While performing SELECT, UPDATE or, DELETE operations, you can specify condition to filter the records using the WHERE clause. The operation will be performed on the records which satisfies the given condition.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of the WHERE clause in PostgreSQL −

SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [search_condition]

You can specify a search_condition using comparison or logical operators. like >, <, =, LIKE, NOT, etc. The following examples would make this concept clear.

Example

Assume we have created a table with name CRICKETERS using the following query −

postgres=# CREATE TABLE CRICKETERS ( 
   First_Name VARCHAR(255), Last_Name VARCHAR(255), 
   Age int, Place_Of_Birth VARCHAR(255), Country VARCHAR(255)
);
CREATE TABLE
postgres=#

And if we have inserted 5 records in to it using INSERT statements as −

postgres=# insert into CRICKETERS values(''Shikhar'', ''Dhawan'', 33, ''Delhi'', ''India'');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# insert into CRICKETERS values(''Jonathan'', ''Trott'', 38, ''CapeTown'', ''SouthAfrica'');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# insert into CRICKETERS values(''Kumara'', ''Sangakkara'', 41, ''Matale'', ''Srilanka'');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# insert into CRICKETERS values(''Virat'', ''Kohli'', 30, ''Delhi'', ''India'');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# insert into CRICKETERS values(''Rohit'', ''Sharma'', 32, ''Nagpur'', ''India'');
INSERT 0 1

Following SELECT statement retrieves the records whose age is greater than 35 −

postgres=# SELECT * FROM CRICKETERS WHERE AGE > 35;
first_name  | last_name  | age | place_of_birth | country
------------+------------+-----+----------------+-------------
Jonathan    | Trott      | 38  | CapeTown       | SouthAfrica
Kumara      | Sangakkara | 41  | Matale         | Srilanka
(2 rows)
postgres=#

Where clause using python

To fetch specific records from a table using the python program execute the SELECT statement with WHERE clause, by passing it as a parameter to the execute() method.

Example

Following python example demonstrates the usage of WHERE command using python.

import psycopg2

#establishing the connection
conn = psycopg2.connect(
   database="mydb", user=''postgres'', password=''password'', host=''127.0.0.1'', port= ''5432''
)

#Setting auto commit false
conn.autocommit = True

#Creating a cursor object using the cursor() method
cursor = conn.cursor()

#Doping EMPLOYEE table if already exists.
cursor.execute("DROP TABLE IF EXISTS EMPLOYEE")
sql = ''''''CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE(
   FIRST_NAME CHAR(20) NOT NULL,
   LAST_NAME CHAR(20),
   AGE INT,
   SEX CHAR(1),
   INCOME FLOAT
)''''''
cursor.execute(sql)

#Populating the table
insert_stmt = "INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE (FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, AGE, SEX, INCOME) 
   VALUES (%s, %s, %s, %s, %s)"
data = [(''Krishna'', ''Sharma'', 19, ''M'', 2000), 
   (''Raj'', ''Kandukuri'', 20, ''M'', 7000),
   (''Ramya'', ''Ramapriya'', 25, ''M'', 5000),
   (''Mac'', ''Mohan'', 26, ''M'', 2000)]
cursor.executemany(insert_stmt, data)

#Retrieving specific records using the where clause
cursor.execute("SELECT * from EMPLOYEE WHERE AGE <23")
print(cursor.fetchall())

#Commit your changes in the database
conn.commit()

#Closing the connection
conn.close()

Output

[(''Krishna'', ''Sharma'', 19, ''M'', 2000.0), (''Raj'', ''Kandukuri'', 20, ''M'', 7000.0)]