Question

i am using ORDER BY in mysql SELECT query but i dont know ots not ordering the data.. if i use this query its showing the table but not ordering the data in ascending order

$result = mysql_query("SELECT *FROM learningmaterial ORDER BY 'order' ASC")or   die(mysql_error()); 

but if i use

$result = mysql_query("SELECT *FROM learningmaterial ORDER BY order ASC")or die(mysql_error()); 

then it give error that the syntax of the query is not right…i’ve seen on various sites but i couldnot found anything unique in my code…i think its right,…please check the query and mend a solution. Thankx in advance 🙂

Answer 1

You need backticks, not single quotes ^(a):

... SELECT * FROM learningmaterial ORDER BY `order` ASC ...

By using single quotes, you’re ordering the rows by a constant (each row gets the same constant) so effectively not ordering them at all.

By using a “naked” column name of order, you’re confusing the SQL parser, since order is a reserved word.

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^(a): Of course, this problem goes away if you stop using reserved words as column names but I assume you did that for a reason (such as a bucket-load of programs already depending on the fact that the column is called order).

Myself, I tend not to use generic names for columns (such as order or date), preferring instead things that don’t conflict with the language (such as order_num or start_date). That way I don’t have to worry about escaping.