Editing Microsoft Query

{{short description|Method of creating database queries}}
{{Refimprove|date=December 2009}}

'''Microsoft Query''' is a visual method of creating [[database query|database queries]] using examples based on a text string, the name of a [[document]] or a list of documents. The QBE system converts the user input into a formal database query using [[SQL|Structured Query Language]] (SQL) on the backend, allowing the user to perform powerful searches without having to explicitly compose them in SQL, and without even needing to know SQL. It is derived from Moshé M. Zloof's original [[Query by Example]] (QBE) implemented in the mid-1970s at [[IBM]]'s Research Centre in [[Yorktown, New York]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zloof |first=M.M. |doi= 10.1147/sj.164.0324 |title=Query-by-Example: A data base language |journal=IBM Systems Journal |volume=16 |issue=4 |date=1977 |pages=324–343 |citeseerx=10.1.1.86.3485}}</ref>

In the context of [[Microsoft Access]], QBE is used for introducing students to database querying, and as a user-friendly [[database management system]] for small businesses.

[[Microsoft Excel]] allows results of QBE queries to be embedded in spreadsheets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Use-Microsoft-Query-to-retrieve-external-data-42a2ea18-44d9-40b3-9c38-4c62f252da2e |title=Use Microsoft Query to retrieve external data |work=Office Support: Excel for Microsoft 365 Excel 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007 |publisher=Microsoft |date=}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Query by Example]]
*[[Microsoft Access]]
*[[Microsoft SQL Server]]
*[[Power Query]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikibooks|Structured Query Language}}
{{wikibooks|SQL dialects reference}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Microsoft Query By Example}}
[[Category:Data management]]
[[Category:Microsoft database software]]

{{Microsoft development tools}}

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