MySQL SELECT Statement

The MySQL SELECT Statement

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

The data returned is stored in a result table, called the result-set.

SELECT Syntax

Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from. If you want to select all the fields available in the table, use the following syntax:
 

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
 

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 Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName", "City", and "Country" columns from the "Customers" table:

The following SQL statement selects ALL the columns from the "Customers" table:

The MySQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

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

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

SELECT DISTINCT Syntax
 

SELECT Example Without DISTINCT

The following SQL statement selects all (including the duplicates) values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:
 

Now, let us use the SELECT DISTINCT statement and see the result.
 

SELECT DISTINCT Examples

The following SQL statement selects only the DISTINCT values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:

The following SQL statement counts and returns the number of different (distinct) countries in the "Customers" table: