Differences in querying a table

Another common access pattern is reading multiple items from a table, based on your query criteria.

Querying a table with SQL

When using SQL the SELECT statement lets you query on key columns, non-key columns, or any combination. The WHERE clause determines which rows are returned, as shown in the following examples.

/* Return a single song, by primary key */

SELECT * FROM Music
WHERE Artist='No One You Know' AND SongTitle = 'Call Me Today';

/* Return all of the songs by an artist */

SELECT * FROM Music
WHERE Artist='No One You Know';

/* Return all of the songs by an artist, matching first part of title */

SELECT * FROM Music
WHERE Artist='No One You Know' AND SongTitle LIKE 'Call%';

/* Return all of the songs by an artist, with a particular word in the title...
...but only if the price is less than 1.00 */

SELECT * FROM Music
WHERE Artist='No One You Know' AND SongTitle LIKE '%Today%'
AND Price < 1.00;

Note that the primary key for this table consists of Artist and SongTitle.

Querying a table in DynamoDB

In Amazon DynamoDB, you can use either the DynamoDB API or PartiQL (a SQL-compatible query language) to query an item from a table.

DynamoDB API

With Amazon DynamoDB, you can use the Query operation to retrieve data in a similar fashion. The Query operation provides quick, efficient access to the physical locations where the data is stored. For more information, see Partitions and data distribution in DynamoDB.

You can use Query with any table or secondary index. You must specify an equality condition for the partition key's value, and you can optionally provide another condition for the sort key attribute if it is defined.

The KeyConditionExpression parameter specifies the key values that you want to query. You can use an optional FilterExpression to remove certain items from the results before they are returned to you.

In DynamoDB, you must use ExpressionAttributeValues as placeholders in expression parameters (such as KeyConditionExpression and FilterExpression). This is analogous to the use of bind variables in relational databases, where you substitute the actual values into the SELECT statement at runtime.

Note that the primary key for this table consists of Artist and SongTitle.

The following are some DynamoDB Query examples.

// Return a single song, by primary key

{
    TableName: "Music",
    KeyConditionExpression: "Artist = :a and SongTitle = :t",
    ExpressionAttributeValues: {
        ":a": "No One You Know",
        ":t": "Call Me Today"
    }
}

// Return all of the songs by an artist

{
    TableName: "Music",
    KeyConditionExpression: "Artist = :a",
    ExpressionAttributeValues: {
        ":a": "No One You Know"
    }
}

// Return all of the songs by an artist, matching first part of title

{
    TableName: "Music",
    KeyConditionExpression: "Artist = :a and begins_with(SongTitle, :t)",
    ExpressionAttributeValues: {
        ":a": "No One You Know",
        ":t": "Call"
    }
}

PartiQL for DynamoDB

With PartiQL, you can perform a query by using the ExecuteStatement operation and the Select statement on the partition key.

SELECT AlbumTitle, Year, Price
FROM Music
WHERE Artist='No One You Know' 

Using the SELECT statement in this way returns all the songs associated with this particular Artist.

For code examples using Select and ExecuteStatement, see PartiQL select statements for DynamoDB.