选择所有数据

SELECT最简单的形式是从一个表中检索所有记录：mysql> SELECT * FROM pet;

+----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
| name     | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
+----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
| Fluffy   | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL       |
| Claws    | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
| Buffy    | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
| Fang     | Benny  | dog     | m    | 1990-08-27 | NULL       |
| Bowser   | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1979-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
| Chirpy   | Gwen   | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL       |
| Whistler | Gwen   | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
| Slim     | Benny  | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL       |
| Puffball | Diane  | hamster | f    | 1999-03-30 | NULL       |
+----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

选择特殊行

如上所示，检索整个表是容易的。只需要从SELECT语句中删掉WHERE子句。但是一般你不想看到整个表，特别地当表变得很大时。相反，你通常对回答一个具体的问题更感兴趣，在这种情况下在你想要的信息上进行一些限制。让我们看一些他们回答的有关你宠物的问题的选择查询。可以从表中只选择特定的行。例如，如果你想要验证你对Bowser的生日所做的更改，按下述方法选择Bowser的记录：

mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name = 'Bowser';
+--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
| name   | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
+--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
| Bowser | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
+--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

可以组合条件，例如，找出雌性的狗：

mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = 'dog' AND sex = 'f';
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

组合条件

上面的查询使用AND逻辑操作符，也有一个OR操作符：

mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = 'snake' OR species = 'bird';
+----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death |
+----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| Chirpy   | Gwen  | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL  |
| Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL  |
| Slim     | Benny | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL  |
+----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+

AND和OR可以混用，但AND比OR具有更高的优先级。如果你使用两个操作符，使用圆括号指明如何对条件进行分组是一个好主意：

mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE (species = 'cat' AND sex = 'm')
    -> **OR (species = 'dog' AND sex = 'f');**
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
| Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
| Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
+-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

选择特殊列

如果你不想看到表中的所有行，就命名你感兴趣的列，用逗号分开。例如，如果你想要知道你的动物什么时候出生的，选择name和birth列：

mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet;

+----------+------------+
| name     | birth      |
+----------+------------+
| Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
| Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
| Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
| Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
| Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
| Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
| Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
| Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
| Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
+----------+------------+

分类行

你可能已经注意到前面的例子中结果行没有以特定的顺序显示。然而，当行按某种方式排序时，检查查询输出通常更容易。为了排序结果，使用ORDER BY子句。这里是动物生日，按日期排序：

mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth;
+----------+------------+
| name     | birth      |
+----------+------------+
| Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
| Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
| Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
| Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
| Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
| Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
| Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
| Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
| Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
+----------+------------+

在字符类型列上，与所有其他比较操作类似，分类功能正常情况下是以区分大小写的方式执行的。这意味着，对于等同但大小写不同的列，并未定义其顺序。对于某一列，可以使用BINARY强制执行区分大小写的分类功能，如：ORDER BY BINARY col_name.
默认排序是升序，最小的值在第一。要想以降序排序，在你正在排序的列名上增加DESC（降序 ）关键字：

mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth DESC;
+----------+------------+
| name     | birth      |
+----------+------------+
| Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
| Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
| Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
| Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
| Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
| Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
| Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
| Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
| Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
+----------+------------+

可以对多个列进行排序，并且可以按不同的方向对不同的列进行排序。例如，按升序对动物的种类进行排序，然后按降序根据生日对各动物种类进行排序（最年轻的动物在最前面），使用下列查询：

mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet
    -> ORDER BY species, birth DESC;
+----------+---------+------------+
| name     | species | birth      |
+----------+---------+------------+
| Chirpy   | bird    | 1998-09-11 |
| Whistler | bird    | 1997-12-09 |
| Claws    | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
| Fluffy   | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
| Fang     | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
| Bowser   | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
| Buffy    | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
| Puffball | hamster | 1999-03-30 |
| Slim     | snake   | 1996-04-29 |
+----------+---------+------------+

注意DESC关键字仅适用于在它前面的列名(birth)；不影响species列的排序顺序。