What operators are used inside a SELECT query and in what order?

In SQL, the SELECT operator can contain several key parts that are executed in a specific logical order. The main operators within a SELECT query and their logical execution order:

1. FROM — specifies the tables or data sources.
2. JOIN — joins tables.
3. WHERE — filters rows based on a condition.
4. GROUP BY — groups rows by specified columns.
5. HAVING — filters groups after grouping.
6. SELECT — selects columns or expressions for output.
7. DISTINCT — removes duplicates from the result.
8. ORDER BY — sorts the result.
9. LIMIT / OFFSET — limits the number of rows returned.

Example:

SELECT DISTINCT department, COUNT(*)
FROM employees
WHERE salary > 50000
GROUP BY department
HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
ORDER BY department ASC
LIMIT 10;

Here, data is first selected from the employees table, filtered by salary, then grouped by departments, groups are filtered, necessary columns are selected, duplicates are removed, sorted, and limited by count.