Summary  
This chapter covers the use of the asterisk (*) wildcard in SQL to retrieve all columns from a table in a single SELECT statement.

General domain of usage  
Relational database querying

Instead of listing each column, you can use the asterisk `*` to retrieve all columns from the table at once. This is especially useful when you need to view all the data in a table without manually typing out each column name. Here's an example:

What does the asterisk (`*`) symbol do in a SQL `SELECT` statement?

Why might using SELECT * be useful when working with tables in SQL?

This course is perfect for beginners ready to explore the world of SQL. Whether you're just starting out in database management or aiming to use SQL for your application development projects, this course covers the essentials. You'll quickly learn how to leverage the full potential of SQL, from querying and managing data to seamlessly integrating it into real-world applications. By the end of the course, you'll have the confidence and skills to solve practical problems with SQL and enhance your development process.

In this section, we will learn how to use the SQL SELECT statement to get a single table column, multiple table columns, and all table columns. We will also find out how to return unique values.

In this section, we’ll explore how to organize and prioritize the data returned by a query using the ORDER BY clause. Placed at the end of a SELECT statement, this clause lets you sort your results by one or multiple columns, either in ascending or descending order, enabling more meaningful and easily interpretable data output.

In this section, we will learn how to filter returned data using the SELECT statement's WHERE clause. We will learn how to test for equality, inequality, more and less significant than value ranges, and NULL values.

In this section, we’ll explore how to refine your search conditions by combining WHERE clauses with the AND and OR operators. We’ll also cover how the NOT operator can be used to exclude certain results.

In this section, we will learn what the SQL aggregate functions are and how to use them to summarize table data.

Retrieving All Columns

1. What does the asterisk (`*`) symbol do in a SQL `SELECT` statement?

2. Why might using SELECT * be useful when working with tables in SQL?

3. Complete the SQL query to select all columns from the table named "employees" using the asterisk syntax.

Retrieving All Columns

1. What does the asterisk (*) symbol do in a SQL SELECT statement?

2. Why might using SELECT * be useful when working with tables in SQL?

3. Complete the SQL query to select all columns from the table named "employees" using the asterisk syntax.

1. What does the asterisk (`*`) symbol do in a SQL `SELECT` statement?