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SELECT ​

SELECT reads rows from tables or other sources and evaluates expressions. It supports joins, subqueries, common table expressions, aggregate functions, window functions and set operations.

A SELECT without FROM evaluates expressions once. Without ORDER BY, result row order is unspecified.

Syntax ​

text
[WITH ...]
SELECT [ALL | DISTINCT] expression [AS alias] [, ...]
[FROM source]
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY expression, ...]
[HAVING condition]
[WINDOW name AS (...), ...]
[ORDER BY expression [ASC | DESC], ...]
[LIMIT count [OFFSET offset]]
[SETTINGS ...]
[FORMAT name]

Query clauses ​

FROM chooses the input, WHERE filters its rows, GROUP BY forms groups and HAVING filters aggregate results. ORDER BY defines output order and LIMIT selects a bounded result. FORMAT controls server-side encoding.

Use aliases to name expressions and qualify column names when several sources expose the same name. The format and setting clauses are server extensions; the embedded library returns values without an encoding clause.

Examples ​

Evaluating expressions ​

sql
SELECT 2 + 3 AS result, upper('hello') AS greeting
FORMAT csv;
text
5,"HELLO"

Grouped totals ​

sql
CREATE TABLE sales (region TEXT, amount INTEGER);
INSERT INTO sales VALUES ('East', 10), ('East', 20), ('West', 5);
sql
SELECT region, count(*) AS orders, sum(amount) AS total
FROM sales
GROUP BY region
HAVING sum(amount) >= 10
ORDER BY total DESC, region
FORMAT csv;
text
"East",2,30

Use window functions when a calculation must retain individual rows rather than collapse each group.

Clause reference ​