Your First T-SQL Query

The anatomy of a basic query is SELECT column_list FROM table_name, run against a database you've selected in SSMS (either via the dropdown or a USE statement). SELECT lets you name exactly the columns you want back, in whatever order you want them, rather than retrieving an entire row's worth of data. Running the query, typically with F5 or the Execute button in SSMS, sends the batch to the server and displays the returned rows in the Results grid below the query editor.

The WHERE clause filters which rows are returned, evaluated using operators like =, <>, >, <, and BETWEEN. Combine multiple conditions with AND (all must be true) and OR (at least one must be true), and use parentheses to make the evaluation order explicit when mixing them. Because NULL represents an unknown value, standard equality doesn't work for it — WHERE Column = NULL never matches; you must use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL instead to correctly filter for missing values.

ORDER BY sorts the result set by one or more columns, ascending by default (ASC) or descending with DESC. TOP (n) restricts how many rows come back, and is almost always paired with ORDER BY so 'top' means something meaningful rather than an arbitrary subset. For paging through larger result sets, OFFSET ... FETCH NEXT lets you skip a number of rows before returning the next batch, which TOP alone cannot do.

Use AS to give a column or table a more readable alias, such as SELECT UnitPrice AS Price, or to name a computed expression that isn't a raw column at all, such as UnitPrice * 0.9 AS DiscountedPrice. Expressions can combine arithmetic, string concatenation (with + or the CONCAT function), and built-in functions directly in the SELECT list, letting you derive new values without altering the underlying stored data. Table aliases (FROM dbo.Products AS p) become especially useful once queries involve multiple tables via JOIN.