Question

the problem: mysql order position DESC but put first if position=”chef”
I want to order descending but put some things first. How is the syntax for that?

Answer 1

ORDER BY
   CASE 
     WHEN position="chef" THEN 0
     ELSE 1 
   END,
   position DESC

Adding more WHEN conditions allows you to prioritise some positions

ORDER BY
   CASE 
     WHEN position="chef" THEN 0  -- first
     WHEN position="dogsbody" THEN 99 -- last
     ELSE 1 
   END,
   position DESC