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ascendingcsharp/language-reference/keywords

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ascending (C# Reference)

ascending - C# Reference

  • page csharp/language-reference/keywords/ascending
  • updated 01/21/2026

Use the ascending contextual keyword in the orderby clause of query expressions to specify that the sort order goes from smallest to largest. Because ascending is the default sort order, you don't need to specify it.

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The documentation identifies any feature first introduced in the last three versions of the language or in current public previews.

The following example shows how to use ascending in an orderby clause.

sample · csharpdocs/csharp/language-reference/keywords/snippets/csrefKeywordsContextual.cs14

csharp
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace csrefKeywordsContextual
{
    class Test
    {
        class Student
        {
            public string LastName;
            public Student(string name)
            {
                LastName = name;
            }
        }

        class Category
        {
            public int ID;
            public string Name;

            public Category(int i, string n)
            {
                ID = i;
                Name = n;
            }
        }

        class Product
        {
            public string Name;
            public int ProdID;
            public int CategoryID;
            public Product(string n, int pid, int cid)
            {
                Name = n;
                ProdID = pid;
                CategoryID = cid;
            }
        }

        static string[] vegetables = { "carrot", "celery" };
        static void Main()
        {
            List<Student> students = new List<Student>();
            //<Snippet10>
            var query = from student in students
                        group student by student.LastName[0];
            //</Snippet10>

            //<Snippet11>
            IEnumerable<string> sortDescendingQuery =
                from vegetable in vegetables
                orderby vegetable descending
                select vegetable;
            //</Snippet11>

            //<Snippet14>
            IEnumerable<string> sortAscendingQuery =
                from vegetable in vegetables
                orderby vegetable ascending
                select vegetable;
            //</Snippet14>

            List<Category> categories = new List<Category>();
            List<Product> products = new List<Product>();

            //<Snippet12>
            var innerJoinQuery =
                from category in categories
                join prod in products on category.ID equals prod.CategoryID
                select new { ProductName = prod.Name, Category = category.Name };
            //</Snippet12>
        }

    }
}

See also