Transfer Dock - Text - 20240823091452

PostgreSQL WHERE
Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use PostgreSQL WHERE clause to
filter rows returned by a SELECT statement.
Introduction to PostgreSQL WHERE clause

The SELECT statement returns all rows from one or more columns in a table. To
retrieve rows that satisfy a specified condition, you use a WHERE clause.
The syntax of the PostgreSQL WHERE clause is as follows:
SELECT
select_list
FROM
table_name
WHERE
condition
ORDER BY
sort_expression;
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)
In this syntax, you place the WHERE clause right after the FROM clause of the
SELECT statement.
The WHERE clause uses the condition to filter the rows returned from the SELECT
clause.
The condition is a boolean expression that evaluates to true, false, or unknown.
The query returns only rows that satisfy the condition in the WHERE clause. In
other words, the query will include only rows that cause the condition evaluates to
true in the result set.
PostgreSQL evaluates the WHERE clause after the FROM clause but before the SELECT
and ORDER BY clause:
If you use column aliases in the SELECT clause, you cannot use them in the WHERE
clause.
Besides the SELECT statement, you can use the WHERE clause in the UPDATE and DELETE
statement to specify rows to update and delete.
To form the condition in the WHERE clause, you use comparison and logical
operators:
Operator Description
= Equal
> Greater than
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal
<= Less than or equal
<> or != Not equal
AND Logical operator AND
OR Logical operator OR
IN Return true if a value matches any value in a list
BETWEEN Return true if a value is between a range of values
LIKE Return true if a value matches a pattern
IS NULL Return true if a value is NULL
NOT Negate the result of other operators
PostgreSQL WHERE clause examples
Let’s practice with some examples of using the WHERE clause.
We will use the customer table from the sample database for demonstration.
customer table
1) Using WHERE clause with the equal (=) operator example
The following statement uses the WHERE clause to find customers with the first name
is Jamie:
SELECT
last_name,
first_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name = 'Jamie';
Output:
last_name | first_name
-----------+------------
Rice | Jamie
Waugh | Jamie
(2 rows)
2) Using the WHERE clause with the AND operator example
The following example uses a WHERE clause with the AND logical operator to find
customers whose first name and last names are Jamie and rice:
SELECT
last_name,
first_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name = 'Jamie'
AND last_name = 'Rice';
Output:
last_name | first_name
-----------+------------
Rice | Jamie
(1 row)
3) Using the WHERE clause with the OR operator example
The following example uses a WHERE clause with an OR operator to find the customers
whose last name is Rodriguez or first name is Adam:
SELECT
first_name,
last_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
last_name = 'Rodriguez'
OR first_name = 'Adam';
Output:
first_name | last_name
------------+-----------
Laura | Rodriguez
Adam | Gooch
(2 rows)
4) Using the WHERE clause with the IN operator example
If you want to find a value in a list of values, you can use the IN operator.
The following example uses the WHERE clause with the IN operator to find the
customers with first names in the list Ann, Anne, and Annie:
SELECT
first_name,
last_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name IN ('Ann', 'Anne', 'Annie');
Output:
------------+-----------
Ann | Evans
Anne | Powell
Annie | Russell
(3 rows)
5) Using the WHERE clause with the LIKE operator example
To find a string that matches a specified pattern, you use the LIKE operator.
The following example uses the LIKE operator in the WHERE clause to find customers
whose first names start with the word Ann:
SELECT
first_name,
last_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name LIKE 'Ann%';
Output:
------------+-----------
Anna | Hill
Ann | Evans
Anne | Powell
Annie | Russell
Annette | Olson
(5 rows)
The % is called a wildcard that matches any string. The 'Ann%' pattern matches any
strings that start with 'Ann'.
6) Using the WHERE clause with the BETWEEN operator example

The following example finds customers whose first names start with the letter A and
contains 3 to 5 characters by using the BETWEEN operator.
The BETWEEN operator returns true if a value is in a range of values.

SELECT
first_name,
LENGTH(first_name) name_length
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name LIKE 'A%'
AND LENGTH(first_name) BETWEEN 3
AND 5
ORDER BY
name_length;
Output:
first_name | name_length
------------+-------------
Amy | 3
Ann | 3
Ana | 3
Andy | 4
Anna | 4
Anne | 4
Alma | 4
Adam | 4
Alan | 4
Alex | 4
Angel | 5
...
In this example, we use the LENGTH() function gets the number of characters of an
input string.
7) Using the WHERE clause with the not equal operator (<>) example
This example finds customers whose first names start with Bra and last names are
not Motley:
SELECT
first_name,
last_name
FROM
customer
WHERE
first_name LIKE 'Bra%'
AND last_name <> 'Motley';
Output:
------------+-----------
Brandy | Graves
Brandon | Huey
Brad | Mccurdy
(3 rows)
Note that you can use the != operator and <> operator interchangeably because they
are equivalent.
Summary
Use a WHERE clause in the SELECT statement to filter rows of a query based on one
or more conditions

Transfer Dock - Text - 20240823091452

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Transfer Dock - Text - 20240823091452

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Transfer Dock - Text - 20240823091452

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

PostgreSQL WHERE

Introduction to PostgreSQL WHERE clause

The syntax of the PostgreSQL WHERE clause is as follows:

The condition is a boolean expression that evaluates to true, false, or unknown.

6) Using the WHERE clause with the BETWEEN operator example

The BETWEEN operator returns true if a value is in a range of values.

You might also like