SELECT @artist:=artist_name from artist where artist_id = 1;
Reveal the variable contents:
SELECT @artist;
Define a variable and value:
SET @fruit := 'banana';
SELECT @fruit;
This reveals the name of the track that was played most recently.
It shows how you can define a variable and then use it in a later query:
SELECT MAX(played) FROM played;
SELECT @recent := MAX(played) FROM played;
SELECT track_name FROM track INNER JOIN played
USING (artist_id, album_id, track_id)
WHERE played = @recent;
[Summarized from Learning MySQL]
