Lynn Pettis (7/16/2015)

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Here is another way to accomplish the task with no need to create a sort column in a CTE.

SET NOCOUNT ON;

DECLARE @TEST_NULL_SORT TABLE (AREA VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL, CATEGORY VARCHAR(50) NULL);

INSERT INTO @TEST_NULL_SORT

VALUES

('Area 1','Category1')

,('Area 1','Category2')

,('Area 1','Category3')

,('Area 2','Category1')

,('Area 2','Category2')

,('Area 2','Category3')

,('Area 1',NULL)

,('Area 1',NULL)

,('Area 1',NULL)

,('Area 2',NULL)

,('Area 2',NULL)

,('Area 2',NULL);

SELECT

SS.AREA

,SS.CATEGORY

FROM @TEST_NULL_SORT SS

ORDER BY

case when SS.CATEGORY is null then 0 else 1 end desc,

SS.AREA

,SS.CATEGORY;