Retrieving All Columns of a Table

Consider the following scenario: A store manager wants to retrieve information about all the categories of items available in PACKT_ONLINE_SHOP in order to see where a new product fits in best. To retrieve a list of all the product categories, along with their details, run the following query:

use PACKT_ONLINE_SHOP;
SELECT * FROM ProductCategories;

After executing the preceding query, you'll see the following output:

Figure 4.3: The ProductCategories table

As shown in the preceding screenshot, the query has selected and retrieved all the records from all the columns of the ProductCategories table, which was taken from PACKT_ONLINE_SHOP.

Note

There are some cases where you can use the SELECT statement without needing to use the FROM part. For instance, to call a function, you only need to use the SELECT statement:

SELECT GETDATE();

We will discuss functions in further detail in the upcoming chapters of...