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Sort the rows by descending order with DESC appended to order by clause

By default, the ORDER BY clause sorts the columns in ascending order. In ascending order, lower values appear first. You can use the DESC keyword to sort the columns in descending order. In descending order, higher values appear first. You can also use the ASC keyword to explicitly specify an ascending sort. SQL> -- create demo table SQL> create table Employee(   2    ID                 VARCHAR2(4 BYTE)         NOT NULL,   3    First_Name         VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),   4    Last_Name          VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),   5    Start_Date         DATE,   6    End_Date           DATE,   7    Salary             Number(8,2),   8    City               VARCHAR2(10 BYTE),   9    Description        VARCHAR2(15 BYTE)  10  )  11  / Table created. SQL> SQL> -- prepare data SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)   2               values ('01','Jason',    'Martin',  to_date('19960725','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('20060725','YYYYMMDD'), 1234.56, 'Toronto',  'Programmer')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)   2                values('02','Alison',   'Mathews', to_date('19760321','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19860221','YYYYMMDD'), 6661.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)   2                values('03','James',    'Smith',   to_date('19781212','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19900315','YYYYMMDD'), 6544.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)   2                values('04','Celia',    'Rice',    to_date('19821024','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19990421','YYYYMMDD'), 2344.78, 'Vancouver','Manager')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary,  City,       Description)   2                values('05','Robert',   'Black',   to_date('19840115','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19980808','YYYYMMDD'), 2334.78, 'Vancouver','Tester')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)   2                values('06','Linda',    'Green',   to_date('19870730','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19960104','YYYYMMDD'), 4322.78,'New York',  'Tester')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)   2                values('07','David',    'Larry',   to_date('19901231','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('19980212','YYYYMMDD'), 7897.78,'New York',  'Manager')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> insert into Employee(ID,  First_Name, Last_Name, Start_Date,                     End_Date,                       Salary, City,        Description)   2                values('08','James',    'Cat',     to_date('19960917','YYYYMMDD'), to_date('20020415','YYYYMMDD'), 1232.78,'Vancouver', 'Tester')   3  / 1 row created. SQL> SQL> -- display data in the table SQL> select * from Employee   2  / ID   FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME  START_DAT END_DATE      SALARY CITY       DESCRIPTION ---- ---------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- ---------- --------------- 01   Jason      Martin     25-JUL-96 25-JUL-06    1234.56 Toronto    Programmer 02   Alison     Mathews    21-MAR-76 21-FEB-86    6661.78 Vancouver  Tester 03   James      Smith      12-DEC-78 15-MAR-90    6544.78 Vancouver  Tester 04   Celia      Rice       24-OCT-82 21-APR-99    2344.78 Vancouver  Manager 05   Robert     Black      15-JAN-84 08-AUG-98    2334.78 Vancouver  Tester 06   Linda      Green      30-JUL-87 04-JAN-96    4322.78 New York   Tester 07   David      Larry      31-DEC-90 12-FEB-98    7897.78 New York   Manager 08   James      Cat        17-SEP-96 15-APR-02    1232.78 Vancouver  Tester 8 rows selected. SQL> SQL> SELECT * FROM employee ORDER BY last_name Desc; ID   FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME  START_DAT END_DATE      SALARY CITY       DESCRIPTION ---- ---------- ---------- --------- --------- ---------- ---------- --------------- 03   James      Smith      12-DEC-78 15-MAR-90    6544.78 Vancouver  Tester 04   Celia      Rice       24-OCT-82 21-APR-99    2344.78 Vancouver  Manager 02   Alison     Mathews    21-MAR-76 21-FEB-86    6661.78 Vancouver  Tester 01   Jason      Martin     25-JUL-96 25-JUL-06    1234.56 Toronto    Programmer 07   David      Larry      31-DEC-90 12-FEB-98    7897.78 New York   Manager 06   Linda      Green      30-JUL-87 04-JAN-96    4322.78 New York   Tester 08   James      Cat        17-SEP-96 15-APR-02    1232.78 Vancouver  Tester 05   Robert     Black      15-JAN-84 08-AUG-98    2334.78 Vancouver  Tester 8 rows selected. SQL> SQL> -- clean the table SQL> drop table Employee   2  / Table dropped.