Module 6: SQL Statements

SQL Statements
Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements. The
following SQL statement will select all the records in the "Persons" table:
SELECT * FROM Persons
Keep in Mind That...

SQL is not case sensitive

Semicolon after SQL Statements?

Some database systems require a semicolon at the end of each SQL statement. Semicolon is
the standard way to separate each SQL statement in database systems that allow more than
one SQL statement to be executed in the same call to the server.
DATABASE CREATION
We use the following CREATE DATABASE statement:
CREATE DATABASE my_db
To show all databases we use the syntax:
show databases
To delete the database use the syntax:
drop database database_name
Note: Before you can proceed in creating your tables use first the database where you will
create your tables. The syntax should be executed:
use database_name
CREATE TABLE Example
Now we want to create a table called "Persons" that contains five columns: P_Id, LastName,
FirstName, Address, and City.
We use the following CREATE TABLE statement:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int,
LastName varchar(255),
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
The P_Id column is of type int and will hold a number. The LastName, FirstName, Address, and
City columns are of type varchar with a maximum length of 255 characters.
SQL INSERT INTO Example
We have the following "Persons" table:
P_Id
1

LastName
Hansen

FirstName
Ola

Address
Timoteivn 10

City
Sandnes

2
3

Svendson
Pettersen

Tove
Kari

Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

Sandnes
Stavanger

Now we want to insert a new row in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
INSERT INTO Persons
VALUES (4,'Nilsen', 'Johan', 'Bakken 2', 'Stavanger')
The "Persons" table will now look like this:
P_Id
1
2
3
4

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen
Nilsen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari
Johan

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20
Bakken 2

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger
Stavanger

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only add data in specific columns. The following SQL statement will add a
new row, but only add data in the "P_Id", "LastName" and the "FirstName" columns:
INSERT INTO Persons (P_Id, LastName, FirstName)
VALUES (5, 'Tjessem', 'Jakob')
The "Persons" table will now look like this:
P_Id
2
3
4
5
6

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen
Nilsen
Tjessem

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari
Johan
Jakob

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20
Bakken 2

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger
Stavanger

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari
Johan
Jakob

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20
Bakken 2
Nissestien 67

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger
Stavanger
Sandnes

SQL DELETE Example

The "Persons" table:
P_Id
1
2
3
4
5

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen
Nilsen
Tjessem

Now we want to delete the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table. We use the
following SQL statement:
DELETE FROM Persons

WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'

The "Persons" table will now look like this:
P_Id
1
2
3
4

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen
Nilsen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari
Johan

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20
Bakken 2

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger
Stavanger

Delete All Rows

It is possible to delete all rows in a table without deleting the table. This means that the table
structure, attributes, and indexes will be intact:
DELETE FROM table_name or DELETE * FROM table_name
TRUNCATE TABLE_NAME;
The UPDATE Statement
The UPDATE statement is used to update existing records in a table.
SQL UPDATE Syntax
UPDATE table_name
SET column1=value, column2=value2,...
WHERE some_column=some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which
record or records that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be
updated!
SQL UPDATE Example
The "Persons" table:
P_Id
LastName
FirstName
Address
City
1
Hansen
Ola
Timoteivn 10
Sandnes
2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
3
Pettersen
Kari
Storgt 20
Stavanger
4
Nilsen
Johan
Bakken 2
Stavanger
5
Tjessem
Jakob
Now we want to update the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table. We use the
following SQL statement:
UPDATE Persons
SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes'
WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'
The "Persons" table will now look like this:
P_Id
1
2
3

LastNamez
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger

4
Nilsen
Johan
Bakken 2
Stavanger
5
Tjessem
Jakob
Nissestien 67
Sandnes
SQL UPDATE Warning
Be careful when updating records. If we had omitted the WHERE clause in the example above,
like this:
UPDATE Persons
SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes'
The "Persons" table would have looked like this:
P_Id
1
2
3
4
5

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen
Nilsen
Tjessem

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari
Johan
Jakob

Address
Nissestien 67
Nissestien 67
Nissestien 67
Nissestien 67
Nissestien 67

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Sandnes
Sandnes
Sandnes

An SQL SELECT Example

The "Persons" table:
P_Id
1
2
3

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger

Now we want to select the content of the columns named "LastName" and "FirstName" from the
table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari

SELECT * Example
Now we want to select all the columns from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT
statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
Tip: The asterisk (*) is a quick way of selecting all columns!
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

1
2
3

Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

Ola
Tove
Kari

Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger

Now we want to select only the distinct values from the column named "City" from the table
above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
City
Sandnes
Stavanger
WHERE Clause Example
The "Persons" table:
P_Id
1
2
3

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger

Now we want to select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes" from the table above. We
use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City='Sandnes'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
1
2

LastName
Hansen
Svendson

FirstName
Ola
Tove

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23

City
Sandnes
Sandnes

Quotes Around Text Fields

SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept double
quotes). Although, numeric values should not be enclosed in quotes.
For text values:
This is correct:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove'
This is wrong:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName=Tove

For numeric values:

This is correct:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year=1965
This is wrong:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year='1965'
Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause
With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used:
Operator
=
<>
>
<
>=
<=
BETWEEN
LIKE
IN

Description
Equal
Not equal
Greater than
Less than
Greater than or equal
Less than or equal
Between an inclusive range
Search for a pattern
If you know the exact value you want to return for at least one of the columns

The AND & OR Operators

The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition and the second condition is true.
The OR operator displays a record if either the first condition or the second condition is true.
AND Operator Example
The "Persons" table:
P_Id
1
2
3

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

FirstName
Ola
Tove
Kari

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23
Storgt 20

City
Sandnes
Sandnes
Stavanger

Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" AND the last name
equal to "Svendson": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName='Tove'
AND LastName='Svendson'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

OR Operator Example
Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" OR the first name
equal to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName='Tove'
OR FirstName='Ola'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
1
2

LastName
Hansen
Svendson

FirstName
Ola
Tove

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23

City
Sandnes
Sandnes

Combining AND & OR

You can also combine AND and OR (use parenthesis to form complex expressions). Now we
want to select only the persons with the last name equal to "Svendson" AND the first name
equal to "Tove" OR to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE
LastName='Svendson'
AND (FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola')
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
LastName
FirstName
Address
City
2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
The ORDER BY Keyword
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by a specified column. The ORDER BY
keyword sort the records in ascending order by default.
ORDER BY Example
The "Persons" table:
P_Id
LastName
FirstName
Address
City
1
Hansen
Ola
Timoteivn 10
Sandnes
2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
3
Pettersen
Kari
Storgt 20
Stavanger
4
Nilsen
Tom
Vingvn 23
Stavanger
Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the
persons by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
ORDER BY LastName
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

1
4
3
2

Hansen
Nilsen
Pettersen
Svendson

Ola
Tom
Kari
Tove

Timoteivn 10
Vingvn 23
Storgt 20
Borgvn 23

Sandnes
Stavanger
Stavanger
Sandnes

ORDER BY DESC Example

Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the
persons descending by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
ORDER BY LastName DESC
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
LastName
FirstName
Address
City
2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
3
Pettersen
Kari
Storgt 20
Stavanger
4
Nilsen
Tom
Vingvn 23
Stavanger
1
Hansen
Ola
Timoteivn 10
Sandnes
SQL Wildcards
SQL wildcards can substitute for one or more characters when searching for data in a database.
SQL wildcards must be used with the SQL LIKE operator. With SQL, the following wildcards can
be used:
Wildcard
%
_
[charlist]
[^charlist]
or

Description
A substitute for zero or more characters
A substitute for exactly one character
Any single character in charlist
Any single character not in charlist

[!charlist]
SQL Wildcard Examples
We have the following "Persons" table:
P_Id
LastName
FirstName
Address
City
1
Hansen
Ola
Timoteivn 10
Sandnes
2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
3
Pettersen
Kari
Storgt 20
Stavanger
Using the % Wildcard
Now we want to select the persons living in a city that starts with "sa" from the "Persons" table.
We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City LIKE 'sa%'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
1

LastName
Hansen

FirstName
Ola

Address
Timoteivn 10

City
Sandnes

2
Svendson
Tove
Borgvn 23
Sandnes
Next, we want to select the persons living in a city that contains the pattern "nes" from the
"Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City LIKE '%nes%'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id
1
2

LastName
Hansen
Svendson

FirstName
Ola
Tove

Address
Timoteivn 10
Borgvn 23

City
Sandnes
Sandnes

Activity I
Create a database name exercise1
1. Create a table name Employee with idno integer primary key, emp_name
varchar(200) , position varchar(300) , salary double, yrs_service integer.
2. Add the following records in the employee table.
Idno
111
222
333
444
555
666
777
888
999
110

Emp_name
Juan
Maria
Pedro
Jose
Marcos
Jeffrey
Efren
Joan
Grace
Hans

Position
Clerk1
Secretary
Manager
Clerk
Supervisor
Clerk1
Accountant
Secretary
Clerk
Manager

Yrs_service
Salary
2
6000
2
8000
5
10000
1
5000
8
12000
3
7000
3
9000
4
9000
1
5500
6
11000

3. Update the following records

a. Change yrs_service to 4 whose yrs_service =3
b. Change yrs_service to 3 whose idno =222
c. Change position to Manager whose idno=777
d. Change position to Accountant whose idno = 666
e. Change salary to 9,500.00 whose position = Secretary
4. Delete Records whose yrs_service = 1
5. Delete Records whose position = Clerk1
6. Delete Record whose idno = 555
Activity II
Cust_no varchar(2) primary key, custname varchar(50), pro_no int, proname varchar(100),
Quantity int

Table Name: Order

Cust_no
Custname
M1
Efren
M2
Hans
C3
Giovanni
M3
Joan
C2
Clarissa
C1
Grace
L1
Lirio
L2
Jane
L3
Hazel

Pro_no
Pro_name
101
Pencil
10
103
Eraser
5
101
Pencil
104
Ballpen
103
Eraser
104
Ballpen
105
Notebook
4
102
Stapler
5
102
Stapler
6

Quatity
8
3
6
3

1. Display the whole records of customers who purchased product id 104.

2. Display the customer name, the product name and quantity of customers who
purchase exceeds 5 items.
3. Display records whose customer name includes letter A in its name.
4. Display records whose customer no starts with M.
5. Display records whose customer no ends with 1.
6. Display records in sorted order by customer name.
7. Display customer name and product name whose quantity lower than 5 or whose
customer no starts with M.
8. Display records whose quantity is in between 5 to 8.
9. Display records whose product name is Pencil or Eraser.
10. Display records whose product name is pencil or whose cust_no ends with 3.