Basel - which is main train station?
 

Is Basel SBB the equivalent of what would be the Hauptbahnhoff in Germany? I was looking up schedules from the Zurich airport and was asked to clarify my search. Thanks for any information and Happy New Year!

Looking up schedules on bahn.de, that is. "Flughafen" went o.k. for searching terms but "HBF" did not digest so well.

Yes.

There is i think a Basel Bad Hbf - the main station on the other side of the Rhine in German part of Basel but Basel SBB is the main station - there is also an SNCF, or French railway station in the Basel SBB station.

Thanks PalenqueBob!

As PalenqueBob has told you, you have three Railway stations in Basel, although the French station is very close to the Swiss one. German station is across the river, near Basel Messe.
Perhaps this link might help you:
http://switzerland.isyours.com/images/rg.maps.basel.pdf

Basel SBB is the station (the French "station" is the west wing of Basel SBB). I take the train from Zurich Airport there several times a year. Trains are frequent and take a little more than an hour.

The Swiss and French stations are more than "close to each other" they are both in one attached building.