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Databases & SQL vocabulary · SQL Statements and Queries

WHERE clause

Meaning in databases & SQL, with examples

nounCore term

In databases & SQL, WHERE clause means: The part of a SQL statement that sets a condition, so only the rows that meet it are read, updated or deleted.

In Turkish: WHERE koşulu, filtre koşulu

How it is used

Used in SELECT, UPDATE and DELETE. People talk about 'filtering in the WHERE clause' and warn each other about an UPDATE or DELETE 'without a WHERE clause', which changes every row. Conditions are combined with AND, OR, IN, BETWEEN and LIKE.

Example sentences

  1. Someone ran an UPDATE without a WHERE clause and every price became zero.

  2. Add status = 'active' to the WHERE clause so cancelled accounts are excluded.

Common collocations

  • add to the WHERE clause
  • filter in the WHERE clause
  • without a WHERE clause
  • WHERE condition
  • SELECT statementThe SQL statement that reads data from one or more tables and returns the matching rows without changing anything in the database.
  • HAVING clauseThe part of a SQL query that filters groups after GROUP BY has run, usually using the result of an aggregate function such as COUNT or SUM.
  • UPDATE statementThe SQL statement that changes values in rows that already exist, usually limited by a WHERE clause so that only the right rows are changed.
  • DELETE statementThe SQL statement that removes rows from a table. With a WHERE clause it removes only matching rows; without one it removes every row.
  • indexAn extra data structure built on one or more columns that lets the database find rows quickly without reading the whole table, like the index at the back of a book.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: SQL Statements and Queries

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