Sort a text aggregate created with array_agg in postgresql

Question

I have a table in postgresql. The following table \"animals\" will do to explain my problem:

name
------
tiger
cat
dog

Now I am using the follo

Answer 1

For modern PostgreSQL (since version 9.0), you can use an ORDER BY clause in an aggregate expression:

SELECT
    array_to_string(array_agg(name ORDER BY name), ', ')
FROM
    animals;

Also, for your specific purpose, you can use string_agg to simplify your query:

SELECT
    string_agg(name, ', ' ORDER BY name)
FROM
    animals;