8: Tips when selecting records

Since we have a place record in the database with some fields, we can use a SELECT statement to take a look at it. SELECT is followed by the fields to display and ends with FROM and the target. In this case the target is place : all place records in the database.

SELECT name, address FROM place;

The output is an array of the address and name fields of every place record in the database.

Response
[
  {
    address: '2025 Statement Street, Riverdale',
    name: 'Surreal Library'
  }
]

Instead of selecting all records from a table, you can add a WHERE clause to just select the ones that match a condition - or none at all, if no records match the condition.

-- Sumerian library was deleted so will return nothing
SELECT name, address FROM place WHERE name = "𒂍𒁾𒁀𒀀";

Response
[]

The star operator and refining what to select

Instead of typing out each field, you can use * to show all of them.

SELECT * FROM place;

To select all fields minus a few, you can use OMIT after the star, followed by the unneeded field names.

-- Show every field except 'id'
SELECT * OMIT id FROM place;

Using the VALUE and ONLY keywords

You can add VALUE right after the SELECT keyword if you only care about the value of a single field, and not its name.

SELECT VALUE name FROM place;

Response
[
  'Surreal Library'
]

The ONLY keyword works in other statements too, such as SELECT . It will always work if you give it an exact record ID, because there can only be one.

SELECT id FROM ONLY place:surreal_library;

Response
{
  id: place:surreal_library
}

However, if you follow it with just a table name, the database is no longer sure that only one record will be returned.

SELECT * FROM ONLY place;

Response
'Expected a single result output when using the ONLY keyword'

You can use the LIMIT keyword here to guarantee a maximum number of records returned. If it is followed with 1, the database will know that no more than a single record will be returned and the ONLY keyword can be used.

SELECT * FROM ONLY place LIMIT 1;

Response
{
  address: '2025 Statement Street, Riverdale',
  floors: 8,
  id: place:surreal_library,
  name: 'Surreal Library',
  place_type: 'library'
}

In this case, we should ensure that the single record returned is the one that we expect it to be. If we had used a random ID like place:llsqrb50cm7rkvqli2sg instead of place:surreal_library , we could use WHERE to make sure that ‘Surreal Library’ is the record returned.

SELECT * FROM ONLY place
WHERE name = 'Surreal Library'
LIMIT 1;

Selecting from more than a single table name

A SELECT statement isn’t just limited to a table’s fields. You can create and name new fields as you see fit. They can be made from the values of existing fields, or just made up on the spot.

SELECT
    name,
    -- Use the data at 'name' for a new field
    name + '!!!' AS excited_name,
    -- Use the value 'true' for a new field
    true AS is_cool
FROM place;

Response
[
  {
    excited_name: 'Surreal Library!!!',
    is_cool: true,
    name: 'Surreal Library'
  }
]

And the target after FROM doesn’t need to be a table name either. You can select from raw data too.

SELECT 
    name, 
    address
FROM 
    [
        { address: '10 Push to Main Street, Riverdale', name: 'Vector Park' },
        { name: 'Riverdale City Hall' }
    ];

Because the second object has no value for the field address , it will show up as NONE .

[
  {
    address: '10 Push to Main Street, Riverdale',
    name: 'Library Park'
  },
  {
    address: NONE,
    name: 'Riverdale City Hall'
  }
]

You can even select from a combination of table name and raw data. Whatever SurrealDB sees after the FROM clause can be selected and used as output.

SELECT 
    name, 
    address
FROM 
    place, 
    { address: '10 Push to Main Street, Riverdale', name: 'Vector Park' }

Response
[
  {
    address: '2025 Statement Street, Riverdale',
    name: 'Surreal Library'
  },
  {
    address: '10 Push to Main Street, Riverdale',
    name: 'Vector Park'
  }
]