IF()通过提供列名和条件作为IF()函数的第一个参数，可以在SELECT语句中使用MySQL函数。要理解它，请考虑表“学生”中的以下数据。
mysql> Select * from Students; +----+-----------+-----------+----------+----------------+ | id | Name | Country | Language | Course | +----+-----------+-----------+----------+----------------+ | 1 | Francis | UK | English | Literature | | 2 | Rick | USA | English | History | | 3 | Correy | USA | English | Computers | | 4 | Shane | France | French | Computers | | 5 | Validimir | Russia | Russian | Computers | | 6 | Steve | Australia | English | Geoinformatics | | 7 | Rahul | India | Hindi | Yoga | | 8 | Harshit | India | Hindi | Computers | +----+-----------+-----------+----------+----------------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec)
现在，借助下面的查询，IF()在SELECT语句中具有功能，我们将获取学生的姓名和课程详细信息，如果他们拥有英语，那么它将编写“ Eng_Language”，否则为“ Other language”。
mysql> Select Name, IF(Language = 'English', "Eng_Language", "Other Language") AS 'Native Language', Course from students; +-----------+-----------------+----------------+ | Name | Native Language | Course | +-----------+-----------------+----------------+ | Francis | Eng_Language | Literature | | Rick | Eng_Language | History | | Correy | Eng_Language | Computers | | Shane | Other Language | Computers | | Validimir | Other Language | Computers | | Steve | Eng_Language | Geoinformatics | | Rahul | Other Language | Yoga | | Harshit | Other Language | Computers | +-----------+-----------------+----------------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec)