SQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement in SQL is used to fetch data from one or more tables in a database. It is one of the most commonly used commands in SQL and forms the foundation of data retrieval.

Syntax


SELECT Customer Name, Last Name FROM Customer;

column1, column2, ... : These are the columns to retrieve
table_name : The name of the table from which data is retrieved

Key Points

SELECT is used to retrieve data
Use * to select all columns
Use a comma to separate multiple columns
The WHERE clause can be used to filter rows (not covered in this post)

To fetch all columns from a table:

SELECT * FROM table_name;

The asterisk * means all columns will be selected.

Examples: - SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER;

Query Result

Customer ID	Customer Name	Customer Name	Country
1	Shubham	Thakur	India
2	Prashant	Chopra	Australia
3	Aditya	Jain	Japan

Example Queries

1. Select specific columns

To fetch only Customer Name and Last Name:

Example:

SELECT Customer Name,  Last Name FROM Customer;

Output:

Customer Name	Customer Name
Shubham	Thakur
Prashant	Chopra
Aditya	Jain

2. Select all columns

Example:

SELECT * FROM Customer;

Output:

Customer ID	Customer Name	Customer Name	Country
1	Shubham	Thakur	India
2	Prashant	Chopra	Australia
3	Aditya	Jain	Japan

Two-Minute Drill

1. Which keyword is used to fetch data from a table?

Ans: SELECT

2. What does SELECT * mean?

Ans: Select all columns from the table

3. What will this query return?

SELECT Last Name FROM Customer;

Ans: Only the Last Name column from the Customer table

4. How do you select two columns, say Name and Country?

Ans: SELECT Name, Country FROM table_name;