Now that you understand database structure and data types, let's learn how to actually retrieve information from tables. This is where SQL (Structured Query Language) comes in.

SQL is the language we use to ask databases questions and get answers back.

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What is one question you could ask about a list of customers?

The most fundamental SQL command is SELECT. Every time you want to get data from a database, you'll start with SELECT.

Think of SELECT as saying "Show me..." followed by what specific information you want to see.

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If you wanted to see customer names, how might that request start?

Here's the basic structure:

The SELECT tells the database what columns you want to see. The FROM tells it which table to look in. The semicolon signals you're done.

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Does this make sense?

Let's translate plain English to SQL. If someone asks "Show me all customer names from the customers table," here's the SQL version:

Notice the similarity between plain English and SQL.

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What part changed between English and SQL?

Another example: "Show me all email addresses from the users table" becomes:

The pattern stays the same: SELECT [what column] FROM [which table];

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Try translating this: "Show me all prices from the products table." What would the SQL look like?