Simple Queries

The most basic of queries is to retrieve all of the rows and columns of a table. The easiest way to do this is to use the following statement:

select_stmt:
          SELECT * FROM table_name

The "*" indicates that all of the columns declared in table_name are to be returned. Thus, you can enter the following statement to see all of the account managers in the acctmgr table in the bookshop database.

select * from acctmgr;

MGRID   NAME                     HIRE_DATE               COMMISSION
ALFRED  Kralik, Alfred           1997-07-02                   0.025
AMY     Zonn, Amy                1994-07-06                   0.025
BARNEY  Noble, Barney            1972-05-08                   0.035
FRANK   Doel, Frank              1987-02-13                   0.030
JOE     Fox, Joe                 1998-12-18                   0.025
KATE    Kelly, Kathleen          1998-12-18                   0.025
KLARA   Novac, Klara             1990-01-02                   0.025

Of course, if you only need to see some but not all of the columns in a table, those columns can be individually listed as indicated in the following syntax.

select_stmt:
          SELECT column_name[, column_name]… FROM table_name

Each specified column_name must identify a column that is declared in table_name. The next example retrieves the name, city, and email address of each bookshop patron.

select name, city, email from patron;

NAME                           CITY              EMAIL
Carlos Slim Helu               Acapulco          [email protected]
William Gates, III             Redmond           [email protected]
Warren Buffett                 Omaha             [email protected]
Mukesh Ambani                  Mumbai            [email protected]
Bernard Arnult                 Cannes            [email protected]
Stephen Jobs                   Cupertino         [email protected]
Scrooge McDuck                 Anaheim           [email protected]
Richie Rich                    San Diego         [email protected]
Jed Clampett                   Beverly Hills     [email protected]
Bruce Wayne                    Gotham City       [email protected]
Thurston Howell III            Newport           [email protected]
Artimis Fowel II               Dublin            [email protected]
Charles Montgomery Burns       Springfield       [email protected]
Jay Gatsby                     West Egg          [email protected]
Lucille Bluth                  Newport Beach     [email protected]
Chatsworth Osborne Jr.         Haddonfield       [email protected]
Jean Luc Picard                San Francisco     [email protected]
Jeffrey Bezos                  Seattle           [email protected]
Giorgio Armani                 Piacenza          [email protected]