SQL Syntax

SQL statements read almost like English. Each one ends with a semicolon and is built from a handful of clauses that always appear in the same order.

The shape of a SELECT

SELECT <columns>
FROM   <table>
WHERE  <condition>
GROUP BY <columns>
HAVING <condition>
ORDER BY <columns>
LIMIT  <n>;

Clauses, top to bottom

Case & whitespace

• Keywords are case-insensitive — SELECT and select work the same. Most teams use UPPERCASE for keywords as a convention.
• Identifiers (table and column names) are usually case-insensitive on Windows and MS SQL Server, but case-sensitive in PostgreSQL.
• You can break a statement across as many lines as you like — only the final ; ends it.

Example

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
ORDER BY column1;

Exercise

Test yourself