What is the purpose of a query in a database?

A database query is designed to retrieve specific results from a database. The query is formulated by the user following predefined formats. After searching through the data, information pertinent to the query is filtered out of the data collection and reported to the user.

Databases are used to collect and store large amounts of information. Data is entered into a database through tables or forms. Since the amount of data in a database can be very large, queries are a feature that is necessary to make databases usable. The results of a query can be displayed in a report for presentation or printing.