SELECT (Transact-SQL)

Retrieves rows from the database and enables the selection of one or many rows or columns from one or many tables. The full syntax of the SELECT statement is complex, but the main clauses can be summarized as:

[ WITH <common_table_expression>]

SELECT select_list [ INTO new_table ]

[ FROM table_source ] [ WHERE search_condition ]

[ GROUP BY group_by_expression ]

[ HAVING search_condition ]

[ ORDER BY order_expression [ ASC | DESC ] ]

The UNION, EXCEPT, and INTERSECT operators can be used between queries to combine or compare their results into one result set.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

SELECT statement ::=  
    [WITH <common_table_expression> [,...n]]
    <query_expression> 
    [ ORDER BY { order_by_expression | column_position [ ASC | DESC ] } 
  [ ,...n ] ] 
    [ COMPUTE 
  { { AVG | COUNT | MAX | MIN | SUM } ( expression ) } [ ,...n ] 
  [ BY expression [ ,...n ] ] 
    ] 
    [ <FOR Clause>] 
    [ OPTION ( <query_hint> [ ,...n ] ) ] 
<query_expression> ::= 
    { <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) } 
    [  { UNION [ ALL ] | EXCEPT | INTERSECT }
        <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) [...n ] ] 
<query_specification> ::= 
SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT ] 
    [TOP expression [PERCENT] [ WITH TIES ] ] 
    < select_list > 
    [ INTO new_table ] 
    [ FROM { <table_source> } [ ,...n ] ] 
    [ WHERE <search_condition> ] 
    [ GROUP BY [ ALL ] group_by_expression [ ,...n ] 
                [ WITH { CUBE | ROLLUP } ]
    ]
    [ HAVING < search_condition > ] 

Remarks

Because of the complexity of the SELECT statement, detailed syntax elements and arguments are shown by clause:

WITH common_table_expression	UNION
SELECT Clause	EXCEPT and INTERSECT
INTO Clause	ORDER BY
FROM	COMPUTE
WHERE	FOR Clause
GROUP BY	OPTION Clause
HAVING

See Also

Reference

SELECT Examples (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance