SQL SELECT

The SELECT statement is the most commonly used command in Structured Query Language. It is used to access the records from one or more database tables and views. It also retrieves the selected data that follow the conditions we want.

By using this command, we can also access the particular record from the particular column of the table. The table which stores the record returned by the SELECT statement is called a result-set table.

Syntax of SELECT Statement in SQL

1. SELECT Column_Name_1, Column_Name_2, ....., Column_Name_N FROM Table_Name;  

In this SELECT syntax, Column_Name_1, Column_Name_2, ….., Column_Name_N are the name of those columns in the table whose data we want to read.

SQL UNIQUE

SELECT UNIQUE is an old syntax which was used in oracle description but later ANSI standard defines DISTINCT as the official keyword.

After that oracle also added DISTINCT but did not withdraw the service of UNIQUE keyword for the sake of backward compatibility.

In simple words, we can say that SELECT UNIQUE statement is used to retrieve a unique or distinct element from the table.

1. SELECT UNIQUE column_name  
2. FROM table_name;