Difference Between Group By and Order By in SQL

In this post, we will understand the difference between group by and order by in SQL.

GROUP BY

• It is used to group the rows which have the same value.

• It can be used in CREATE VIEW statement.

• In select statement, it has to be used before the ‘ORDER BY’ keyword.

• Attribute can’t be in a ‘GROUP BY’ statement when it is under aggregate function.

• The tuples are grouped based on how similar the attribute values of the tuples are.

• It controls the presentation of the tuples/rows.

ORDER BY

• It doesn’t use the ‘CREATE VIEW’ statement.

• The result-set is sorted in ascending or descending order.

• It is used after the ‘group by’ keyword.

• The attribute can be under an aggregate function.

• It controls the presentation of columns.

Following is the syntax of Group By and Order By in a single query −

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
WHERE [ conditions ]
GROUP BY column1, column2
ORDER BY column1, column2