SQL Alias (AS) Syntax (What does AS Stand for?)

Daniel Loyer

The SQL Alias syntax

The general syntax is:
SELECT column-name AS alias-name
FROM table-name alias-name
WHERE condition

What does the AS (Alias Syntax Stand for and what does it do?) the only thing I can think of is AS (Ascending order) i.e. A-Z in a list or Product Description?

Dan L.

Ronnie Wong

@Daniel-Loyer,

The AS is used to rename a column or table with an alias. The alias is only good for that query.

For example, you "might" have a table called "Customers", a descriptive good name. I might choose to alias that with AS to c and "Orders" to o.

SELECT o.OrderID, o.OrderDate, c.CustomerName
FROM Customers AS c, Orders AS o
WHERE c.CustomerName="Around the Horn" AND c.CustomerID=o.CustomerID;

It's in the SELECT and in the WHERE statements that we see the use of the AS effectively. We no longer have to type the whole unambiguous name of tablename.fieldname

There is another command for ascending order which is ASC .

Hope that helps!