SQLiteDatabase.query orderBy cluase: "SELECT": syntax error (code 1 SQLITE_ERROR):

Question

I found the below syntax for orderBy clause:

        String orderBy = "SELECT * FROM " + TABLE + " ORDER BY " + COL_NAME + ";";

but it gives this error:

E/SQLite Exception: near "SELECT": syntax error (code 1 SQLITE_ERROR): , while compiling: SELECT _id, name, organization, phone, address, email, web_ad, inf, birthday FROM contact ORDER BY SELECT * FROM contact ORDER BY name;

I want to sort the entries in my database alphabetically according to their names using SQLiteDatabase.query() method.

    String orderBy = "SELECT * FROM " + TABLE + " ORDER BY " + COL_NAME + ";";

    try {
        SQLiteDatabase db = this.getReadableDatabase();
        return db.query( ContactHelper.TABLE, projection, null, null, null, null, orderBy);
    }catch (Exception e){
        Log.e("SQLite Exception", e.getMessage());
        return null;
    }

what's the mistake I'm making?

Answer 1

The orderBy argument of the query() method should contain only the column's name and not the full select statement.
Change to this:

db.query( ContactHelper.TABLE, projection, null, null, null, null, COL_NAME);

In general that argument should contain the ORDER BY clause of the statement excluding the ORDER BY itself .

ASC is optional. If you omit it then ASC will be used.
If you want DESC then you should write: COL_NAME + " DESC"

You can find more here: query method.