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-- Sort books by checkout date (newest first)
SELECT book_title, checkout_date
FROM book_checkouts
ORDER BY checkout_date DESC;

-- Show top 2 most recent checkouts
SELECT book_title, checkout_date
FROM book_checkouts
ORDER BY checkout_date DESC
LIMIT 2;

-- Show books with the earliest checkout dates
SELECT book_title, checkout_date
FROM book_checkouts
ORDER BY checkout_date ASC;

# `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`

When working with data, you might want to **sort your results** or **limit how many rows appear**. SQL provides two simple tools for this — `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`.

<br/>

## `ORDER BY`

The `ORDER BY` clause is used to **sort query results** by one or more columns, in ascending or descending order.

```sql title="Sort books by checkout date"
SELECT title, checkout_date
FROM book_checkouts
ORDER BY checkout_date DESC;
```

* `ASC` — ascending order (default): earliest to latest
* `DESC` — descending order: newest to oldest

<br/>

## `LIMIT`

The `LIMIT` clause **controls how many rows** are returned in your results.

```sql title="Limit results to the 3 most recent checkouts"
SELECT title, checkout_date
FROM book_checkouts
ORDER BY checkout_date DESC
LIMIT 3;
```

This query displays only the three most recent checkouts.

<br/>

## Combining `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`

These two clauses are often combined to answer real questions like:

* Who borrowed the most books?
* What were the last 5 books checked out?
* Show the top 2 most borrowed books.

<br/>

## When do I use `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`?

You can use `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT` to:

* View only the top N results
* Sort data for reports or dashboards
* Power features like search ranking or pagination

The query sorts members by the number of books borrowed (from highest to lowest) and returns only the top 2.

ORDER BY and LIMIT

ORDER BY

LIMIT

Combining ORDER BY and LIMIT

When do I use ORDER BY and LIMIT?

What does the following query do?

`ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`

`ORDER BY`

`LIMIT`

Combining `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`

When do I use `ORDER BY` and `LIMIT`?