Which SQL clause specifies the conditions that must be met?

The clause that specifies the conditions that must be met in an SQL query is the WHERE clause. This clause is used to filter records and ensure that only those rows that satisfy the specified conditions are included in the results of the query.

For instance, if a database contains employee records and you want to retrieve data for employees in a specific department, the WHERE clause would allow you to set that condition. This ability to filter data based on specific criteria is crucial in SQL, as it helps narrow down results to what is relevant to the user’s needs.

The other options serve different purposes: the FROM clause indicates the database table from which to select or delete data, the JOIN clause is utilized to combine rows from two or more tables based on a related column, and the ORDER BY clause dictates how the results should be sorted, based on one or more columns. Each of these clauses plays a distinct role, but only the WHERE clause is specifically designed for setting filtering conditions.