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4.4: Selection Query

  • Page ID
    15513
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    Suppose we want a list of paperbacks. That is, we want to list information about books where the paperback field has a value Yes. Requirements like this are placed on the criteria line of the pertinent field(s).

    To develop this query we need to select the Book table and then add its’ fields to the grid. For the paperback field we also enter the value Yes on the criteria line:

    Query with selection criteria.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Query with selection criteria.

    When we run the query we get results listing paperbacks:

    Table \(\PageIndex{1}\): Query results.

    callNo

    title

    author

    paperback

    CB 351 M293 1983

    Atlas of medieval Europe

    Donald Matthew

    True

    PC 14 V48 1965

    Medieval miscellany

    Frederick Whitehead

    True

    QA 76.73 S67C46 1997

    Joe Celko's SQL puzzles & answers

    Joe Celko

    True

    QA 76.76 A65P76 2011

    Programming Android

    Zigurd R Mednieks

    True

    QA 76.9 D26H355 2008

    Information modeling and relational databases

    T A Halpin

    True

    QA 76.9 D26H39 1996

    Data model patterns : conventions of thought

    David Hay

    True

    When a query runs, the query processor accesses the underlying table(s), and displays results where the data meets the criteria specified. For a query accessing a single table consider that the query processor is performing these actions:

    For each row in the table:

    • retrieve the row from the database
    • test the row to see if it meets the criteria specified
      • if the row meets the criteria then display the fields marked for show

    Save your query as paperbacksQuery. This is a selection query that selects, according to criteria, specific rows for display; this type of query produces a horizontal subset of a table.

    Most queries are a combination of selection and projection. It is typically the case that queries will select a subset of fields for display and criteria will be needed to constrain the rows retrieved.


    This page titled 4.4: Selection Query is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Ron McFadyen.

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