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 Default Sort Order

Author  Topic 

kaplooeymom
Starting Member

5 Posts

Posted - 2008-12-10 : 11:36:06
It is my understanding that if you don't specify a sort order, SQL server will return records in 'natural' order - in the order records were inserted into the table.

I need a confirm-or-deny, and possibly a pointer to the official documentation, since the boss is not a MS guy and doesn't believe me.

My google skillz were apparently not sufficient enough to find the official position on this, and SQL BOL and I were not getting along, either.

THANKS!

smithje
Starting Member

32 Posts

Posted - 2008-12-10 : 11:41:50
I'm no expert but I believe they are ordered by the order they are stored in the data "pages" of SQL Server which can be controlled with indexing.
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kaplooeymom
Starting Member

5 Posts

Posted - 2008-12-10 : 11:44:56
There is no indexing on this particular table. (Unfortunately, most of the database is like that.)

So, if there's no indexing, would the 'natural' order rule still hold?
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visakh16
Very Important crosS Applying yaK Herder

52326 Posts

Posted - 2008-12-10 : 11:58:41
there's no such thing as natural order. the order of retrieval of data can never be guaranteed unless you use order by. The order of retrieval without order by depends on various factors
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