SQL · Basics & Joins

Order of SQL clause execution

Easysql-05

execution orderquery processing

Question

What is the logical order of SQL clause execution?

A simplified logical order is:

FROM / JOIN
WHERE
GROUP BY
HAVING
SELECT
DISTINCT
ORDER BY
LIMIT

So although we write:

SELECT ...
FROM ...
WHERE ...
GROUP BY ...
HAVING ...
ORDER BY ...

SQL logically processes FROM first.

Interview gotcha: the order you write clauses is not the order SQL runs them.

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