How to sort one column and then another within it in SQL? [duplicate]

Question

I have this table

state   num
-------------------------
ca      20
ny      30
ca      50
ca      10
ny      70
ny      90

What I want is to produce this:

state   num
-------------------------
ca      50
ca      20
ca      10
ny      90
ny      70
ny      30

Basically, I want the state column to be sorted, and then within each state, have the num sorted as well. How can I achieve this?

Answer 1

specify both column you want to sort one separated by a comma :

select state, num from table_name order by 1, 2 desc

or

select state, num from table_name order by state, num desc

(seems like you wanted the first column sorted on asc way while the second one in desc way)

Answer 2

SELECT * FROM yourtablename ORDER BY state, num DESC