Last time you learned basic SELECT statements. But what happens when your column names aren't user-friendly? A column called "cust_ph_num" isn't very clear to someone reading your results.

Column aliases solve this by letting you rename columns for better readability.

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Have you ever run into confusing column names before?

The AS keyword creates aliases. Instead of seeing "cust_ph_num" in your results, you can display "Phone Number":

The original column name stays the same—only the display changes.

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What would be a clearer name for a column called "prod_desc"?

Here's the basic alias pattern:

Notice the quotes around "New Display Name"—they're needed whenever your alias contains spaces or special characters.

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Why might quotes be necessary for "Customer Email" but not for "email"?

You can alias multiple columns in one query:

Each column gets its own alias, separated by commas just like regular column names.

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How would you alias both "first_name" and "last_name" to be more readable?

You can also create aliases without using the AS keyword. Just put the new name after the column name:

This works the same way as using AS, but can be quicker to type. Remember, you still need quotes if your alias has spaces or special characters.