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SQL Alias

An Alias is a shorthand for a table or column name.

Aliases reduce the amount of typing required to enter a query.

Complex queries with aliases are generally easier to read.

Aliases are useful with JOINs and aggregates: SUM, COUNT, etc.

Example

#

List all customer names with a Name column.

SELECT FirstName + ' ' + LastName AS Name,
       City, Country
  FROM Customer

Note: 'Name' is a column alias. It only exists for the duration of the query.

Result:  91 records
Name City Country
Maria Andersi Berlin Germany
Ana Trujillo México D.F. Mexico
Antonio Moreno México D.F. Mexico
Thomas Hardy London UK
Christina Berglund Luleå Sweden

Syntax

Syntax for a column alias.

SELECT column-name AS alias-name
  FROM table-name
 WHERE condition

Syntax for a table alias.

SELECT column-names
  FROM table-name alias-name
 WHERE condition

More Examples

SELECT with Column and Table Aliases

CUSTOMER
Id
FirstName
LastName
City
Country
Phone
Problem: List the number of customers in each country.
Display results with easy-to-understand column headers.
SELECT C.Country, COUNT(C.Id) AS Customers 
  FROM Customer C
 GROUP BY C.Country

Note: Customers is a column alias, and C is a table alias.
Table aliases are commonly single capitalized characters.

Result:  21 records
Country Customers
Argentina 3
Austria 2
Belgium 2
Brazil 9
Canada 3

SELECT with ORDER BY, GROUP BY, Aliases

CUSTOMER
Id
FirstName
LastName
City
Country
Phone
ORDER
Id
OrderDate
OrderNumber
CustomerId
TotalAmount
Problem: List the total amount spent by customer with easy to read column headers.
SELECT C.Id , C.LastName + ', ' + C.FirstName AS Customer, 
       SUM(O.TotalAmount) AS 'Total Spent'
  FROM [Order] O 
  JOIN Customer C ON O.CustomerId = C.Id
 GROUP BY C.Id, C.LastName + ', ' + C.FirstName
 ORDER BY SUM(O.TotalAmount) DESC

Table aliases simplify writing JOIN and ORDER BY clauses.
The C alias in C.Id helps identify the Customer Id versus the Order Id.

Results: 89 records
Id Customer Total Spent
63 Kloss, Horst 117483.39
71 Pavarotti, Jose 115673.39
20 Mendel, Roland 113236.68
37 McKenna, Patricia 57317.39
65 Wilson, Paula 52245.90

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Last updated on Dec 21, 2023

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