Part 4: Your First SELECT Query

Microsoft SQL Server Tutorial Series: Beginner to Expert

Welcome to Part 4 of our SQL Server tutorial series! Now that you've created your first database and table, it’s time to learn how to retrieve data using the SELECT statement.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to:

Use the SELECT command to retrieve data
Select specific columns or all data from a table
Filter records with WHERE
Sort data using ORDER BY
Use TOP and DISTINCT keywords

📍 Using the SSMS Query Window

Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS):

Connect to your local server
Click New Query
Select the SchoolDB database using the dropdown or write:

USE SchoolDB;
GO

🔍 SELECT * FROM Table

This is the simplest query to view all data from a table:

SELECT * FROM Students;
GO

💡 Note: * selects all columns, but it's better to specify only what you need.

📌 Selecting Specific Columns

To view only first names and last names:

SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Students;
GO

🎯 Filtering Records with WHERE

Use WHERE to filter specific rows. Example:

SELECT * FROM Students
WHERE IsActive = 1;
GO

This shows only students who are active.

🔢 Sorting Results with ORDER BY

To order students by their birth date:

SELECT * FROM Students
ORDER BY BirthDate ASC;
GO

Use DESC for descending order.

🔝 Using TOP to Limit Rows

To return just the first 3 rows:

SELECT TOP 3 * FROM Students;
GO

🆔 Eliminating Duplicates with DISTINCT

If multiple students share the same first name:

SELECT DISTINCT FirstName FROM Students;
GO

🧾 Quick SQL SELECT Cheat Sheet

-- Select all columns
SELECT * FROM TableName;

-- Select specific columns
SELECT Column1, Column2 FROM TableName;

-- Filter rows
SELECT * FROM TableName WHERE condition;

-- Sort rows
SELECT * FROM TableName ORDER BY Column ASC|DESC;

-- Return top N rows
SELECT TOP N * FROM TableName;

-- Remove duplicates
SELECT DISTINCT Column FROM TableName;

🌍 Real-World Example

Imagine you're a school administrator and want to find all active students born after 2010:

SELECT FirstName, LastName, BirthDate
FROM Students
WHERE IsActive = 1 AND BirthDate > '2010-01-01'
ORDER BY BirthDate;
GO

🖼️ Visual Result Example

+-----------+----------+------------+
| FirstName | LastName | BirthDate  |
+-----------+----------+------------+
| Alice     | Johnson  | 2012-03-15 |
| Brian     | Smith    | 2011-08-22 |
+-----------+----------+------------+

📋 Best Practices for SELECT Queries

Tip	Recommendation
Use Column Names	Avoid SELECT * for performance and clarity
Alias Columns	Use AS to rename for readability: `FirstName AS Name`
Indent and Format	Make code readable, especially in long queries
Use Comments	Start comments with `--` to describe your code

✅ Summary

In this lesson, you learned:

How to retrieve data using the SELECT statement
Filtering with WHERE and sorting with ORDER BY
Using TOP and DISTINCT for cleaner output
Best practices for writing readable SQL queries

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SQL Server SELECT Query Tutorial – Retrieve Data Easily