The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
The data returned is stored in a result table, called the result-set.
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from. If you want to select all the fields available in the table, use the following syntax:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Alfreds Futterkiste | Maria Anders | Obere Str. 57 | Berlin | 12209 | Germany |
2 | Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados | Ana Trujillo | Avda. de la Constitución 2222 | México D.F. | 5021 | Mexico |
3 | Antonio Moreno Taquería | Antonio Moreno | Mataderos 2312 | México D.F. | 5023 | Mexico |
4 | Around the Horn | Thomas Hardy | 120 Hanover Sq. | London | WA1 1DP | UK |
5 | Berglunds snabbköp | Christina Berglund | Berguvsvägen 8 | Luleå | S-958 22 | Sweden |
The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the "Customers" table:
SELECT CustomerName, City
FROM Customers
The following SQL statement selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:
SELECT *
FROM Customers