What Is SQL?: SQL Is A Standard Language For Accessing and Manipulating Databases
What Is SQL?: SQL Is A Standard Language For Accessing and Manipulating Databases
What is SQL?
SQL stands for Structured Query Language SQL lets you access and manipulate databases SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard
RDBMS
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems such as MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft Access. The data in RDBMS is stored in database objects called tables. A table is a collection of related data entries and it consists of columns and rows. Database Tables A database most often contains one or more tables. Each table is identified by a name (e.g. "Customers" or "Orders"). Tables contain records (rows) with data. In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database (included in MS Access and MS SQL Server). Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
City
PostalCode Country
12209 Germany Mexico
Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitucin 2222 Mataderos 2312
3 4 5
Mexico UK Sweden
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover London WA1 1DP Sq. Berglunds snabbkp Christina Berglund Berguvsvgen Lule 8 S-958 22
SQL Statements
Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements. The following SQL statement selects all the records in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers; In this tutorial we will teach you all about the different SQL statements. SQL is NOT case sensitive: SELECT is the same as select
SELECT - extracts data from a database UPDATE - updates data in a database DELETE - deletes data from a database INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database CREATE DATABASE - creates a new database ALTER DATABASE - modifies a database CREATE TABLE - creates a new table ALTER TABLE - modifies a table DROP TABLE - deletes a table CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key) DROP INDEX - deletes an index
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database. The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set. SQL SELECT Syntax SELECT column_name,column_name FROM table_name; and SELECT * FROM table_name; The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT CustomerName,City FROM Customers; The following SQL stament selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Example
SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Customers;
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE Country='Mexico';
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID=1;
Operator
= <> > < >= <= BETWEEN LIKE IN
Description
Equal Not equal. Note: In some versions of SQL this operator may be written as != Greater than Less than Greater than or equal Less than or equal Between an inclusive range Search for a pattern To specify multiple possible values for a column