WHERE (Transact-SQL)

**APPLIES TO:** ![yes](media/yes.png)SQL Server (starting with 2008) ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Database ![yes](media/yes.png)Azure SQL Data Warehouse ![yes](media/yes.png)Parallel Data Warehouse

Specifies the search condition for the rows returned by the query.

Topic link icon Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

Syntax

[ WHERE <search_condition> ]

Arguments

< search_condition > Defines the condition to be met for the rows to be returned. There is no limit to the number of predicates that can be included in a search condition. For more information about search conditions and predicates, see Search Condition (Transact-SQL).

Examples

The following examples show how to use some common search conditions in the WHERE clause.

A. Finding a row by using a simple equality

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE LastName = 'Smith' ;

B. Finding rows that contain a value as part of a string

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE LastName LIKE ('%Smi%');

C. Finding rows by using a comparison operator

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE EmployeeKey  <= 500;

D. Finding rows that meet any of three conditions

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE EmployeeKey = 1 OR EmployeeKey = 8 OR EmployeeKey = 12;

E. Finding rows that must meet several conditions

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE EmployeeKey <= 500 AND LastName LIKE '%Smi%' AND FirstName LIKE '%A%';

F. Finding rows that are in a list of values

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE LastName IN ('Smith', 'Godfrey', 'Johnson');

G. Finding rows that have a value between two values

-- Uses AdventureWorksDW  
  
SELECT EmployeeKey, LastName  
FROM DimEmployee  
WHERE EmployeeKey Between 100 AND 200;