IN — Match from a List

The IN keyword allows you to check if a value exists in a list of values.
It’s a clean and readable way to match against multiple values without chaining lots of OR conditions.

Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ... FROM table_name
WHERE column IN (value1, value2, ...);

Example 1: Employees in HR or Finance

SELECT name, department FROM employees
WHERE department IN ('HR', 'Finance');

This returns all employees who are in either the HR or Finance department.

Example 2: Employees aged 25, 28, or 30

SELECT name, age FROM employees
WHERE age IN (25, 28, 30);

This returns employees whose age is 25, 28, or 30.

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Tip

You can also combine IN with NOT to exclude values:

SELECT name FROM employees
WHERE department NOT IN ('IT', 'Sales');

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The IN clause helps you write cleaner, more readable filters when matching multiple values.