SQL SELECT

Syntax​

SELECT _column1_, _column2_, ... FROM _table_name_;

Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from.

The table_name represents the name of the table you want to select data from.

Video Explanation​

Watch

---

Demo Database​

Below is a selection from the Customers table used in the examples:

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.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	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

Select ALL columns​

If you want to return all columns without specifying every column name, you can use the SELECT * syntax:

Example​

Return all the columns from the Customers table:

SELECT * FROM Customers;

SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement​

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement​

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

Example​

Select all the different countries from the "Customers" table:

SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;

Inside a table, a column often contains many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list the different (distinct) values.

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.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	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

SELECT Example Without DISTINCT​

If you omit the DISTINCT keyword, the SQL statement returns the "Country" value from all the records of the "Customers" table:

Example​

SELECT Country FROM Customers;

Count Distinct​

By using the DISTINCT keyword in a function called COUNT, we can return the number of different countries.

Example​

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Country) FROM Customers;

Note: The COUNT(DISTINCT _column_name_) is not supported in Microsoft Access databases.

Here is a workaround for MS Access:

Example​

SELECT Count(*) AS DistinctCountries FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers);

You will learn about the COUNT function later in this tutorial.