Flash cards
Review the key moves
What is the main idea behind SQL OR Operator?
Lesson checks
Practice each idea before moving on
Short Mimo-style checks built from this lesson's code, terms, and sequence.
Which statement best captures the main point of this lesson?
Complete the missing token from the example code.
___ CustomersPut the learning moves in the order that makes the concept easiest to apply.
The SQL OR Operator
The WHERE clause can contain one or more OR operators.
The OR operator is used to filter records based on more than one condition.
Note
The OR operator displays a record if any of the conditions are TRUE.
The following SQL selects all customers from Germany OR Spain:
Example
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE Country = 'Germany' OR Country = 'Spain';OR Syntax
SELECT column1 , column2, ... FROM table_name WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR condition3 ... ;
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the Customers table used in the examples:
| CustomerID | CustomerName | ContactName | Address | City | PostalCode | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alfreds Futterkiste | Maria Anders | Obere Str. 57 | Berlin | 12209 | Germany |
| 2 | Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados | Ana Trujillo | Avda. de la Constitución 2222 | México D.F. | 05021 | Mexico |
| 3 | Antonio Moreno TaquerÃa | Antonio Moreno | Mataderos 2312 | México D.F. | 05023 | Mexico |
| 4 | Around the Horn | Thomas Hardy | 120 Hanover Sq. | London | WA1 1DP | UK |
| 5 | Berglunds snabbköp | Christina Berglund | Berguvsvägen 8 | Luleå | S-958 22 | Sweden |
At Least One Condition Must Be True
The following SQL selects all customers where City is "Berlin", OR CustomerName starts with the letter "G", OR Country is "Norway":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City = 'Berlin'
OR CustomerName LIKE 'G%'
OR Country = 'Norway';AND vs. OR
The AND operator displays a record if all the conditions are TRUE.
The OR operator displays a record if any of the conditions are TRUE.
Combining AND and OR
You can also combine AND and OR operators.
The following SQL selects all customers from Spain that starts with a "G" or an "R" (make sure to use parenthesis to get the correct result):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country = 'Spain'
AND (CustomerName LIKE 'G%' OR CustomerName LIKE 'R%');Without parenthesis, the SQL above will return all customers from Spain that starts with a "G", plus all customers that starts with an "R", regardless of the country value:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country = 'Spain'
AND CustomerName LIKE 'G%' OR CustomerName LIKE 'R%';