Select query gives result in abc order instead of creation order

Question

Hi,
I used the following command in sql command window to insert some rows to my table:
SQL>
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (1 , 'Zafon');
1 row inserted
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (2 , 'Hasharon');
1 row inserted
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (3 , 'Merkaz');
1 row inserted
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (4 , 'Jerusalem');
1 row inserted
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (5 , 'Hashfela');
1 row inserted
SQL> insert into regions (Region_ID, Region_Name) values (6 , 'Darom');
1 row insertedWhen I use select * query to see the table, I get the content in abc order:
SQL> SELECT * FROM REGIONS;
REGION_ID REGION_NAME
        6 Darom
        2 Hasharon
        5 Hashfela
        4 Jerusalem
        3 Merkaz
        1 Zafon
6 rows selectedHow can I get the result in the creation order (first created- first shown)?
Thanks

Answer 1

>
How can I get the result in the creation order (first created- first shown)?
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You can't - not unless you use a solution that you should NEVER use unless absolutely necessary.
WHY do you need to do this? You never provide a reason.
To get a result in creation order there are two requirements:
1. Use an ORDER BY when you query the table - this is the only requirement others have mentioned
2. Control and specify the creation order when you INSERT the data
Unfortunately there is only ONE way that I am aware of to implement #2 above (i.e. to control the insertion order) and that is to SERIALIZE the insertion of rows into the table. That means that only ONE user can insert rows into the table at a time perhaps by using a stored procedure to perform the insert.
In a multi-user system a USER can NOT see uncommitted data of other users. If a user uses a trigger and a SEQUENCE generator to generate ascending numbers another user can use that same trigger and sequence to generate numbers also. If the first user performs an INSERT and gets number 37 but doesn't commit a second user can perform an INSERT, get number 38 and COMMIT before the first user commits.
That means that the row with 38 was created (committed) first but has a higher sequence than the row with 37.
The best you can do is use a sequence generator to generate unique ascending numbers. Then you can query the data using an ORDER BY on the column that contains the sequence value. But, as shown above, that doesn't guarantee that the rows were actually committed in that order.
That may sound like a trivial distinction but it has a very important implication. It means that you can NOT use that sequenced column to extract data reliably for batch-type processing. For the above example supposed your batch process extracted data for values from 1 to 38 and then that first user did a COMMIT.
The next extract would be for values from 39 to 50 (or some other value) and the row with 37 would never be extracted. For the same reasons you can't use a CREATION_DATE value for such extract purposes either since you would have the same issue.