SQL WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to filter records.

The WHERE Clause 

The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.

SQL WHERE Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value

WHERE Clause Example

The "Persons" table:

Now we want to select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes" from the table above.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City='Sandnes'

The result-set will look like this:

Quotes Around Text Fields

SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept double quotes).

Although, numeric values should not be enclosed in quotes.

For text values:

This is correct:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove'

This is wrong:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName=Tove

For numeric values:

This is correct:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year=1965

This is wrong:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year='1965'

Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause

With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used:

Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=

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