Select

The Select tools pull a subset of features out of a layer and write it as a new layer. Nothing is deleted and nothing is hidden: you get a second layer holding only what matched, which you can then style, analyse or export on its own.

Two ways to say what you want: by what the data says, or by where the features are.

Start here

Select by value

Extracts the features whose attribute matches a condition. Buildings taller than 30 metres, parcels whose status is “vacant”, roads whose name starts with “Rue de”.

Parameter	What to set
Input layer	The layer to filter.
Field	The attribute to test.
Operator	=, ≠, >, ≥, <, ≤, contains and starts with for text, is empty and is not empty to find gaps in your data.
Value	What to compare against. Left unused by the two emptiness operators.

Comparisons are numeric when both sides are numbers, and textual otherwise. A field holding "12" as text will not answer a > test the way you expect, which is worth checking when a filter returns nothing.

Select by location

Extracts the features by their relationship to a second layer. The wells inside a protected area, the roads crossing a floodplain, the addresses outside every service zone.

Parameter	What to set
Input layer	The layer to filter.
Overlay layer	The layer to compare against.
Predicate	intersects, within, contains, or disjoint for everything that has no contact at all.

Any geometry type works on both sides. When you also want the second layer’s attributes on the result, use a spatial join instead, in Join.

All the tools

Tool	What it does
Select by value	Extracts the features whose attribute matches a condition, into a new layer.
Select by location	Extracts the features by their spatial relationship to a second layer: intersects, within, contains or disjoint.