ordering-grouping-and-limit.md

Order By

The orderBy method seems simple but has a lot of depth depending on the type of arguments you pass in.

{% hint style="info" %} Calling orderBy multiple times appends to the order list. {% endhint %}

Order By (String)

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The name of the column to order by. An Expression can be passed as well.
direction	string	false	"asc"	The direction by which to order the query. Accepts "asc"or "desc".

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( "email" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY `email` ASC

{% endcode %}

Calling orderBy multiple times will append to the order list.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( "email" )
    .orderBy( "username", "desc" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY
  `email` ASC,
  `username` DESC

{% endcode %}

You can also provide an Expression.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( query.raw( "DATE(created_at)" ) );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY DATE(created_at)

{% endcode %}

Order By (List)

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The list of the columns to order by. Each column can optionally declare it's sort direction after a pipe delimiter. (e.g. `"height	desc"`).
direction	string	false	"asc"	The direction by which to order the query. Accepts "asc"or "desc". This value will be used as the default value for all entries in the column list that fail to specify a direction for a specific column.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( "email|asc,username", "desc" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY
  `email` ASC,
  `username` DESC

{% endcode %}

Order By (Array of Strings)

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The array of the columns to order by. Each column can optionally declare it's sort direction after a pipe delimiter. (e.g. `"height	desc"`).
direction	string	false	"asc"	The direction by which to order the query. Accepts "asc"or "desc". This value will be used as the default value for all entries in the column array that fail to specify a direction for a specific column.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( [ "email|asc", "username" ], "desc" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY
  `email` ASC,
  `username` DESC

{% endcode %}

Order By (Array of Structs)

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The array of the columns to order by. Each column can optionally declare it's sort direction using a struct. The struct should have a column key and an optional direction key. (e.g. { column = "favorite_color", direction = "desc" }).
direction	string	false	"asc"	The direction by which to order the query. Accepts "asc"or "desc". This value will be used as the default value for all entries in the column array that fail to specify a direction for a specific column.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( [
        { "column": "email", "direction": "asc" },
        "username"
    ], "desc" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY
  `email` ASC,
  `username` DESC

{% endcode %}

Order By (Subquery)

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The name of the column to order by. An Expression can be passed as well. An array can be passed with any combination of simple values, array, struct, or list for each entry in the array (an example with all possible value styles: column = [ "last_name", [ "age", "desc" ], { column = "favorite_color", direction = "desc" }, "height|desc" ];. The column argument can also just accept a comman delimited list with a pipe ( | ) as the secondary delimiter denoting the direction of the order by. The pipe delimiter is also used when parsing the column argument when it is passed as an array and the entry in the array is a pipe delimited string.
direction	string	false	"asc"	Ignored when using a Function or QueryBuilder instance.

You can order with a subquery using either a function or a QueryBuilder instance.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( function( q ) {
        q.selectRaw( "MAX(created_date)" )
            .from( "logins" )
            .whereColumn( "users.id", "logins.user_id" );
    } );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY (
    SELECT MAX(created_date)
    FROM `logins`
    WHERE `users`.`id` = `logins`.`user_id`
)

{% endcode %}

Order By Raw

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
expression	string	true		The raw SQL expression to use.
bindings	array	false	[]	Any bindings (?) used in the expression.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderByRaw( "CASE WHEN status = ? THEN 1 ELSE 0 END DESC", [ 1 ] );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY CASE WHEN status = ? THEN 1 ELSE 0 END DESC

{% endcode %}

clearOrders

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
No arguments		``

Clears the currently configured orders for the query. Usually used by downstream libraries like Quick.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( "email" )
    .clearOrders();

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`

{% endcode %}

reorder

Name	Type	Required	Default	Description
column	any	true		The name of the column to order by. An Expression can be passed as well.
direction	string	false	"asc"	The direction by which to order the query. Accepts "asc"or "desc".

Clears the currently configured orders for the query and sets the new orders passed in. Any valid argument to orderBy can be passed here. Usually used by downstream libraries like Quick.

{% code title="QueryBuilder" %}

query.from( "users" )
    .orderBy( "email" )
    .reorder( "username" );

{% endcode %}

{% code title="MySQL" %}

SELECT *
FROM `users`
ORDER BY `username` ASC

{% endcode %}