Visual Basic® .NET Database Programming

SELECT

The SELECT statement is one of the most complicated SQL statements. It’s so complicated that only its most useful variations are described here.

The SELECT statement lets you select data and return it to your application, insert it in another table, use it to create a temporary table, or use it in another query.

The basic syntax for a SELECT statement is

SELECT [DISTINCT] [TOP number [PERCENT]] fields 
[INTO table] 
FROM tables 
[WHERE where_conditions] 
[GROUP BY group_by_expression] 
[HAVING search_conditions[ 
[ORDER BY order_fields [ASC | DESC]] 

The following sections describe the different SELECT statement clauses.

SELECT

The fields parameter indicates the fields that should be selected by the statement. If the fields are all taken ...