http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/order-by-optimization.html SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BYkey_part1,key_part2,... ; SELECT * FROM t1 WHEREkey_part1=constantORDER BYkey_part2; SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BYkey_part1DESC,key_part2DESC; SELECT * FROM t1 WHEREkey_part1=1 ORDER BYkey_part1DESC,key_part2DESC;