What is the default sorting rule in MySQL?

The default sorting rules for MySQL are based on the character set being used. MySQL supports multiple character sets, each with its own sorting rules. Common character sets and their sorting rules are as follows:

1. The sorting rule used by the Latin1 character set is latin1_swedish_ci, which is a case-insensitive sorting rule.
2. The sorting rule used by the UTF-8 character set is utf8_general_ci, which is also a case-insensitive sorting rule.
3. The UTF-8 character set also offers the utf8_bin sorting rule, which is a case-sensitive sorting rule.

If no specific sorting rules are specified, MySQL will use the default sorting rules. You can specify sorting rules by using the ORDER BY clause in your query. For example:

SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name ASC;

ASC represents sorting in ascending order, while DESC represents sorting in descending order. If a specific sorting rule is needed, it can be specified in the ORDER BY clause. For example, using the sorting rule latin1_general_ci with the latin1 character set:

SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name COLLATE latin1_general_ci;