sql - Order By Clause seems to be not working -

i have full-text search utilizes top , order by. i've used same query in database , order stays same. reason on different database, order seems change little. not lot, little. here looks like

select top 20 *  ( select distinct candidateid, [resume], firstname, middlename, lastname,         row_number() on (order createddate desc) num         dbo.tblcandidates  (contains(([resume]), @searchitem))  )  num > @start 

can think of reason order clause wouldn't work in case?

thanks!

you don't have order by clause (the 1 inside over() clause used determine row_number() , not have influence whatsoever of order of output). if you've observed specific order query on other systems, has been purely coincidental , should not relied upon. if want specific order, need add order by outer query, no matter think should or have observed elsewhere.

select top 20 *  ( select distinct candidateid, [resume], firstname, middlename, lastname,         row_number() on (order createddate desc) num         dbo.tblcandidates  (contains(([resume]), @searchitem))  )  num > @start order num;