ImplementationSELECT...FROM...statement

Structured Query Language is used to allow database developers to generate queries and interrogate the data held in a database. SELECT, FROM, WHERE, AND and OR are key areas of SQL.

Part ofComputing ScienceDatabase design and development

SELECT...FROM...statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from the database.

To select all the records from a table, the following command is used (where Table_Name would be replaced by the name of the table in the database):

SELECT * FROM Table_Name;

If the table were named 'Pupil' then the command would read:

SELECT * FROM Pupil;

All records in the pupil table would be returned. The asterisk * is used to return all data found in the table.

To aid understanding of the remaining examples, here is the data held in the pupil table.

PupilIDFirst NameSurnameClassPastoral Care TeacherMerit Points
0001ZainabSingh1T1Mr Harley74
0002DavidBoland1I2Mrs Aitken12
0003AmyJones1M1Mr Gilchrist55
0004JamesMcNamee1T1Mr Harley88
0005PawelMcTavish1I1Mrs Aitken19
0006AntoniaGallagher1M2Mr Gilchrist21
0007AmyMcNamee1T1Mr Harley63
0008AyshaMatazinadze1T1Mr Harley45
0009BeatricePanner1T2Mr Harley77
0010ThomasGlacney1M1Miss Armstrong91
0011FrankieAl-Robeye1M2Mr Gilchrist71
PupilID0001
First NameZainab
SurnameSingh
Class1T1
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Harley
Merit Points74
PupilID0002
First NameDavid
SurnameBoland
Class1I2
Pastoral Care TeacherMrs Aitken
Merit Points12
PupilID0003
First NameAmy
SurnameJones
Class1M1
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Gilchrist
Merit Points55
PupilID0004
First NameJames
SurnameMcNamee
Class1T1
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Harley
Merit Points88
PupilID0005
First NamePawel
SurnameMcTavish
Class1I1
Pastoral Care TeacherMrs Aitken
Merit Points19
PupilID0006
First NameAntonia
SurnameGallagher
Class1M2
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Gilchrist
Merit Points21
PupilID0007
First NameAmy
SurnameMcNamee
Class1T1
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Harley
Merit Points63
PupilID0008
First NameAysha
SurnameMatazinadze
Class1T1
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Harley
Merit Points45
PupilID0009
First NameBeatrice
SurnamePanner
Class1T2
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Harley
Merit Points77
PupilID0010
First NameThomas
SurnameGlacney
Class1M1
Pastoral Care TeacherMiss Armstrong
Merit Points91
PupilID0011
First NameFrankie
SurnameAl-Robeye
Class1M2
Pastoral Care TeacherMr Gilchrist
Merit Points71

The following SQL command could be used to select specific data from the table:

SELECT PupilID, Surname, Class
FROM Pupil;

This would return:

PupilID SurnameClass
001Singh1T1
002Boland1I2
003Jones1M1
004McNamee1T1
005McTavish1I1
006Gallagher1M2
007McNamee1T1
008Matazinadze1T1
009Panner1T2
0010Glacney1M1
PupilID001
SurnameSingh
Class1T1
PupilID002
SurnameBoland
Class1I2
PupilID003
SurnameJones
Class1M1
PupilID004
SurnameMcNamee
Class1T1
PupilID005
SurnameMcTavish
Class1I1
PupilID006
SurnameGallagher
Class1M2
PupilID007
SurnameMcNamee
Class1T1
PupilID008
SurnameMatazinadze
Class1T1
PupilID009
SurnamePanner
Class1T2
PupilID0010
SurnameGlacney
Class1M1