Summary  
This chapter explains how to use the SELECT statement to retrieve multiple columns from a table by listing column names separated by commas.  

General domain of usage  
Relational database querying

## Inspecting the Table

Let's delve deeper into the `country` database. This database contains a single table, also named `country`. We'll take a closer look at the data within this table.

This table contains **15 rows**, representing 15 unique records for various countries.

Now, let's discuss the columns. The table includes **7 columns**: `id`, `name`, `continent`, `region`, `SurfaceArea`, `capital`, and `population`.

1. `id` - the unique identifier for each record;

2. `name` - the name of the country;

3. `continent` - the continent where the country is located;

4. `region` - the specific region within the continent;

5. `SurfaceArea` - the total land area of the country;

6. `capital` - the capital city of the country;

7. `population` - the number of people living in the country.



## The Syntax for Selecting Multiple Columns

To retrieve multiple columns, use the `SELECT` statement. After `SELECT`, list the column names you want to retrieve, separated by commas. 

The syntax looks like this: 

```sql
SELECT column1, column2, column3 
FROM table_name;
```

Here's an example of how to select **three** columns from the `country` table:

import unittest
import psycopg2
import pandas as pd

class TestTask(unittest.TestCase):
    @classmethod
    def setUpClass(cls):
        cls.connection = psycopg2.connect(
            host="localhost",
            user="agent",
            password="qwerty",
            dbname="testdb",
            sslmode="disable"
        )
        cls.cursor = cls.connection.cursor()

    def test_query_retrieves_correct_columns(self):
        """Check if query retrieves only 'continent' and 'population' columns from 'country'."""
        with open("query.sql", "r") as file:
            query = file.read()
        self.cursor.execute(query)
        columns = [desc[0].lower() for desc in self.cursor.description]
        expected_columns = ["continent", "population"]
        condition = columns == expected_columns
        _dynamic_test(
            self,
            condition,
            "The query retrieves only the 'continent' and 'population' columns in the correct order.",
            f"The query should retrieve only the columns 'continent' and 'population' in order, but got: {columns}."
        )

    def test_query_uses_correct_table(self):
        """Check if query returns the expected number of rows from 'country' table (should be 15)."""
        with open("query.sql", "r") as file:
            query = file.read()
        self.cursor.execute(query)
        rows = self.cursor.fetchall()
        condition = len(rows) == 15
        _dynamic_test(
            self,
            condition,
            "The query uses the correct table and returns 15 rows.",
            f"The query should return 15 rows from the 'country' table, but got {len(rows)} rows."
        )

    def test_query_column_separator(self):
        """Check that both columns are selected and separated by a comma in the SELECT clause."""
        with open("query.sql", "r") as file:
            query = file.read().lower().replace("\\n", " ")
        # Find the SELECT ... FROM part
        select_from = query.split("from")[0]
        # Remove SELECT keyword
        select_columns = select_from.replace("select", "").strip()
        # Must contain a comma between 'continent' and 'population'
        has_comma = "," in select_columns
        has_continent = "continent" in select_columns
        has_population = "population" in select_columns
        condition = has_comma and has_continent and has_population
        _dynamic_test(
            self,
            condition,
            "The SELECT clause contains both columns separated by a comma.",
            "The SELECT clause must contain both 'continent' and 'population', separated by a comma."
        )

def _dynamic_test(test_case, condition, success_message, failure_message):
    if condition:
        test_case._testMethodName = success_message
        test_case.assertTrue(True, success_message)
    else:
        test_case._testMethodName = failure_message
        test_case.fail(failure_message)

def normalize_text(text):
    text = text.lower()
    text = re.sub(r"\s{2,}", " ", text)
    text = re.sub(r"\s*([,:?])\s*", r"\1 ", text)
    return text.strip()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    unittest.main()


test_solution.py

Learn the core fundamentals of SQL and relational databases. Understand how databases store and organize data, write basic SQL queries, work with tables and perform essential operations. Build a strong foundation for working with databases in backend development.

Retrieving Multiple Columns

Inspecting the Table

The Syntax for Selecting Multiple Columns

Solution