SQL Fundamentals - Part Five (subqueries)

• A subquery is a query inside of a query.
• Ever wanted to perform a SELECT inside of a SELECT? Well, you actually can.
• You start becoming a query magician.

We will work with this table

table name: items

Display items where the price is higher than average

SELECT AVG("price")
  FROM items
;
-- 70000

SELECT *
    FROM items

  WHERE "price" >= 70000;

This is fine, but it can be done in a single query like this:

SELECT *
    FROM items

  WHERE price >= (SELECT AVG("price")
                    FROM items
);

Yeah, we are querying a SELECT inside of a SELECT. That's what a subquery is.

Display items where the price is higher than average, but for each category

SELECT *
    FROM items

  WHERE price >= (SELECT AVG("price")
                    FROM items

                    GROUP BY "category");

This will return an error, because it will return two averages. The solution is to use aliases to discern them.

SELECT *
    FROM items
 AS i1
  WHERE i1."price" >= (
		SELECT AVG(i2."price")
                    FROM items
 AS i2
                    WHERE i1."category" = i2."category"
  );

• Subqueries will make your life easier, otherwise you have to write queries one by one.

🧠 Subquery Tips:

• Use subqueries when filtering against aggregated or correlated data.
• Correlated subqueries reference the outer query—use aliases to stay sane.
• Subqueries inside WHERE, SELECT, or even FROM are all valid and powerful.
• Avoid unnecessary subqueries in production—they can destroy performance.
• If you are getting errors, try writing the function without subqueries.
• SQL: Practice makes muscle memory.