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(mysql.info)Selecting columns

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Selecting Particular Columns
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If you don't want to see entire rows from your table, just name the
columns in which you're interested, separated by commas.  For example,
if you want to know when your animals were born, select the `name' and
`birth' columns:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     +----------+------------+

To find out who owns pets, use this query:

     mysql> SELECT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Harold |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Gwen   |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     +--------+

However, notice that the query simply retrieves the `owner' field from
each record, and some of them appear more than once.  To minimize the
output, retrieve each unique output record just once by adding the
keyword `DISTINCT':

     mysql> SELECT DISTINCT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     +--------+

You can use a `WHERE' clause to combine row selection with column
selection.  For example, to get birth dates for dogs and cats only, use
this query:

     mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE species = "dog" OR species = "cat";
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | name   | species | birth      |
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | Fluffy | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws  | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy  | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang   | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
     +--------+---------+------------+