SELECT your data

Meet your first database

Lesson 1 of 20 · 5 min · Module 1: Read & shape results

SQL helps you ask questions of structured data. A database holds tables, each with named columns and rows of records.

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By the end, you’ll be able to…

Identify a table, row, and column
Select one named column
Read a query result

The idea

Use SELECT to choose columns and FROM to choose a table. An asterisk * means all columns. Every exercise starts with a fresh learners table.

SELECT * FROM learners;

01A table has a defined structure

learners contains one learner per row. Columns such as name and xp hold specific attributes. Selecting name returns just that column for every matching row.

02Write the question in SQL

SELECT names the result columns; FROM names the table. A semicolon ends the statement. Without ORDER BY, do not depend on a particular row order.

SELECT name FROM learners;

Your turn

Select only the name column from the learners table.

What the checks look for

Returns all five names in one column

Try it in the editor →

Take this with you

Start a query by deciding what one result row should represent.