Apex SOQL – Field expression – Syntax

Apex SOQL Field Expressions

A SOQL field expression is the condition you write inside the WHERE clause to filter Salesforce records. It contains a field name, a comparison operator, and a value. In Apex, the value can be a literal value, a date literal, a bind variable, or a collection used with operators such as IN.

FieldName ComparisonOperator Value

This tutorial explains SOQL field expression syntax, escape sequences, date literals, date and DateTime formats, and common Apex examples. For the full reference, use Salesforce’s official SOQL documentation for SELECT syntax and condition expressions.

Basic SOQL WHERE Field Expression Syntax in Apex

A field expression is normally written after WHERE. The field must belong to the queried object, or to a valid relationship path from that object.

SELECT Id, Name
FROM Account
WHERE Industry = 'Education'

In the above query, Industry = 'Education' is the field expression. Industry is the field name, = is the comparison operator, and 'Education' is the value.

SOQL Comparison Operators Used in Field Expressions

SOQL supports comparison operators that are used to compare field values with literals, variables, lists, or date ranges.

Use AND, OR, and parentheses when more than one field expression is required.

SELECT Id, Name
FROM Contact
WHERE Email != null
AND (LeadSource = 'Web' OR LeadSource = 'Phone Inquiry')

Writing SOQL Queries Inside Apex with Bind Variables

When a SOQL query is written inside Apex, bind variables are preferred over string concatenation. A bind variable is written with a colon before the Apex variable name.

String accountName = 'TutorialKart';
List<Account> accounts = [
    SELECT Id, Name
    FROM Account
    WHERE Name = :accountName
];

Bind variables make Apex SOQL easier to read and help avoid unsafe dynamic query construction. They can be used with single values, sets, lists, and other supported Apex variables.

Set<Id> accountIds = new Set<Id>();
accountIds.add('001000000000001AAA');
accountIds.add('001000000000002AAA');

List<Contact> contacts = [
    SELECT Id, FirstName, LastName, AccountId
    FROM Contact
    WHERE AccountId IN :accountIds
];

SOQL Escape Sequences for Quotes, Tabs, New Lines, LIKE Percent and Underscore

SOQL defines several escape sequences that are valid in queries so that you can include special characters in your queries. You can escape new lines, carriage returns, tabs, quotes, and more. The escape character for SOQL is the backslash (\) character. Some of the escape sequences in SOQL are

In practice, the most common escape cases are single quotes in text values and the % or _ wildcard characters in LIKE expressions. In a LIKE pattern, % matches zero or more characters and _ matches exactly one character. Escape them when you want to search for the literal character.

Examples – Escaped Characters

SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name LIKE 'Tut%';

From above query, Select all accounts whose name begins with the three character sequences ‘Tut’.

SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name LIKE 'Tut\%';

It selects, all accounts whose name exactly matches the four character sequences ‘Tut%’.

SELECT Id FROM Account WHERE Name LIKE 'Tut\%%';

It selects, all accounts whose name begins with the four character sequence ‘Tut%’.

Escaping Single Quotes in Dynamic Apex SOQL

If you build a dynamic SOQL string in Apex, escape user-entered text before placing it inside a quoted string. Prefer bind variables where possible. If dynamic SOQL is required, use String.escapeSingleQuotes() for text values.

String searchText = 'Bob\'s Bakery';
String safeSearchText = String.escapeSingleQuotes(searchText);

String queryText = 'SELECT Id, Name FROM Account WHERE Name = \'' + safeSearchText + '\'';
List<Account> accounts = Database.query(queryText);

For static SOQL in Apex, use a bind variable instead of joining strings.

String searchText = 'Bob\'s Bakery';
List<Account> accounts = [
    SELECT Id, Name
    FROM Account
    WHERE Name = :searchText
];

Date Literals and Date Formats in SOQL WHERE Conditions

Date literals in salesforce are used to compare a range of values to the value in the Date or dateTime field. When querying the record using the date field in SOQL statement, date literals are used and the each literal is a range of time beginning with midnight (00:00:00).

Some of the Date literals that can be used in SOQL statements are

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c = YESTERDAY

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c > TODAY

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining Date__c = TOMORROW

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c > LAST_WEEK

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c < THIS_WEEK

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c = NEXT_WEEK

SELECT Id FROM Employee__c WHERE Joining_Date__c > LAST_MONTH ...

The examples above show the idea of date filtering. In real SOQL, make sure the field API name is valid, such as Joining_Date__c, and the date literal name is typed correctly.

For Apex practice, Salesforce Trailhead has a useful module on writing SOQL queries in Apex.

Date Formats used in SOQL Statements

In SOQL statement, fieldExpression used different  date formats for different Date and DateTime fields in Salesforce. This Date formats in SOQL are used to filter on dateTime fields.

Date formats in SOQL are as follows.

For a Date field, a date-only value such as 2026-06-22 is enough. For a DateTime field such as CreatedDate, use a full DateTime value with a time zone, or use a SOQL date literal.

SELECT Id, Name, CreatedDate
FROM Account
WHERE CreatedDate >= 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z
AND CreatedDate < 2026-07-01T00:00:00Z

The Z suffix represents UTC time. If you use a time zone offset, write it in the supported format, for example 2026-06-01T00:00:00+05:30.

Getting Many Fields from an Object in SOQL with FIELDS()

To query many fields without listing every field name manually, SOQL supports the FIELDS() function in supported API contexts. It is commonly used as FIELDS(STANDARD), FIELDS(CUSTOM), or FIELDS(ALL). Use it carefully because querying too many fields can increase response size and affect performance.

SELECT FIELDS(STANDARD)
FROM Account
LIMIT 10

For production Apex, it is usually better to select only the fields the code actually uses. This keeps queries clear and avoids retrieving unnecessary data.

Common SOQL Field Expression Mistakes in Apex

• Using the field label instead of the API name: SOQL needs Joining_Date__c, not the label shown on the page layout.
• Forgetting quotes around string values: Text and picklist values must be quoted, for example Status__c = 'Active'.
• Quoting date literals: Write CreatedDate = TODAY, not CreatedDate = 'TODAY'.
• Using = null incorrectly in logic: SOQL supports null comparisons, but make sure the field type and business meaning are correct.
• Building unsafe dynamic SOQL: Prefer bind variables. When dynamic SOQL is necessary, escape text and validate field names or object names before adding them to the query string.

Apex SOQL Field Expression Quick Reference

FAQs on Apex SOQL Field Expressions, Date Literals and Escape Sequences

Editorial QA Checklist for This Apex SOQL Tutorial

• Verify that every SOQL field expression uses a valid API field name, not a field label.
• Check that all new code blocks use PrismJS language classes such as language-sql syntax or language-java syntax.
• Confirm that date literals such as TODAY, LAST_WEEK, and LAST_N_DAYS:30 are not placed inside single quotes.
• Review examples using LIKE so that wildcard matching and escaped literal % or _ characters are explained separately.
• Prefer Apex bind variables over dynamic SOQL concatenation unless the example is specifically about dynamic SOQL.

Conclusion

In this Apex Tutorial, we learned the syntax and examples for Field Expression of the WHERE clause in a SOQL query.