SQL, how to use SELECT

You can get data out of tables using the SELECT command.

Get all rows and columns:

SELECT * FROM people;

 age |  name  
-----+--------
  37 | Flavio
   8 | Roger

Get only the name column:

SELECT name FROM people;

  name  
--------
 Flavio
 Roger

Count the items in the table:

SELECT COUNT(*) from people;

 count 
-------
     2

By the way, once your tables grow, queries with WHERE clauses can get slow without the right index. I built a free index advisor that suggests the CREATE INDEX statement for the shape of your query.

You can filter rows in a table adding the WHERE clause:

SELECT age FROM people WHERE name='Flavio';

 age 
-----
  37

The results of a query can be ordered by column value, ascending (the default) or descending, using ORDER BY:

SELECT * FROM people ORDER BY name;

SELECT * FROM people ORDER BY name DESC;