The SQL EXISTS Operator

The EXISTS operator is used to test for the existence of any record in a subquery.

The EXISTS operator returns TRUE if the subquery returns one or more records.

Syntax

  SELECT column_name(s)
  FROM  table_name 
  WHERE EXISTS (
 SELECT column_name
  FROM  table_name   WHERE condition);

Demo Products table

This product table is used in examples:

Demo Supplier table

This supplier table is used for examples:

SQL EXISTS Example

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price less than 1000:

Example

 SELECT Supplier_name
 FROM  supplier 
 WHERE EXISTS (
 SELECT Product_name
 FROM  products   WHERE 
products.Supplier_id = supplier.Supplier_id    AND  Price < 1000);

You can click on above box to edit the code and run again.

Output

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price equal to 1100:

Example

 SELECT Supplier_name
 FROM  supplier 
  WHERE EXISTS (
 SELECT Product_name
 FROM  products   WHERE 
products.Supplier_id = supplier.Supplier_id    AND  Price = 1100);

You can click on above box to edit the code and run again.