Sorting table separately while using UNION All, How to??

There are times when developer want top and bottom query of the UNION ALL resultset sorted independently, like this

select Columns from table1 order by Columns

union all

select Columns from tabbe2 order by Columns

However the above query will fail and give the output as

Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 2

Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'union'.

NOTE :It is not possible to have two different order by in the UNION statement because UNION returns single resultant.

However if your requirement is saying to sort top and bottom query independently then how to do?

Let’s create a scenario, by taking two tables TABLE1 and TABLE2

create table table1

(id int,

name varchar(15)

)

Command(s) completed successfully.

create table table2

(id int,

name varchar(15)

)

Command(s) completed successfully.

insert into table1(id,name)

select 1,'Ananya_Tab1'

union all

select 2,'Abhiroop_Tab1'

union all

select 3,'Gunjal_Tab1'

(3 row(s) affected)

insert into table2(id,name)

select 3,'Bikshapati_Tab2'

union all

select 2,'Sanjana_Tab2'

union all

select 1,'Akshit_Tab3'

(3 row(s) affected)

Now our tables are in place let’s do proceed to stimulate our requirement, we want like this  

select id,name, 'tab1' as odrCol from table1

order by id

union all

select id,name, 'tab2' as odr1 from table2

order by id

But firing the above script on ssms, gives error                          

Msg 156, Level 15, State 1, Line 3

Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'union'.

And if we execute the select UNION without order by

select id,name from table1

union all

select id,name from table2

id          name

----------- ---------------

1           Ananya_Tab1

2           Abhiroop_Tab1

3           Gunjal_Tab1

3           Bikshapati_Tab2

2           Sanjana_Tab2

1           Akshit_Tab3

(6 row(s) affected)

However our requirement is like this

id          name          

----------- ---------------

1           Ananya_Tab1    

2           Abhiroop_Tab1  

3           Gunjal_Tab1    

1           Akshit_Tab3    

2           Sanjana_Tab2   

3           Bikshapati_Tab2

So to get the output as required, lets add a additional column ordCol and use it in order by clause

select id,name, 'tab1' as odrCol from table1

union all

select id,name, 'tab2' as odrCol from table2

order by odrCol,id

id          name            odrCol

----------- --------------- ------

1           Ananya_Tab1     tab1

2           Abhiroop_Tab1   tab1

3           Gunjal_Tab1     tab1

1           Akshit_Tab3     tab2

2           Sanjana_Tab2    tab2

3           Bikshapati_Tab2 tab2

(6 row(s) affected)

Now we can see we achieved our desired requirement of independent sorting of select query in UNION ALL.

Code exercises your creative instincts; do code n enjy J   

Post Reference: Vikram Aristocratic Elfin Share