Is it possible to sort the order in which columns are returned in a mysql SELECT statement?

Question

Imagine two questions from an online survey:

1. Do you like apples?

Result stored in mysql db column \"q1\" as

Answer 1

Thanks @user2864740 and @sgeddes for your prompt replies.

SURVEY SAYS: It is NOT possible to sort returned columns in a SELECT statement using mysql without using dynamic sql.

The solution I came up with uses a temporary table and is similar to the example below. While perhaps less than ideal, it answered the mail for what I needed. Curious if there is a better way to do the same thing or if I messed anything else up below.

DROP TEMPORARY TABLE IF EXISTS orderedSums;
SET @q1Sum = (SELECT SUM(q1) FROM myTable);
SET @q2Sum = (SELECT SUM(q2) FROM myTable);

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE orderedSums (
    qNum VARCHAR(5),
    qSum INT
);

INSERT INTO orderedSums
    VALUES ('q1Sum', @q1Sum),('q2Sum', @q2Sum);

SELECT qNum, qSum
    FROM orderedSums
    ORDER BY qSum DESC;

Returns multiple rows of SUMs sorted in descending order from myTable.

Answer 2

Assuming I'm understanding your question correctly, you could use a case statement:

SELECT CASE WHEN SUM(q1) > SUM(q2) THEN SUM(q1) ELSE SUM(q2) END AS q1Sum,
   CASE WHEN SUM(q1) > SUM(q2) THEN SUM(q2) ELSE SUM(q1) END AS q2Sum 
FROM myTable 

Actually this would mislabel the columns -- you cannot alter the name of the column without using dynamic sql.