Which SQL clause is used to filter records based on specific conditions?

The clause used to filter records based on specific conditions is the WHERE clause. This clause allows you to specify criteria that must be met for records to be selected in a query. For example, in a SQL query, you can use WHERE to filter results from a table to return only those rows that meet a given condition, such as finding employees with a salary greater than a specific amount or selecting products from a specific category.

The WHERE clause is applied before any grouping of data occurs, making it foundational for filtering individual records. This functionality is pivotal in ensuring that only the relevant data is processed or displayed, thus enhancing the efficiency and relevance of database queries.

In contrast, the other options serve different purposes within SQL. The FILTER clause is not a standard SQL keyword; HAVING is employed for filtering groups created by aggregate functions, particularly in conjunction with GROUP BY. ORDER BY is used to sort the result set based on one or more columns, but it does not contribute to filtering records as per specific conditions.