WHERE – Filtering Rows in SQL Like a Boss

Quick Syntax

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Alright, here’s the vibe: You’ve got a table full of stuff — names, cities, orders, whatever. But you don’t want everything. You just want some rows. Maybe people over 30, or users from a certain city.

That’s when you bring in WHERE. It’s like telling SQL: “Show me only the rows where this thing is true.”

Let me walk you through it like we’re at the same desk, coffee in hand.

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Say You Have This Table Called clients

id	name	age	city	subscription
1	Renzo Blip	41	Driftwood	free
2	Moxi Tern	24	Cloudhill	pro
3	Jara Nix		Dustvale	basic
4	Kito Grail	31	Cloudhill	free
5	Fenn Rask	27	—	trial
6	Lume Paddo	45	Driftwood	pro

No famous names, no perfect data — just a funky little table you need to work with.

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Suppose You Want People in Cloudhill

SELECT name, city
FROM clients
WHERE city = 'Cloudhill';

Output:

Moxi Tern   Cloudhill  
Kito Grail  Cloudhill

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Now You Only Want Clients Over 30

SELECT name, age
FROM clients
WHERE age > 30;

Output:

Renzo Blip   41  
Kito Grail   31  
Lume Paddo   45

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Let’s Say You’re Hunting Free Plan Users

SELECT name, subscription
FROM clients
WHERE subscription = 'free';

Output:

Renzo Blip   free  
Kito Grail   free

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Missing Info? Use IS NULL

SELECT name, age
FROM clients
WHERE age IS NULL;

Output:

Jara Nix   NULL

Note: Use IS NULL — not = NULL. That won’t work.

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Wanna Combine Conditions? Easy.

Now let’s say you want people who:

• Live in Driftwood
• AND are on a pro plan

SELECT name, city, subscription
FROM clients
WHERE city = 'Driftwood' AND subscription = 'pro';

Output:

Lume Paddo   Driftwood   pro

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Recap – Here’s What You Learned

• WHERE helps you filter rows
• Use operators like =, >, <, !=
• Use IS NULL for missing values
• Combine conditions with AND / OR
• It’s like spreadsheet filters — but with superpowers

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Now that you know how WHERE works, next let’s check out DISTINCT.
It helps you get results with no repeats — like a list of all different cities, not every single row.
See how it works here.