BigQuery Tip: Order by Expressions, Not Just Columns for Enhanced Sorting

In SQL, the ORDER BY clause can be used with not just columns, but also with expressions. The output of these expressions can be ordered just like regular column values.

To prioritize 'direct' sales when ordering sales data in SQL, you can use a CASE WHEN statement within the ORDER BY clause. This statement will assign a higher rank to 'direct' sales, effectively placing them at the top of the list when sorting the sales data decreasingly.

A CASE WHEN statement in SQL works for custom sorting by evaluating each row against a condition and returning specific values based on the outcome. These returned values can then be used within the ORDER BY clause to sort the data according to the custom logic defined in the CASE WHEN statement.