COALESCE

COALESCE is a SQL function in the SELECT Queries category. Returns the first non-NULL value from the argument list. Useful for handling NULL defaults. The syntax is COALESCE(value1, value2, ..., default). It accepts value1, value2, ..., default. It returns first non-NULL value. A typical example: SELECT name, COALESCE(phone, email, 'No Contact') FROM employees; -- Returns phone, or fallback to email, or 'No Contact' A close relative is SELECT, which retrieves data from a table. The most fundamental SQL statement. A close relative is SELECT *, which selects all columns from a table. A close relative is SELECT DISTINCT, which returns only distinct (unique) values from the specified columns. More about this category: Core SELECT query clauses — SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, LIMIT. Related SELECT Queries entries: SELECT, SELECT *, SELECT DISTINCT, WHERE, AND / OR / NOT, IN, BETWEEN, LIKE.