Practical SQL Handbook, The: Using SQL Variants, Fourth Edition

Specifying Tables: The FROM Clause

The table list names the table(s), the view(s), or both, that contain columns included in the SELECT list and in the WHERE clause. (Views are covered in Chapter 9—for now, just consider them a kind of table.) Separate table names in the table list with commas. The FROM syntax looks like this:

SELECT select_list
FROM [qualifier.]table_name | view_name [alias]
  [, [qualifier.]table_name | view_name [alias] ]...

The full naming syntax for tables and views, with qualifying database and owner names, is always permitted in the table list. It's necessary, however, only when there might be some confusion about the name.