How to Comment in SQL

Problem

You'd like to comment your code in SQL.

Example

Here's the example code:

SELECT
  name,
  COUNT(*) AS count_items
FROM products
GROUP BY name
HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
ORDER BY name DESC;

Solution 1: Use -- to comment till the end of the line

Use -- to comment code till the end of the line. Here is what it looks like:

-- product names along with the number of items
-- products ordered by name in descending order
SELECT
  name,
  COUNT(*) -- AS count_items
FROM products
GROUP BY name
-- HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
ORDER BY name DESC;

Discussion

You can write single-line comments in SQL using --. After the --, you can write any comment you'd like as long as it's in one line. If you'd like to write a comment spanning multiple lines, you can use -- at the beginning of each comment line, just as in the example:

-- product names along with the number of items
-- products ordered by name in descending order

You can also use -- to comment out a whole line of code or a part of a line from some place in the middle of the line to the end of the line. For example, you can comment out AS count_items but leave the COUNT(*) in.

COUNT(*) -- AS count_items

Note that when you use -- you comment out the code to the end of the line, so you can’t use -- to comment out, for example, only the AS keyword. If you want to do this, take a look at Solution 2.

Solution 2: Use /* ... */ for multiline comments

Use /*...*/ to comment code that spans multiple lines. Here is what it looks like:

/* product names along with the number of items
   this time, the products aren't sorted */
SELECT
  name,
  COUNT(*) /* AS */ count_items
FROM products
GROUP BY name
/* HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
ORDER BY name DESC */;

Discussion

/*...*/ is much more powerful than --. With /*...*/, you can comment out any part of the code you'd like. The comment can be multiline, and you can decide where it ends. Just write /* at the beginning of the comment, and */ at the end.

For example, you can comment out a single word from the code, like the AS keyword:

COUNT(*) /*AS*/ count_items

Or you can comment out two lines but still leave the semicolon at the end:

/* HAVING COUNT(*) > 5
ORDER BY name DESC */;