15.2.16 TABLE Statement

TABLE is a DML statement which returns rows and columns of the named table.

TABLE table_name 
    [ORDER BY column_name] 
    [LIMIT number [OFFSET number]]
    [INTO OUTFILE 'file_name'
        [{FIELDS | COLUMNS}
            [TERMINATED BY 'string']
            [[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY 'char']
            [ESCAPED BY 'char']
        ]
        [LINES
            [STARTING BY 'string']
            [TERMINATED BY 'string']
        ]
    | INTO DUMPFILE 'file_name'
    | INTO var_name [, var_name] ...]

The TABLE statement in some ways acts like SELECT. Given the existence of a table named t, the following two statements produce identical output:

TABLE t;

SELECT * FROM t;

You can order and limit the number of rows produced by TABLE using ORDER BY and LIMIT clauses, respectively. These function identically to the same clauses when used with SELECT (including an optional OFFSET clause with LIMIT), as you can see here:

mysql> TABLE t;
+----+----+
| a  | b  |
+----+----+
|  1 |  2 |
|  6 |  7 |
|  9 |  5 |
| 10 | -4 |
| 11 | -1 |
| 13 |  3 |
| 14 |  6 |
+----+----+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> TABLE t ORDER BY b;
+----+----+
| a  | b  |
+----+----+
| 10 | -4 |
| 11 | -1 |
|  1 |  2 |
| 13 |  3 |
|  9 |  5 |
| 14 |  6 |
|  6 |  7 |
+----+----+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> TABLE t LIMIT 3;
+---+---+
| a | b |
+---+---+
| 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 7 |
| 9 | 5 |
+---+---+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> TABLE t ORDER BY b LIMIT 3;
+----+----+
| a  | b  |
+----+----+
| 10 | -4 |
| 11 | -1 |
|  1 |  2 |
+----+----+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> TABLE t ORDER BY b LIMIT 3 OFFSET 2;
+----+----+
| a  | b  |
+----+----+
|  1 |  2 |
| 13 |  3 |
|  9 |  5 |
+----+----+
3 rows in set (0.00 sec)

TABLE differs from SELECT in two key respects:

• TABLE always displays all columns of the table.

  Exception: The output of TABLE does not include invisible columns. See Section 15.1.24.10, “Invisible Columns”.

• TABLE does not allow for any arbitrary filtering of rows; that is, TABLE does not support any WHERE clause.

For limiting which table columns are returned, filtering rows beyond what can be accomplished using ORDER BY and LIMIT, or both, use SELECT.

TABLE can be used with temporary tables.

TABLE can also be used in place of SELECT in a number of other constructs, including those listed here:

• With set operators such as UNION, as shown here:

  mysql> TABLE t1;
  +---+----+
  | a | b  |
  +---+----+
  | 2 | 10 |
  | 5 |  3 |
  | 7 |  8 |
  +---+----+
  3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
  
  mysql> TABLE t2;
  +---+---+
  | a | b |
  +---+---+
  | 1 | 2 |
  | 3 | 4 |
  | 6 | 7 |
  +---+---+
  3 rows in set (0.00 sec)
  
  mysql> TABLE t1 UNION TABLE t2;
  +---+----+
  | a | b  |
  +---+----+
  | 2 | 10 |
  | 5 |  3 |
  | 7 |  8 |
  | 1 |  2 |
  | 3 |  4 |
  | 6 |  7 |
  +---+----+
  6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

  The UNION just shown is equivalent to the following statement:

  mysql> SELECT * FROM t1 UNION SELECT * FROM t2;
  +---+----+
  | a | b  |
  +---+----+
  | 2 | 10 |
  | 5 |  3 |
  | 7 |  8 |
  | 1 |  2 |
  | 3 |  4 |
  | 6 |  7 |
  +---+----+
  6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

  TABLE can also be used together in set operations with SELECT statements, VALUES statements, or both. See Section 15.2.18, “UNION Clause”, Section 15.2.4, “EXCEPT Clause”, and Section 15.2.8, “INTERSECT Clause”, for more information and examples. See also Section 15.2.14, “Set Operations with UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT”.

• With INTO to populate user variables, and with INTO OUTFILE or INTO DUMPFILE to write table data to a file. See Section 15.2.13.1, “SELECT ... INTO Statement”, for more specific information and examples.

• In many cases where you can employ subqueries. Given any table t1 with a column named a, and a second table t2 having a single column, statements such as the following are possible:

  SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE a IN (TABLE t2);

  Assuming that the single column of table t1 is named x, the preceding is equivalent to each of the statements shown here (and produces exactly the same result in either case):

  SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE a IN (SELECT x FROM t2);
  
  SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE a IN (SELECT * FROM t2);

  See Section 15.2.15, “Subqueries”, for more information.

• With INSERT and REPLACE statements, where you would otherwise use SELECT *. See Section 15.2.7.1, “INSERT ... SELECT Statement”, for more information and examples.

• TABLE can also be used in many cases in place of the SELECT in CREATE TABLE ... SELECT or CREATE VIEW ... SELECT. See the descriptions of these statements for more information and examples.