[discrete]
[[esql-keep]]
=== `KEEP`

The `KEEP` command enables you to specify what columns are returned and the
order in which they are returned.

To limit the columns that are returned, use a comma-separated list of column
names. The columns are returned in the specified order:

[source.merge.styled,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=keep]
----
[%header.monospaced.styled,format=dsv,separator=|]
|===
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=keep-result]
|===

Rather than specify each column by name, you can use wildcards to return all
columns with a name that matches a pattern:

[source,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=keepWildcard]
----

The asterisk wildcard (`*`) by itself translates to all columns that do not
match the other arguments. This query will first return all columns with a name
that starts with an h, followed by all other columns:

[source,esql]
----
include::{esql-specs}/docs.csv-spec[tag=keepDoubleWildcard]
----
