WHERE (Transact-SQL)
Applies to:
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Specifies the search condition for the rows returned by the query.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
[ WHERE <search_condition> ]
Note
To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see Previous versions documentation.
Arguments
< search_condition > Defines the condition to be met for the rows to be returned. There is no limit to the number of predicates that can be included in a search condition. For more information about search conditions and predicates, see Search Condition (Transact-SQL).
Examples
The following examples show how to use some common search conditions in the WHERE
clause.
A. Finding a row by using a simple equality
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName = 'Smith' ;
B. Finding rows that contain a value as part of a string
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName LIKE ('%Smi%');
C. Finding rows by using a comparison operator
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE EmployeeKey <= 500;
D. Finding rows that meet any of three conditions
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE EmployeeKey = 1 OR EmployeeKey = 8 OR EmployeeKey = 12;
E. Finding rows that must meet several conditions
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE EmployeeKey <= 500 AND LastName LIKE '%Smi%' AND FirstName LIKE '%A%';
F. Finding rows that are in a list of values
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE LastName IN ('Smith', 'Godfrey', 'Johnson');
G. Finding rows that have a value between two values
-- Uses AdventureWorksDW
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName
FROM DimEmployee
WHERE EmployeeKey Between 100 AND 200;
See Also
DELETE (Transact-SQL)
Predicates (Transact-SQL)
Search Condition (Transact-SQL)
SELECT (Transact-SQL)
UPDATE (Transact-SQL)
MERGE (Transact-SQL)