1.2 — Your First SELECT Statement

What You'll Learn

• How to view data from a database table using SQL
• The basic structure of a SQL SELECT statement
• How this compares to viewing data in Excel

From Excel to SQL: Viewing Your Data

In Excel, you simply open a worksheet to see all your data. In SQL, you use a SELECT statement to do the same thing.

Excel:
Open the "Sales" worksheet to see all rows and columns.

SQL:
Use a query to view all data from the sales table:

SELECT * FROM sales;

• SELECT tells the database you want to view data.
• * means "all columns".
• FROM sales specifies the table.

Example Table

SaleDate	Product	Amount
2024-05-01	Apples	120
2024-05-01	Oranges	80

The SQL above will return all rows and columns from the sales table—just like opening the worksheet in Excel.

Key Points

• SELECT * FROM table; is the simplest way to view all data.
• This is similar to opening a worksheet in Excel.
• You can replace * with specific column names to view only those columns (covered in the next lesson).

Next Steps

In the next lesson, you'll learn how to select only the columns you need—just like hiding or showing columns in Excel.