Overview of SELECT

Overview of SELECT
The SELECT statement has the following general form:

SELECT columns
FROM tables
[WHERE conditions]
[GROUP BY group
[HAVING group_conditions]]
[ORDER BY sort_columns]
[LIMIT limits];

This is not a full set of syntax—we'll cover that in the next chapter—but it gives you an idea of the general form of the statement. We will cover all the previously listed clauses in this chapter.

The SELECT statement has many optional clauses. You can use these or not as you choose, but they must appear in the order shown.