MySQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is the most frequently used command in MySQL. It is the R in CRUD — Read. Every time you want to retrieve data from a table — whether one row or millions — you use SELECT. Everything from simple lookups to complex multi-table reports is built on this single statement.

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Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;

The clauses that can follow FROM — like WHERE, ORDER BY, and LIMIT — are all optional. They each get their own dedicated lesson later in this series.

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Sample Table

All examples on this page use the following students table:

id	name	city	age
1	Rahim Uddin	Dhaka	22
2	Sara Begum	Chittagong	20
3	Karim Ali	Sylhet	23
4	Nila Akter	Dhaka	21
5	Rafi Hossain	Rajshahi	24

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Select All Columns

The asterisk * is a wildcard that means "all columns". Use it when you want every column returned:

SELECT * FROM students;

This returns all 5 rows with all 4 columns exactly as shown in the table above.

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Select Specific Columns

List only the columns you need, separated by commas:

SELECT name, city FROM students;

name	city
Rahim Uddin	Dhaka
Sara Begum	Chittagong
Karim Ali	Sylhet
Nila Akter	Dhaka
Rafi Hossain	Rajshahi

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Column Aliases with AS

You can rename a column in the result set using AS. The alias only affects the output — the actual column name in the table is unchanged:

SELECT name AS student_name, city AS hometown
FROM students;

student_name	hometown
Rahim Uddin	Dhaka
Sara Begum	Chittagong
Karim Ali	Sylhet
Nila Akter	Dhaka
Rafi Hossain	Rajshahi

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Calculated Expressions in SELECT

You are not limited to column names — you can include any expression or calculation:

-- Add 1 to every student's age in the result
SELECT name, age, age + 1 AS next_year_age
FROM students;

-- Combine first and last name columns into one
SELECT CONCAT(first_name, ' ', last_name) AS full_name
FROM employees;

The calculation happens at query time and does not change any data stored in the table.

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SELECT with WHERE

Use WHERE to filter results and return only rows that match a condition. The WHERE clause is covered in full detail in its own lesson, but here is a quick preview:

-- Return only students from Dhaka
SELECT name, age FROM students
WHERE city = 'Dhaka';

name	age
Rahim Uddin	22
Nila Akter	21

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SELECT with ORDER BY

Use ORDER BY to sort results. ASC (ascending) is the default; use DESC for descending:

-- Sort students by age, youngest first
SELECT name, age FROM students
ORDER BY age ASC;

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SELECT with LIMIT

LIMIT restricts how many rows are returned — useful for pagination or previewing data:

-- Return the first 3 students only
SELECT name, city FROM students
LIMIT 3;

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Combining Clauses

All clauses can be combined in a single query. The order must always follow this structure:

SELECT name, city, age
FROM students
WHERE age > 20
ORDER BY age DESC
LIMIT 3;

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Key Points to Remember

• SELECT * returns all columns — use it for exploration, not for production queries.
• List only the columns you actually need for better performance and clarity.
• Use AS to give columns a friendlier name in the result — the table itself is not changed.
• You can include expressions and function calls directly in a SELECT list.
• Add WHERE to filter, ORDER BY to sort, and LIMIT to cap the number of results.
• Clause order matters: SELECT → FROM → WHERE → ORDER BY → LIMIT.