MySQL SELECT Statement: Query Columns and Rows from a Table

SELECT reads data. It is the statement you will write most often.

query.sql

SQL

CREATE TABLE products (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    category VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
    price DECIMAL(8,2) NOT NULL,
    stock INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
    added_on DATE NOT NULL
);

INSERT INTO products (name, category, price, stock, added_on) VALUES
    ('Notebook',      'stationery',  80.00, 120, '2026-01-10'),
    ('Gel Pen',       'stationery',  15.50, 300, '2026-01-12'),
    ('Backpack',      'bags',       999.00,  25, '2026-02-01'),
    ('Marker Set',    'stationery', 145.00,   0, '2026-02-15'),
    ('Desk Lamp',     'home',       650.00,  40, '2026-03-03'),
    ('Water Bottle',  'home',       220.00,  75, '2026-03-20'),
    ('Laptop Sleeve', 'bags',       450.00,  18, '2026-04-02'),
    ('Sticky Notes',  'stationery',  35.00, 210, '2026-04-18');

query.sql

SQL

SELECT * FROM products;

Output

OUTPUT

+----+---------------+------------+--------+-------+------------+
| id | name          | category   | price  | stock | added_on   |
+----+---------------+------------+--------+-------+------------+
|  1 | Notebook      | stationery |  80.00 |   120 | 2026-01-10 |
|  2 | Gel Pen       | stationery |  15.50 |   300 | 2026-01-12 |
|  3 | Backpack      | bags       | 999.00 |    25 | 2026-02-01 |
|  4 | Marker Set    | stationery | 145.00 |     0 | 2026-02-15 |
|  5 | Desk Lamp     | home       | 650.00 |    40 | 2026-03-03 |
|  6 | Water Bottle  | home       | 220.00 |    75 | 2026-03-20 |
|  7 | Laptop Sleeve | bags       | 450.00 |    18 | 2026-04-02 |
|  8 | Sticky Notes  | stationery |  35.00 |   210 | 2026-04-18 |
+----+---------------+------------+--------+-------+------------+
8 rows in set

The * means “all columns”. It is convenient for a quick look.

Pick the columns you need

query.sql

SQL

SELECT name, price FROM products;

Output

OUTPUT

+---------------+--------+
| name          | price  |
+---------------+--------+
| Notebook      |  80.00 |
| Gel Pen       |  15.50 |
| Backpack      | 999.00 |
| Marker Set    | 145.00 |
| Desk Lamp     | 650.00 |
| Water Bottle  | 220.00 |
| Laptop Sleeve | 450.00 |
| Sticky Notes  |  35.00 |
+---------------+--------+
8 rows in set

List the columns after SELECT, separated by commas. You get exactly those columns, in your order, regardless of the order in the table:

query.sql

SQL

SELECT price, name, category FROM products LIMIT 3;

Output

OUTPUT

+--------+----------+------------+
| price  | name     | category   |
+--------+----------+------------+
|  80.00 | Notebook | stationery |
|  15.50 | Gel Pen  | stationery |
| 999.00 | Backpack | bags       |
+--------+----------+------------+
3 rows in set

The syntax

Text

PLAIN

1
2

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;

SELECT says what to show. FROM says where it comes from.

Why not SELECT * in real code

SELECT * is fine for exploring. In application code and in views, it causes real problems:

Wasted work. It fetches every column, including large TEXT and BLOB columns you do not use. More data is read from disk, sent over the network and held in memory.
Fragile code. If someone adds, removes or reorders a column, your code may break or show the wrong value. A named column fails loudly, and * fails quietly.
No covering index. A query that needs only name and price may be answered from an index alone. SELECT * forces a lookup in the table (Covering Indexes).
Unclear intent. A reader cannot tell what the query needs.
Name clashes in joins. Two tables that both have id and name return two columns with the same name.

query.sql

SQL

SELECT id, name, price FROM products WHERE category = 'bags';

Output

OUTPUT

+----+---------------+--------+
| id | name          | price  |
+----+---------------+--------+
|  3 | Backpack      | 999.00 |
|  7 | Laptop Sleeve | 450.00 |
+----+---------------+--------+
2 rows in set

Name the columns. It takes a few more seconds and saves hours later.

Column names and case

Column names are not case sensitive, and the name that appears in the result header is the one you typed:

query.sql

SQL

SELECT NAME, Price FROM products LIMIT 2;

Output

OUTPUT

+----------+-------+
| NAME     | Price |
+----------+-------+
| Notebook | 80.00 |
| Gel Pen  | 15.50 |
+----------+-------+
2 rows in set

Repeating a column

You can select the same column twice, usually with different aliases:

query.sql

SQL

SELECT name, name AS product_name FROM products LIMIT 2;

Output

OUTPUT

+----------+--------------+
| name     | product_name |
+----------+--------------+
| Notebook | Notebook     |
| Gel Pen  | Gel Pen      |
+----------+--------------+
2 rows in set

Errors you will see

query.sql

SQL

SELECT nmae FROM products;

Output

OUTPUT

ERROR 1054 (42S22): Unknown column 'nmae' in 'field list'

query.sql

SQL

SELECT name FROM product;

Output

OUTPUT

ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'learn.product' doesn't exist

The first is a mistyped column (error 1054), and the second a mistyped table (error 1146). Read the message: it names what MySQL could not find.

lightbulb

Quick look at a table

SELECT * FROM products LIMIT 5; shows the first rows safely. Always add LIMIT when you explore a table, because a SELECT * on a table with 50 million rows will try to return all of them.