Syntax

The OR is a conjunctive operator used to combine multiple conditions to narrow data in an SQL statement. OR is typically used in a combination with WHERE clause from the SELECT, UPDATE or DELETE statements.

Here is the genenric syntax:

SELECT * 
 FROM table_name
 WHERE condition_1 OR condition_2 ... OR condition_n
;

So the action will be initiated when at least one of the given conditions separated by the OR operator is true.

Example

We have a table category:

category_id name last_update
1 Action 2006-02-15 04:46:27
2 Animation 2006-02-15 04:46:27
3 Children 2006-02-15 04:46:27
4 Classics 2006-02-15 04:46:27
5 Comedy 2006-02-15 04:46:27
6 Documentary 2006-02-15 04:46:27
7 Drama 2006-02-15 04:46:27
8 Family 2006-02-15 04:46:27
9 Foreign 2006-02-15 04:46:27
10 Games 2006-02-15 04:46:27
11 Horror 2006-02-15 04:46:27
12 Music 2006-02-15 04:46:27
13 New 2006-02-15 04:46:27
14 Sci-Fi 2006-02-15 04:46:27
15 Sports 2006-02-15 04:46:27
16 Travel 2006-02-15 04:46:27

Now we want to view the details of the first 10 categories and category Sports:

SELECT *
FROM
  category
WHERE
  category_id <= 10
  OR name LIKE '%sports%'

And it returns the results:

category_id name last_update
1 Action 2006-02-15 04:46:27
2 Animation 2006-02-15 04:46:27
3 Children 2006-02-15 04:46:27
4 Classics 2006-02-15 04:46:27
5 Comedy 2006-02-15 04:46:27
6 Documentary 2006-02-15 04:46:27
7 Drama 2006-02-15 04:46:27
8 Family 2006-02-15 04:46:27
9 Foreign 2006-02-15 04:46:27
10 Games 2006-02-15 04:46:27
15 Sports 2006-02-15 04:46:27

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