1. SELECT Statement in SQL

The SELECT statement is used to query the database and retrieve selected data that match the criteria that you specify.

The SELECT statement has five main clauses to choose from, although, FROM is the only required clause. Each of the clauses have a vast selection of options, parameters, etc. The clauses will be listed below, but each of them will be covered in more detail later in the tutorial.

Here is the format of the SELECT statement:

 
SELECT [ALL | DISTINCT] column1[,column2]
 
FROM table1[,table2]
 
[WHERE "conditions"]
 
[GROUP BY "column-list"]
 
[HAVING "conditions]
 
[ORDER BY "column-list" [ASC | DESC] ]