The QUERY function in Google Sheets

select lists the columns you want, in the order you want them. Refer to columns by their letter in the sheet: with data in A1:G14, B is the rep and G is revenue.

select * returns every column, and so does leaving select out altogether.

where keeps the rows that pass a test. Compare numbers with =, !=, <, >, <= and >=. Put text in single quotes: where C = 'East'.

Join tests with and and or, and flip one with not. When you mix and with or, add parentheses so the query reads the way you mean it.

Beyond =, QUERY has text tests: contains, starts with, ends with, like and matches. All of them are case-sensitive, so 'widget' does not match Widget.

like takes two wildcards: % for any run of characters and _ for exactly one. matches takes a regular expression that has to match the whole value, not just part of it.

To compare a date column, write the date as a date literal: the word date, then the date in single quotes in yyyy-mm-dd form. where A >= date '2026-08-01' keeps August onward.

Two tests make a range. Compare with < against the first day of the next period, so you never have to work out the last day of a month. QUERY also has year() and month(); note that month() counts from 0, so July is 6.

order by sorts the result. Add desc for largest first; asc is the default. List more than one column to break ties: order by C, G desc sorts by region, then by revenue within each region.

limit caps how many rows come back, which together with order by gives you a top-N list. offset skips rows first, so limit 3 offset 3 returns rows 4 to 6 of the sorted result.

group by collapses rows that share a value into one row. Every other column in select then needs an aggregate: sum, avg, count, min or max. Select a column that is neither grouped nor aggregated and QUERY returns an error.

Groups come back sorted by the grouped column. Add order by to sort them by a total instead.

label renames column headers in the result. A total gets a header like "sum Revenue" by default; label sum(G) 'Revenue' replaces it. Separate several labels with commas, and use an empty label, '', for no header text.

label comes last, after order by and limit.

The clauses work together as long as they appear in this order: select, where, group by, pivot, order by, limit, offset, label. where runs before grouping, so it decides which rows go into each total.

The query is just text, so you can build it from cells. Close the double quotes, join the cell with &, and open them again: "where C = '"&I2&"'". The single quotes stay in the text because the value is text.

Numbers need no single quotes: "where G > "&I4. Change I2 or I4 and the result updates.

When data is an array literal such as {B1:B14,G1:G14}, or the result of another function, column letters no longer apply. Refer to columns by position instead: Col1, Col2 and so on.

Open-ended ranges like C1:C include the empty rows below your data, so add where Col1 is not null to drop them.