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

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.