SELECT Statements

A SELECT statement can consist of the following basic clauses.

SELECT
INTO
FROM
JOIN
WHERE
GROUP BY
HAVING
UNION
ORDER BY
LIMIT

SELECT Syntax

The following syntax diagram outlines the syntax supported by the SQL engine of the connector:

SELECT {
  [ TOP <numeric_literal> | DISTINCT ]
  { 
    * 
    | { 
        <expression> [ [ AS ] <column_reference> ] 
        | { <table_name> | <correlation_name> } .* 
      } [ , ... ] 
  }
  { 
    FROM <table_reference> [ [ AS ] <identifier> ] 
  } [ , ... ]
  [ [  
      INNER | { { LEFT | RIGHT | FULL } [ OUTER ] } 
    ] JOIN <table_reference> [ ON <search_condition> ] [ [ AS ] <identifier> ] 
  ] [ ... ] 
  [ WHERE <search_condition> ]
  [ GROUP BY <column_reference> [ , ... ]
  [ HAVING <search_condition> ]
  [ UNION [ ALL ] <select_statement> ]
  [ 
    ORDER BY 
    <column_reference> [ ASC | DESC ] [ NULLS FIRST | NULLS LAST ]
  ]
  [ 
    LIMIT <expression>
    [ 
      { OFFSET | , }
      <expression> 
    ]
  ] 
}

<expression> ::=
  | <column_reference>
  | @ <parameter> 
  | ?
  | COUNT( * | { [ DISTINCT ] <expression> } )
  | { AVG | MAX | MIN | SUM | COUNT } ( <expression> ) 
  | NULLIF ( <expression> , <expression> ) 
  | COALESCE ( <expression> , ... ) 
  | CASE <expression>
      WHEN { <expression> | <search_condition> } THEN { <expression> | NULL } [ ... ]
    [ ELSE { <expression> | NULL } ]
    END 
  | {RANK() | DENSE_RANK()} OVER ([PARTITION BY <column_reference>] {ORDER BY <column_reference>})
  | <literal>
  | <sql_function> 

<search_condition> ::= 
  {
    <expression> { = | > | < | >= | <= | <> | != | LIKE | NOT LIKE | IN | NOT IN | IS NULL | IS NOT NULL | AND | OR | CONTAINS | BETWEEN } [ <expression> ]
  } [ { AND | OR } ... ]

Examples

Return all columns:

SELECT * FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Rename a column:

SELECT [Title] AS MY_Title FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Cast a column's data as a different data type:

SELECT CAST(AnnualRevenue AS VARCHAR) AS Str_AnnualRevenue FROM WebSearch

Search data:

SELECT * FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

The Microsoft Bing APIs support the following operators in the WHERE clause: =, >, >=, <, <=, AND.
```
SELECT * FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft';
```

Return the number of items matching the query criteria:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS MyCount FROM WebSearch  WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Return the number of unique items matching the query criteria:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Title) FROM WebSearch  WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Return the unique items matching the query criteria:

SELECT DISTINCT Title FROM WebSearch  WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Sort a result set in ascending order:

SELECT URL, Title FROM WebSearch  WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'  ORDER BY Title ASC

Restrict a result set to the specified number of rows:

SELECT URL, Title FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'  LIMIT 10

Parameterize a query to pass in inputs at execution time. This enables you to create prepared statements and mitigate SQL injection attacks.
```
SELECT * FROM WebSearch WHERE SearchTerms = @param
```

See Explicitly Caching Data for information on using the SELECT statement in offline mode.

Pseudo Columns

Some input-only fields are available in SELECT statements. These fields, called pseudo columns, do not appear as regular columns in the results, yet may be specified as part of the WHERE clause. You can use pseudo columns to access additional features from Microsoft Bing.

    SELECT * FROM WebSearch WHERE Pseudo = '@Pseudo' AND SearchTerms = 'Microsoft'

Window Functions

See Window Functions for SELECT examples containing window functions.

Table-Valued Functions