Used to retrieve records from a database.
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;SELECT *
FROM table_name;Retrieve all records, showing column1 and column2, from the table_name table:
SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name;Retrieve all records, showing all columns, from the table_name table:
SELECT *
FROM table_name;Used to return unique values.
SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;Retrieve all (unique) records, showing column1 and column2, from the table_name table:
SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2
FROM table_name;Retrieve the total number of unique column1 values, from the table_name table:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column1)
FROM table_name;Used to filter records via a specified condition.
Operators in the WHERE clause:
| Operator | Description |
|---|---|
= |
Equal |
<> or != |
Not equal |
> |
Greater than |
< |
Less than |
>= |
Greater than or equal |
<= |
Less than or equal |
BETWEEN |
Between a certain range |
LIKE |
Search for a pattern |
IN |
To specify multiple possible values for a column |
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;Note: Also used in UPDATE and DELETE statements.
Retrieve records (showing all columns), from the table_name, table where column1 is foo:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 = 'foo';Retrieve records (showing all columns), from the table_name, table where column1 is 1:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 = 1;Used in combination with WHERE to further filter records.
AND
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1
AND condition2
AND condition3 ...;OR
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1
OR condition2
OR condition3 ...;NOT
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE NOT condition;Retrieve records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, where column1 is foo and column2 is bar:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 = 'foo'
AND column2 = 'bar';Retrieve records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, where column1 is foo or bar:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 = 'foo'
OR column1 = 'bar';Retrieve records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, where column1 is not foo:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
WHERE NOT column1 = 'foo';Used to sort the result set in ascending or descending order.
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;Retrieve all records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, sorted ascending by the column1 column:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1 ASC;Retrieve all records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, sorted descending by the column1 column:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1 DESC;Retrieve all records (showing all columns), from the table_name table, sorted by the column1 column, if some records have the same column1 value then sort by column2:
SELECT *
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2;INSERT INTO table_name
(column1, column2, column3, ...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);When inserting values for all columns specifiying the column names is unnecessary:
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);Insert a new record with values as follows: column1=foo, column2=bar, column3=foobar:
INSERT INTO table_name
(column1, column2, column3)
VALUES ('foo', 'bar', 'foobar');The representation of the absence of a value. Different than 0, empty string or .
IS NULL
SELECT column1
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 IS NULL;IS NOT NULL
SELECT column1
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 IS NOT NULL;Retrieve records (showing column column1), from the table_name table, where column1 value is NULL:
SELECT column1
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 IS NULL;Retrieve records (showing column column1), from the table_name table, where column1 value is not NULL:
SELECT column1
FROM table_name
WHERE column1 IS NOT NULL;Used to modify existing records in a table.
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1,
column2 = value2,
...
WHERE condition;Note: Remember to include a WHERE clause.
Update column2 field with foo and column3 field with bar, for the record that has a value of 1 on column1 field, on the table_name table:
UPDATE table_name
SET column2 = 'foo',
column3 = 'bar'
WHERE column1 = 1;Update column1 field with foo, for all records, on the table_name table:
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = 'foo';Used to delete records in a table.
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE condition;Note: Remember to include a WHERE clause.
Delete the records, on table table_name, that have the value foo on the column1 field:
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE column1 = 'foo';Delete all records on the table table_name:
DELETE FROM table_name;