1.4.12.1 The SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from a table. The tabular result is stored in a result table (called the result-set).

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name

1.4.12.1.1 Select Some Columns

To select the columns named LastName and FirstName, use a SELECT statement like this:

SELECT LastName, FirstName FROM Person

Table Person:

+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| LastName | FirstName | Number | DateOfBirth |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| Smith    | John      | 10     | 1980-01-01  |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| Doe      | John      | 3      | 1981-12-25  |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+

Result Set:

+----------+-----------+
| LastName | FirstName |
+----------+-----------+
| Smith    | John      |
+----------+-----------+
| Doe      | John      |
+----------+-----------+

The order of the columns in the result is the same as the order of the columns in the query.

1.4.12.1.2 Select All Columns

To select all columns from the Person table, use a * symbol instead of column names, like this:

SELECT * FROM Person

Result Set:

+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| LastName | FirstName | Number | DateOfBirth |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| Smith    | John      | 10     | 1980-01-01  |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+
| Doe      | John      | 3      | 1981-12-25  |
+----------+-----------+--------+-------------+