MySQL Aliases

What Are MySQL Aliases?

A MySQL alias is a temporary name assigned to a column or table in a query. It exists only for the result of that query. The AS keyword is used to create an alias.

Column alias → renames a column in the output or gives a name to an expression.
Table alias → gives a short name to a table, very useful in JOINs, subqueries, and self‐joins.

Aliases improve readability, reduce typing, and avoid ambiguous column names when multiple tables share the same column name (like id, name, created_at).

Alias Column Syntax

SELECT column_name AS alias_name
FROM table_name;

Notes

In MySQL, backticks (`) are the safest way to quote alias identifiers.
The alias is available in the SELECT list, and can be used in ORDER BY and HAVING.
It is not available in WHERE (because WHERE runs before SELECT).

Alias Table Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name AS alias_name;

Notes

Table aliases exist only inside that query block.
They are required for self‐joins (joining a table to itself).

Demo Database (Compact Sample)

Customers

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la Constitución 2222	México D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK

Orders

OrderID	CustomerID	OrderDate	Amount
1001	1	2024-01-12	800
1002	2	2024-02-03	450
1003	2	2024-03-21	200

Alias for Columns – Examples

Below is the SQL statement that creates two aliases, one for the CustomerID column and one for the CustomerName column:

SELECT CustomerID AS ID, CustomerName AS Name
FROM Customers;

1	Alfreds Futterkiste
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería
4	Around the Horn

Below is the SQL statement that creates an alias named “Address” that combines four columns:

SELECT CONCAT_WS(', ', Address, PostalCode, City, Country) AS Address
FROM Customers;

Result example: “Obere Str. 57, 12209, Berlin, Germany”

Alias for Tables – Example

Short table names make JOINs clean and readable.

SELECT c.CustomerName AS `Customer`,
       o.OrderID AS `Order No`,
       o.OrderDate AS `Date`,
       o.Amount AS `Order Amount`
FROM Customers AS c
JOIN Orders AS o ON o.CustomerID = c.CustomerID
ORDER BY o.OrderDate DESC;

Below is the SQL statement same as above, but without aliases:

SELECT Customers.CustomerName AS `Customer`,
       Orders.OrderID AS `Order No`,
       Orders.OrderDate AS `Date`,
       Orders.Amount AS `Order Amount`
FROM Customers
JOIN Orders ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID
ORDER BY Orders.OrderDate DESC;

Observation: Aliases reduce typing and avoid confusion when multiple tables share column names like City, Name, or ID.

Aliases in ORDER BY and GROUP BY

-- ORDER BY alias
SELECT CustomerName AS Name
FROM Customers
ORDER BY Name;

-- GROUP BY alias
SELECT Country, COUNT(*) AS Total
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
HAVING Total >= 1
ORDER BY Total DESC;

Aliases Can Be Useful When:

You need clean column names for reports (e.g., Total Sales, Price Band).
Multiple tables share the same column names (e.g., ID, Name).
You write JOINs, self‐joins, or subqueries.
You use expressions or functions (like SUM(), CONCAT_WS(), CASE).
You want to sort or filter using output names in ORDER BY or HAVING.

Conclusion

We have now understood how MySQL Aliases work and how they can be applied to columns, tables, combined fields, and even complex queries. By using aliases, we can make our SQL queries shorter, more meaningful, and easier to read – especially when working with large databases or multiple table joins.

In our next blog, we’ll dive into MySQL JOINS and MySQL INNER JOINS, where aliases will play an even more important role in simplifying queries. Get ready to see how we can connect data from multiple tables and retrieve meaningful results efficiently.

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MySQL Aliases