Order by clause work incorrect

when i try the following SQL batch, I get a result-set which is not order by
datetime column 'out_date',but if I delete clause INTO #fifo_temp, I get a correct result with correct order.

who can help me?thanks in advance
...
select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,cast(out_id as char(10)) as out_id,out_number,out_date,out_qty,remark
INTO #fifo_temp from ##stuff_fifo UNION
select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,out_id,null,out_date,quant ity,remark
from acc_cost.dbo.stuff_out where tag='A' and left(out_id,3) in ('XSA','TAP')
ORDER BY out_date

DROP TABLE ##stuff_fifo
select * from #fifo_temp

the following can get a correct result:

select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,cast(out_id as char(10)) as out_id,out_number,out_date,out_qty,remark
from ##stuff_fifo UNION
select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,out_id,null,out_date,quant ity,remark
from acc_cost.dbo.stuff_out where tag='A' and left(out_id,3) in ('XSA','TAP')
ORDER BY out_dateIf I am not mistaken, you have no influence on the physical order of recordsets saved in tables in MSSQL, so your table #fifo_temp will not be ordered by out_date.

Choose the order of recordsets when extracting the data from the table, so use:

select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,cast(out_id as char(10)) as out_id,out_number,out_date,out_qty,remark
INTO #fifo_temp from ##stuff_fifo UNION
select tag,stuff_id,stuff_name,out_id,null,out_date,quant ity,remark
from acc_cost.dbo.stuff_out where tag='A' and left(out_id,3) in ('XSA','TAP')

DROP TABLE ##stuff_fifo
select * from #fifo_temp
ORDER BY out_date

Regards

kbk|||KBK is correct. A table has no inherant "order" for either columns or rows, although a result set has order for both. The only place where order makes any sense (or difference) is in the result set.

-PatP|||Set Out_Date as your clustered index and the data will be ordered the way you want, but if the order is important to you then it is best to specify it each time you select from the dataset using and ORDER BY clause.|||I see the problem.Thank all kindly friends.