Syntax:
SELECT
    [ALL | DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW ]
      [HIGH_PRIORITY]
      [STRAIGHT_JOIN]
      [SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [SQL_BUFFER_RESULT]
      [SQL_CACHE | SQL_NO_CACHE] [SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS]
    select_expr [, select_expr ...]
    [FROM table_references
    [WHERE where_condition]
    [GROUP BY {col_name | expr | position}
      [ASC | DESC], ... [WITH ROLLUP]]
    [HAVING where_condition]
    [ORDER BY {col_name | expr | position}
      [ASC | DESC], ...]
    [LIMIT {[offset,] row_count | row_count OFFSET offset}]
    [PROCEDURE procedure_name(argument_list)]
    [INTO OUTFILE 'file_name' export_options
      | INTO DUMPFILE 'file_name'
      | INTO var_name [, var_name]]
    [FOR UPDATE | LOCK IN SHARE MODE]]

SELECT is used to retrieve rows selected from one or more tables, and
can include UNION statements and subqueries. See [HELP UNION], and
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/subqueries.html.

The most commonly used clauses of SELECT statements are these:

o Each select_expr indicates a column that you want to retrieve. There
  must be at least one select_expr.

o table_references indicates the table or tables from which to retrieve
  rows. Its syntax is described in [HELP JOIN].

o The WHERE clause, if given, indicates the condition or conditions
  that rows must satisfy to be selected. where_condition is an
  expression that evaluates to true for each row to be selected. The
  statement selects all rows if there is no WHERE clause.

  In the WHERE clause, you can use any of the functions and operators
  that MySQL supports, except for aggregate (summary) functions. See
  http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/functions.html.

SELECT can also be used to retrieve rows computed without reference to
any table.

URL: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/select.html

