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title WHERE (Transact-SQL)
description The WHERE clause specifies the search condition for the rows returned by the query.
author VanMSFT
ms.author vanto
ms.reviewer randolphwest
ms.date 10/01/2025
ms.service sql
ms.subservice t-sql
ms.topic reference
ms.custom
ignite-2025
f1_keywords
WHERE_TSQL
WHERE
helpviewer_keywords
retrieving rows
clauses [SQL Server], WHERE
WHERE clause, about WHERE clause
row retrieval [SQL Server], WHERE clause
WHERE clause
dev_langs
TSQL
monikerRange >=aps-pdw-2016 || =azuresqldb-current || =azure-sqldw-latest || >=sql-server-2016 || >=sql-server-linux-2017 || =azuresqldb-mi-current || =fabric || =fabric-sqldb

WHERE (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb]

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

:::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

[ WHERE <search_condition> ]

Arguments

<search_condition>

Defines the condition to be met for the rows to be returned. There's 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.

Examples

[!INCLUDE article-uses-adventureworks]

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

A. Find a row by using a simple equality

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

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

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

C. Find rows by using a comparison operator

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

D. Find rows that meet any of three conditions

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

E. Find 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. Find rows that are in a list of values

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

G. Find rows that have a value between two values

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

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