Code Inspection: ORDER BY in queries

Reports usages when the ORDER BY clause is used without TOP, OFFSET, or FOR XML in views, inline functions, derived tables, subqueries, and common table expressions.

For more information about usages of ORDER BY, refer to SELECT - ORDER BY Clause (Transact-SQL) at docs.microsoft.com.

Example (Microsoft SQL server):

CREATE TABLE foo (a INT NOT NULL, b  INT NOT NULL);

SELECT *
FROM (SELECT a, b
FROM foo A
WHERE a < 89
ORDER BY b) ALIAS;

In a subquery, ORDER BY will be highlighted as an error. You can add TOP, OFFSET, or FOR XML to a subquery. Alternatively, use the Delete element quick-fix to delete the ORDER BY section.

After the quick-fix is applied:

SELECT *
FROM (SELECT a, b
FROM foo A
WHERE a < 89) ALIAS;