Is really necesary to "SELECT" the table for "ORDER by"?

Is really necessary to select the entire table to order it by? I'm doing it now from a PHP file like this:

$sort = "SELECT * FROM mytable ORDER by date DESC";
$sorted = $conn->query($sort);
if (!$sorted) { echo 'Could not sort it: ' . mysql_error(); }

I was thinking.... something like:

$sort = "mytable ORDER by date DESC";

...could works maybe?

I feel not able to get a reliable test by myself since I'm new with this things and maybe I omit something, Thanks.


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