Sorting Results

Use this

SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY row_name ASC
or
DESC

To Sort On Multiple Values

select * FROM table_name ORDER BY HighestPriority DESC, NextRowName DESC, NextRowName DESC

ORDER BY With $wpdb->prepare

ORDER BY and %s does not work with $wpdb->prepare, in our tests the following order by gets ignored:

  $sql = $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}table_devices 
                          ORDER BY %s ASC
                        ", $SortOrder);

Whereas this works as expected.

  $sql = "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}table_devices 
                          ORDER BY $SortOrder ASC
                        ";

So it seems that $wpdb->prepare() adding single quotes around the inserted name field causes it to break.

Date Order

ASC = oldest first

DESC = most recent first

With GROUP BY

When using GROUP BY, if you also use ORDER BY it must come after the GROUP BY