Your First SQL Query

What is SQL?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the language used to talk to databases. Every time a business pulls a sales report, looks up a customer, or counts orders — SQL is running behind the scenes.

You don't need to install anything. Just type a query, hit Run, and see results.

Your very first query

The simplest SQL query returns a plain value — no table needed.

sql

SELECT 'Hello World!';

SELECT tells SQL: give me this. The text in quotes is what you're asking for.

Adding a column name

By default, SQL names the column after what you typed. You can give it a cleaner name using AS.

sql

-- Column name without a space
SELECT 'Hello World' AS ColumnTitle;

-- Column name with a space — wrap in double quotes
SELECT 'Hello World' AS "Column Title";

Key idea: AS renames a column in the result. It doesn't change the data — just the label you see.

SQL is case-insensitive

These two queries do exactly the same thing:

sql

SELECT 'Hello';
select 'Hello';

Convention is to write keywords like SELECT, FROM, WHERE in uppercase. It makes queries easier to read.

Semicolons

A semicolon ; marks the end of a query. It's optional when running one query at a time, but good habit to include it.

sql

SELECT 'Hello World!';

Practice

Exercise 1 Easy

Write a query that returns the text "SQL is fun" with the column label "Message".

Hint: Use SELECT with AS to label your output

Solution

SELECT 'SQL is fun' AS Message