What Does SELECT (Databases) Mean?
A SELECT is the fundamental statement of structured query language (SQL).
The SELECT statement, which follows a consistent and specific format, begins with the SELECT keyword followed by the columns to be included in the format. If an asterisk (*) is placed after SELECT, this sequence is followed by the FROM clause that begins with the keyword FROM, followed by the data sources containing the columns specified after the SELECT clause. These data sources may be a single table, combination of tables, subquery or view.
Optional clauses may be added but are not mandatory, i.e., the WHERE clause that gives conditions for returning data, or the ORDER BY clause that sorts output with one or more of the specified columns.
Techopedia Explains SELECT (Databases)
One of the first database administration lessons is the SELECT statement, which forms the beginning of any SQL script used to query data. SELECT is the first keyword in the SELECT statement, which, like all SQL statements, is not case-sensitive.
To illustrate the SELECT statement in an example, assume that a bank database contains a CUSTOMER_MASTER table that stores basic customer details and contains several columns named as follows:
