Sorting Direction

The keyword ASC — short for ASCENDING — specifies a sort direction from lowest to highest.ASC is the default sort direction.

The keyword DESC — short for DESCENDING — specifies a sort direction from highest to lowest.

Specifying ascending order for one column and descending order for another is allowed.

Using the keyword COLLATE in a <value-expression> specifies the collation order to apply for a string column if you need a collation order that is different from the normal collation for this column.The normal collation order is defined by either the default collation for the database character set, or the collation set explicitly in the column’s definition.