SELECT

Introduced or updated: v1.2.435

Retrieves data from a table.

Syntax

[WITH]
SELECT
    [ALL | DISTINCT]
    [ TOP <n> ]
    <select_expr> | <col_name> [[AS] <alias>] | $<col_position> [, ...] |  
    COLUMNS <expr>
    [EXCLUDE (<col_name1> [, <col_name2>, <col_name3>, ...] ) ]
    [FROM table_references]
    [AT ...]
    [WHERE <expr>]
    [GROUP BY {{<col_name> | <expr> | <col_alias> | <col_position>}, 
         ... | <extended_grouping_expr>}]
    [HAVING <expr>]
    [ORDER BY {<col_name> | <expr> | <col_alias> | <col_position>} [ASC | DESC],
         [ NULLS { FIRST | LAST }]
    [LIMIT <row_count>]
    [OFFSET <row_count>]
    [IGNORE_RESULT]

The SELECT statement also allows you to query staged files directly. For syntax and examples, see Efficient Data Transformation with Databend.
In the examples on this page, the table numbers(N) is used for testing, with a single UInt64 column (named number) that contains integers from 0 to N-1.

SELECT Clause

SELECT number FROM numbers(3);
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
|      2 |
+--------+

AS Keyword

In Databend, you can use the AS keyword to assign an alias to a column. This allows you to provide a more descriptive and easily understandable name for the column in both the SQL statement and the query result:

Databend suggests avoiding special characters as much as possible when creating column aliases. However, if special characters are necessary in some cases, the alias should be enclosed in backticks, like this: SELECT price AS `$CA` FROM ...
Databend will automatically convert aliases into lowercase. For example, if you alias a column as Total, it will appear as total in the result. If the capitalization matters to you, enclose the alias in backticks: `Total`.

SELECT number AS Total FROM numbers(3);
+--------+
| total  |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
|      2 |
+--------+

SELECT number AS `Total` FROM numbers(3);
+--------+
| Total  |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
|      2 |
+--------+

If you alias a column in the SELECT clause, you can refer to the alias in the WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses, as well as in the SELECT clause itself after the alias is defined.

SELECT number * 2 AS a, a * 2 AS double FROM numbers(3) WHERE (a + 1) % 3 = 0;
+---+--------+
| a | double |
+---+--------+
| 2 |      4 |
+---+--------+

SELECT MAX(number) AS b, number % 3 AS c FROM numbers(100) GROUP BY c HAVING b > 8;
+----+---+
| b  | c |
+----+---+
| 99 | 0 |
| 97 | 1 |
| 98 | 2 |
+----+---+

If you assign an alias to a column and the alias name is the same as the column name, the WHERE and GROUP BY clauses will recognize the alias as the column name. However, the HAVING clause will recognize the alias as the alias itself.

SELECT number * 2 AS number FROM numbers(3)
WHERE (number + 1) % 3 = 0
GROUP BY number
HAVING number > 5;

+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|     10 |
|     16 |
+--------+

EXCLUDE Keyword

Excludes one or more columns by their names from the result. The keyword is usually used in conjunction with SELECT * ... to exclude a few columns from the result instead of retrieving them all.

SELECT * FROM allemployees ORDER BY id;

---
| id | firstname | lastname | gender |
|----|-----------|----------|--------|
| 1  | Ryan      | Tory     | M      |
| 2  | Oliver    | Green    | M      |
| 3  | Noah      | Shuster  | M      |
| 4  | Lily      | McMeant   | F     |
| 5  | Macy      | Lee      | F      |

-- Exclude the column "id" from the result
SELECT * EXCLUDE id FROM allemployees;

---
| firstname | lastname | gender |
|-----------|----------|--------|
| Noah      | Shuster  | M      |
| Ryan      | Tory     | M      |
| Oliver    | Green    | M      |
| Lily      | McMeant   | F     |
| Macy      | Lee      | F      |

-- Exclude the columns "id" and "lastname" from the result
SELECT * EXCLUDE (id,lastname) FROM allemployees;

---
| firstname | gender |
|-----------|--------|
| Oliver    | M      |
| Ryan      | M      |
| Lily      | F      |
| Noah      | M      |
| Macy      | F      |

COLUMNS

The COLUMNS keyword provides a flexible mechanism for column selection based on literal regular expression patterns and lambda expressions.

CREATE TABLE employee (
    employee_id INT,
    employee_name VARCHAR(255),
    department VARCHAR(50),
    salary DECIMAL(10, 2)
);

INSERT INTO employee VALUES
(1, 'Alice', 'HR', 60000.00),
(2, 'Bob', 'IT', 75000.00),
(3, 'Charlie', 'Marketing', 50000.00),
(4, 'David', 'Finance', 80000.00);


-- Select columns with names starting with 'employee'
SELECT COLUMNS('employee.*') FROM employee;

┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│   employee_id   │   employee_name  │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│               1 │ Alice            │
│               2 │ Bob              │
│               3 │ Charlie          │
│               4 │ David            │
└────────────────────────────────────┘

-- Select columns where the name contains the substring 'name'
SELECT COLUMNS(x -> x LIKE '%name%') FROM employee;

┌──────────────────┐
│   employee_name  │
├──────────────────┤
│ Alice            │
│ Bob              │
│ Charlie          │
│ David            │
└──────────────────┘

The COLUMNS keyword can also be utilized with EXCLUDE to explicitly exclude specific columns from the query result.

-- Select all columns excluding 'salary' from the 'employee' table
SELECT COLUMNS(* EXCLUDE salary) FROM employee;

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   employee_id   │   employee_name  │    department    │
├─────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│               1 │ Alice            │ HR               │
│               2 │ Bob              │ IT               │
│               3 │ Charlie          │ Marketing        │
│               4 │ David            │ Finance          │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Column Position

By using $N, you can represent a column within the SELECT clause. For example, $2 represents the second column:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS t1(a int, b varchar);
INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b');
SELECT a, $2 FROM t1;

+---+-------+
| a | $2    |
+---+-------+
| 1 | a     |
| 2 | b     |
+---+-------+

FROM Clause

The FROM clause in a SELECT statement specifies the source table or tables from which data will be queried. You can also improve code readability by placing the FROM clause before the SELECT clause, especially when managing a lengthy SELECT list or aiming to quickly identify the origins of selected columns.

-- The following two statements are equivalent:

-- Statement 1: Using SELECT clause with FROM clause
SELECT number FROM numbers(3);

-- Statement 2: Equivalent representation with FROM clause preceding SELECT clause
FROM numbers(3) SELECT number;

+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
|      2 |
+--------+

The FROM clause can also specify a location, enabling direct querying of data from various sources and eliminating the need to first load it into a table. For more information, see Querying Staged Files.

AT Clause

The AT clause enables you to query previous versions of your data. For more information, see AT.

WHERE Clause

SELECT number FROM numbers(3) WHERE number > 1;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      2 |
+--------+

GROUP BY Clause

--Group the rows of the result set by column alias
SELECT number%2 as c1, number%3 as c2, MAX(number) FROM numbers(10000) GROUP BY c1, c2;
+------+------+-------------+
| c1   | c2   | MAX(number) |
+------+------+-------------+
|    1 |    2 |        9995 |
|    1 |    1 |        9997 |
|    0 |    2 |        9998 |
|    0 |    1 |        9994 |
|    0 |    0 |        9996 |
|    1 |    0 |        9999 |
+------+------+-------------+

--Group the rows of the result set by column position in the SELECT list
SELECT number%2 as c1, number%3 as c2, MAX(number) FROM numbers(10000) GROUP BY 1, 2;
+------+------+-------------+
| c1   | c2   | MAX(number) |
+------+------+-------------+
|    1 |    2 |        9995 |
|    1 |    1 |        9997 |
|    0 |    2 |        9998 |
|    0 |    1 |        9994 |
|    0 |    0 |        9996 |
|    1 |    0 |        9999 |
+------+------+-------------+

HAVING Clause

SELECT
    number % 2 as c1, 
    number % 3 as c2, 
    MAX(number) as max
FROM
    numbers(10000)
GROUP BY
    c1, c2
HAVING
    max > 9996;

+------+------+------+
| c1   | c2   | max  |
+------+------+------+
|    1 |    0 | 9999 |
|    1 |    1 | 9997 |
|    0 |    2 | 9998 |
+------+------+------+

ORDER BY Clause

--Sort by column name in ascending order.
SELECT number FROM numbers(5) ORDER BY number ASC;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
|      2 |
|      3 |
|      4 |
+--------+

--Sort by column name in descending order.
SELECT number FROM numbers(5) ORDER BY number DESC;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      4 |
|      3 |
|      2 |
|      1 |
|      0 |
+--------+

--Sort by column alias.
SELECT number%2 AS c1, number%3 AS c2  FROM numbers(5) ORDER BY c1 ASC, c2 DESC;
+------+------+
| c1   | c2   |
+------+------+
|    0 |    2 |
|    0 |    1 |
|    0 |    0 |
|    1 |    1 |
|    1 |    0 |
+------+------+

--Sort by column position in the SELECT list
SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY 2 DESC;
+------+------+
| a    | b    |
+------+------+
|    2 |    3 |
|    1 |    2 |
+------+------+

SELECT a FROM t1 ORDER BY 1 DESC;
+------+
| a    |
+------+
|    2 |
|    1 |
+------+

--Sort with the NULLS FIRST or LAST option.

CREATE TABLE t_null (
  number INTEGER
);

INSERT INTO t_null VALUES (1);
INSERT INTO t_null VALUES (2);
INSERT INTO t_null VALUES (3);
INSERT INTO t_null VALUES (NULL);
INSERT INTO t_null VALUES (NULL);

--Databend considers NULL values larger than any non-NULL values.
--The NULL values appear last in the following example that sorts the results in ascending order:

SELECT number FROM t_null order by number ASC;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      1 |
|      2 |
|      3 |
|   NULL |
|   NULL |
+--------+

-- To make the NULL values appear first in the preceding example, use the NULLS FIRST option:

SELECT number FROM t_null order by number ASC nulls first;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|   NULL |
|   NULL |
|      1 |
|      2 |
|      3 |
+--------+

-- Use the NULLS LAST option to make the NULL values appear last in descending order:

SELECT number FROM t_null order by number DESC nulls last;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      3 |
|      2 |
|      1 |
|   NULL |
|   NULL |
+--------+

LIMIT Clause

SELECT number FROM numbers(1000000000) LIMIT 1;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      0 |
+--------+

SELECT number FROM numbers(100000) ORDER BY number LIMIT 2 OFFSET 10;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|     10 |
|     11 |
+--------+

For optimizing query performance with large result sets, Databend has enabled the lazy_read_threshold option by default with a default value of 1,000. This option is specifically designed for queries that involve a LIMIT clause. When the lazy_read_threshold is enabled, the optimization is activated for queries where the specified LIMIT number is smaller than or equal to the threshold value you set. To disable the option, set it to 0.

How it works

The optimization improves performance for queries with an ORDER BY clause and a LIMIT clause. When enabled and the LIMIT number in the query is smaller than the specified threshold, only the columns involved in the ORDER BY clause are retrieved and sorted, instead of the entire result set.

After the system retrieves and sorts the columns involved in the ORDER BY clause, it applies the LIMIT constraint to select the desired number of rows from the sorted result set. The system then returns the limited set of rows as the query result. This approach reduces resource usage by fetching and sorting only the necessary columns, and it further optimizes query execution by limiting the processed rows to the required subset.

SELECT * FROM hits WHERE URL LIKE '%google%' ORDER BY EventTime LIMIT 10 ignore_result;
Empty set (0.300 sec)

set lazy_read_threshold=0;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.004 sec)

SELECT * FROM hits WHERE URL LIKE '%google%' ORDER BY EventTime LIMIT 10 ignore_result;
Empty set (0.897 sec)

OFFSET Clause

SELECT number FROM numbers(5) ORDER BY number OFFSET 2;
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      2 |
|      3 |
|      4 |
+--------+

IGNORE_RESULT

Do not output the result set.

SELECT number FROM numbers(2);
+--------+
| number |
+--------+
|      0 |
|      1 |
+--------+

SELECT number FROM numbers(2) IGNORE_RESULT;
-- Empty set

Nested Sub-Selects

SELECT statements can be nested in queries.

SELECT ... [SELECT ...[SELECT [...]]]

SELECT MIN(number) FROM (SELECT number%3 AS number FROM numbers(10)) GROUP BY number%2;
+-------------+
| min(number) |
+-------------+
|           1 |
|           0 |
+-------------+

SELECT

Syntax

SELECT Clause

AS Keyword

EXCLUDE Keyword

COLUMNS

Column Position

FROM Clause

AT Clause

WHERE Clause

GROUP BY Clause

HAVING Clause

ORDER BY Clause

LIMIT Clause

OFFSET Clause

IGNORE_RESULT

Nested Sub-Selects

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Syntax​

SELECT Clause​

AS Keyword​

EXCLUDE Keyword​

COLUMNS​

Column Position​

FROM Clause​

AT Clause​

WHERE Clause​

GROUP BY Clause​

HAVING Clause​

ORDER BY Clause​

LIMIT Clause​

OFFSET Clause​

IGNORE_RESULT​

Nested Sub-Selects​

Join our growing community

GitHub

Slack

Twitter

YouTube

Explore Databend Cloud for FREE

Syntax

SELECT Clause

AS Keyword

EXCLUDE Keyword

COLUMNS

Column Position

FROM Clause

AT Clause

WHERE Clause

GROUP BY Clause

HAVING Clause

ORDER BY Clause

LIMIT Clause

OFFSET Clause

IGNORE_RESULT

Nested Sub-Selects