For this use the below command to create a database named GeeksforGeeks.

Query:

CREATE DATABASE GeeksforGeeks;

Step 2: To use the GeeksforGeeks database use the below command.

Query:

USE GeeksforGeeks

Step 3: Now we are creating a table. Create a table student_marks with 4 columns using the following SQL query.

Query:

CREATE TABLE student_marks(
stu_id VARCHAR(20),
stu_name VARCHAR(20),
stu_branch VARCHAR(20),
total_marks INT
)

Step 4: View the description of the table.

Query:

EXEC sp_columns student_marks

Step 5: The query for Inserting rows into the Table. Insert rows into the student_marks  table using the following SQL query.

Query:

INSERT INTO student_marks
VALUES( '1001','PRADEEP','E.C.E', 550),
( '1002','KIRAN','E.C.E', 540),
( '5001','PRANAV','I.C.E', 450),
( '2001','PADMA','C.S.E', 570),
( '2002','SRUTHI','C.S.E', 480),
( '2003','HARSITHA','C.S.E', 534),
( '3001','SAI','I.T', 560),
( '3002','HARSH','I.T', 510),
( '4001','HARSHINI','E.E.E', 500) 

Step 6: Viewing the inserted data

Query:

SELECT * FROM student_marks

• Query to custom sort based on branch order of C.S.E, I.T, E.C.E, I.C.E, E.E.E also show the difference between the default sort using ORDER BY.

Default sort by ORDER BY :

SELECT * FROM student_marks
ORDER BY stu_branch 

Output:

Custom sort by ORDER BY:

SELECT * FROM student_marks
ORDER BY CASE
         WHEN stu_branch = 'C.S.E' then 1
         WHEN stu_branch = 'I.T' then 2 
         WHEN stu_branch = 'E.C.E' then 3
         WHEN stu_branch = 'I.C.E' then 4
         WHEN stu_branch = 'E.E.E' then 5
         END ASC  

Output: