Which SQL clause is utilized to filter records in a query?

The clause used to filter records in an SQL query is the WHERE clause. This clause allows you to specify conditions that must be met for records to be included in the result set of a query. For example, if you want to retrieve only those records where a specific column meets a certain criteria (e.g., sales greater than $100), you would use the WHERE clause to indicate this filtering condition.

The WHERE clause can be used with various comparison operators such as '=', '>', '<', 'LIKE', and others, allowing for precise control over which records are returned based on the dataset’s attributes. It is essential for refining results and making queries more specific and useful.

In contrast, LIMIT serves the purpose of restricting the number of records returned but does not filter based on conditions. ORDER BY is used to sort the results based on one or more columns, while GROUP BY aggregates records based on specific column values, but it does not inherently filter records by criteria. The WHERE clause is distinct in its functionality of applying specific filtering conditions to queries.