SELECT

Syntax

SELECT
    [ALL | DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW]
    [HIGH_PRIORITY]
    [STRAIGHT_JOIN]
    [SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [SQL_BUFFER_RESULT]
    [SQL_CACHE | SQL_NO_CACHE] [SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS]
    select_expr [, select_expr ...]
    [ FROM table_references
      [WHERE where_condition]
      [GROUP BY {col_name | expr | position} [ASC | DESC], ... [WITH ROLLUP]]
      [HAVING where_condition]
      [ORDER BY {col_name | expr | position} [ASC | DESC], ...]
      [LIMIT {[offset,] row_count | row_count OFFSET offset}]
      [PROCEDURE procedure_name(argument_list)]
      [ INTO OUTFILE 'file_name' [CHARACTER SET charset_name] export_options
      | INTO DUMPFILE 'file_name'
      | INTO var_name [, var_name] ]
      [FOR UPDATE | LOCK IN SHARE MODE] ]

Description

SELECT is used to retrieve rows selected from one or more tables, and can include UNION statements and subqueries. See UNION, and http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/subqueries.html.

The most commonly used clauses of SELECT statements are these:

• Each select_expr indicates a column that you want to retrieve. There must be at least one select_expr.
• table_references indicates the table or tables from which to retrieve rows. Its syntax is described in JOIN.
• The WHERE clause, if given, indicates the condition or conditions that rows must satisfy to be selected. where_condition is an expression that evaluates to true for each row to be selected. The statement selects all rows if there is no WHERE clause.
  • In the WHERE clause, you can use any of the functions and operators that MySQL supports, except for aggregate (summary) functions. See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/functions.html

SELECT can also be used to retrieve rows computed without reference to any table.