The "SELECT" statement is one of the first things you learn when working with SQL. But knowing the syntax is only the beginning. In real projects, you need to retrieve the right columns, filter records, remove duplicates, sort results, and calculate useful information from tables.

Let's understand how the SQL "SELECT" statement works through practical examples using an employee table.

Understanding the SELECT Statement

Suppose you have an "employees" table containing employee details.

Table: employees

id name dept salary

101 Amit IT 60000

102 Priya HR 45000

103 Rahul IT 75000

104 Neha Finance 55000

105 Sneha IT 65000

Imagine your manager asks you to prepare a list of employees working in the IT department, including their names and salaries.

You don't need every column in the table.…