SQL is a standard computer language for accessing and manipulating databases.

In this tutorial you will learn how to use SQL to access and manipulate data in
Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server, DB2, Access, and other database systems.

Introduction to SQL

SQL is a standard computer language for accessing and manipulating databases.

What is SQL?
 SQL stands for Structured Query Language
 SQL allows you to access a database
 SQL is an ANSI standard computer language
 SQL can execute queries against a database
 SQL can retrieve data from a database
 SQL can insert new records in a database
 SQL can delete records from a database
 SQL can update records in a database
 SQL is easy to learn

SQL is a Standard - BUT....

SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard computer language for
accessing and manipulating database systems. SQL statements are used to retrieve and
update data in a database. SQL works with database programs like MS Access, DB2,
Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc.

Unfortunately, there are many different versions of the SQL language, but to be in
compliance with the ANSI standard, they must support the same major keywords in a
similar manner (such as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, WHERE, and others).

Note: Most of the SQL database programs also have their own proprietary extensions in
addition to the SQL standard!
SQL 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.

Below is an example of a table called "Persons":

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

The table above contains three records (one for each person) and four columns
(LastName, FirstName, Address, and City).

SQL Queries
With SQL, we can query a database and have a result set returned.

A query like this:

SELECT LastName FROM Persons

Gives a result set like this:

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

Note: Some database systems require a semicolon at the end of the SQL statement. We
don't use the semicolon in our tutorials.

SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML)

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a syntax for executing queries. But the SQL
language also includes a syntax to update, insert, and delete records.
These query and update commands together form the Data Manipulation Language
(DML) part of SQL:

 SELECT - extracts data from a database table

 UPDATE - updates data in a database table
 DELETE - deletes data from a database table
 INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database table

SQL Data Definition Language (DDL)

The Data Definition Language (DDL) part of SQL permits database tables to be created
or deleted. We can also define indexes (keys), specify links between tables, and impose
constraints between database tables.

The most important DDL statements in SQL are: 

 CREATE TABLE - creates a new database table

 ALTER TABLE - alters (changes) a database table
 DROP TABLE - deletes a database table
 CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key)
 DROP INDEX - deletes an index

SQL SELECT Statement

The SQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from a table. The tabular result is stored in a
result table (called the result-set).

Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name

Note: SQL statements are not case sensitive. SELECT is the same as select.

SQL SELECT Example

To select the content of columns named "LastName" and "FirstName", from the database
table called "Persons", use a SELECT statement like this:

SELECT LastName,FirstName FROM Persons

The database table "Persons":

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

The result

LastName FirstName
Hansen Ola
Svendson Tove
Pettersen Kari

Select All Columns

To select all columns from the "Persons" table, use a * symbol instead of column names,
like this: 

SELECT * FROM Persons

Result

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

The Result Set

The result from a SQL query is stored in a result-set. Most database software systems
allow navigation of the result set with programming functions, like: Move-To-First-
Record, Get-Record-Content, Move-To-Next-Record, etc.

Programming functions like these are not a part of this tutorial. To learn about accessing
data with function calls, please visit our ADO tutorial.

Semicolon after SQL Statements?

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.

Some SQL tutorials end each SQL statement with a semicolon. Is this necessary? We are
using MS Access and SQL Server 2000 and we do not have to put a semicolon after each
SQL statement, but some database programs force you to use it.

The SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The DISTINCT keyword is used to return only distinct (different) values.

The SELECT statement returns information from table columns. But what if we only
want to select distinct elements?

With SQL, all we need to do is to add a DISTINCT keyword to the SELECT statement:

Syntax
SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name

Using the DISTINCT keyword

To select ALL values from the column named "Company" we use a SELECT statement
like this:

SELECT Company FROM Orders

"Orders" table
Company OrderNumber
Sega 3412
W3Schools 2312
Trio 4678
W3Schools 6798

Result

Company
Sega
W3Schools
Trio
W3Schools

Note that "W3Schools" is listed twice in the result-set.

To select only DIFFERENT values from the column named "Company" we use a
SELECT DISTINCT statement like this:

SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM Orders

Result:

Company
Sega
W3Schools
Trio

Now "W3Schools" is listed only once in the result-set.

SQL WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to specify a selection criterion.

The WHERE Clause 
To conditionally select data from a table, a WHERE clause can be added to the SELECT
statement.

Syntax
SELECT column FROM table
WHERE column operator value

With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used:

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

Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=

Using the WHERE Clause

To select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes", we add a WHERE clause to the
SELECT statement: 

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE City='Sandnes'

"Persons" table

LastName FirstName Address City Year

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes 1951
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes 1978
Svendson Stale Kaivn 18 Sandnes 1980
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger 1960

Result

LastName FirstName Address City Year

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes 1951
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes 1978
Svendson Stale Kaivn 18 Sandnes 1980

Using Quotes
Note that we have used single quotes around the conditional values in the examples.

SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept
double quotes). 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'

The LIKE Condition

The LIKE condition is used to specify a search for a pattern in a column.
Syntax
SELECT column FROM table
WHERE column LIKE pattern

A "%" sign can be used to define wildcards (missing letters in the pattern) both before
and after the pattern.

Using LIKE
The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that start with an 'O':

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE FirstName LIKE 'O%'

The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that end with an 'a':

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE FirstName LIKE '%a'

The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that contain the pattern
'la':

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE FirstName LIKE '%la%'

SQL INSERT INTO

Statement

The INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new rows into a table.

Syntax
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2,....)
You can also specify the columns for which you want to insert data:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2,...)

VALUES (value1, value2,....)

Insert a New Row

This "Persons" table:

LastName FirstName Address City

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

And this SQL statement:

INSERT INTO Persons 

VALUES ('Hetland', 'Camilla', 'Hagabakka 24', 'Sandnes')

Will give this result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Hetland Camilla Hagabakka 24 Sandnes

Insert Data in Specified Columns

This "Persons" table:

LastName FirstName Address City

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Hetland Camilla Hagabakka 24 Sandnes

And This SQL statement:

INSERT INTO Persons (LastName, Address)

VALUES ('Rasmussen', 'Storgt 67')

Will give this result:

LastName FirstName Address City
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Hetland Camilla Hagabakka 24 Sandnes
Rasmussen   Storgt 67  

SQL UPDATE Statement

The Update Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to modify the data in a table.

Syntax
UPDATE table_name
SET column_name = new_value
WHERE column_name = some_value

Person:

LastName FirstName Address City

Nilsen Fred Kirkegt 56 Stavanger
Rasmussen   Storgt 67  

Update one Column in a Row

We want to add a first name to the person with a last name of "Rasmussen":

UPDATE Person SET FirstName = 'Nina'

WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Nilsen Fred Kirkegt 56 Stavanger
Rasmussen Nina Storgt 67  

Update several Columns in a Row

We want to change the address and add the name of the city:

UPDATE Person
SET Address = 'Stien 12', City = 'Stavanger'
WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Nilsen Fred Kirkegt 56 Stavanger
Rasmussen Nina Stien 12 Stavanger

SQL DELETE Statement

The DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete rows in a table.

Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE column_name = some_value

Person:

LastName FirstName Address City

Nilsen Fred Kirkegt 56 Stavanger
Rasmussen Nina Stien 12 Stavanger
Delete a Row
"Nina Rasmussen" is going to be deleted:

DELETE FROM Person WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result

LastName FirstName Address City

Nilsen Fred Kirkegt 56 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

SQL Try It

Test your SQL Skills

On this page you can test your SQL skills.

We will use the Customers table in the Northwind database:

CompanyName ContactName Address City

Alfreds Futterkiste  Maria Anders  Obere Str. 57  Berlin 
Berglunds snabbköp  Christina Berglund  Berguvsvägen 8  Luleå 
Centro comercial Francisco Chang  Sierras de Granada México D.F. 
Moctezuma  9993 
Ernst Handel  Roland Mendel  Kirchgasse 6  Graz 
FISSA Fabrica Inter. Diego Roel  C/ Moralzarzal, 86  Madrid 
Salchichas S.A. 
Galería del gastrónomo  Eduardo Saavedra  Rambla de Cataluña, Barcelona 
23 
Island Trading  Helen Bennett  Garden House Crowther Cowes 
Way 
Königlich Essen  Philip Cramer  Maubelstr. 90  Brandenburg 
Laughing Bacchus Wine Yoshi Tannamuri  1900 Oak St.  Vancouver 
Cellars 
Magazzini Alimentari Giovanni Rovelli  Via Ludovico il Moro Bergamo 
Riuniti  22 
North/South  Simon Crowther  South House 300 London 
Queensbridge 
Paris spécialités  Marie Bertrand  265, boulevard Paris 
Charonne 
Rattlesnake Canyon Paula Wilson  2817 Milton Dr.  Albuquerque 
Grocery 
Simons bistro  Jytte Petersen  Vinbæltet 34  København 
The Big Cheese  Liz Nixon  89 Jefferson Way Suite Portland 
2 
Vaffeljernet  Palle Ibsen  Smagsløget 45  Århus 
Wolski Zajazd  Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68  Warszawa 
Piestrzeniewicz 

To preserve space, the table above is a subset of the Customers table used in the example
below.

Try it Yourself
To see how SQL works, you can copy the SQL statements below and paste them into the
textarea, or you can make your own SQL statements.

SELECT * FROM customers

SELECT CompanyName, ContactName

FROM customers

SELECT * FROM customers

WHERE companyname LIKE 'a%'
SELECT CompanyName, ContactName
FROM customers
WHERE CompanyName > 'g'
AND ContactName > 'g'

See the Result

SQL ORDER BY

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result.

Sort the Rows

The ORDER BY clause is used to sort the rows.

Orders:

Company OrderNumber
Sega 3412
ABC Shop 5678
W3Schools 6798
W3Schools 2312

Example
To display the company names in alphabetical order:

SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders

ORDER BY Company

Result:

Company OrderNumber
ABC Shop  5678
Sega 3412
W3Schools 6798
W3Schools 2312

Example
To display the company names in alphabetical order AND the OrderNumber in numerical
order:

SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders

ORDER BY Company, OrderNumber

Result:

Company OrderNumber
ABC Shop 5678
Sega 3412
W3Schools 2312
W3Schools 6798

Example
To display the company names in reverse alphabetical order:

SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders

ORDER BY Company DESC

Result:

Company OrderNumber
W3Schools 6798
W3Schools 2312
Sega 3412
ABC Shop 5678

Example
To display the company names in reverse alphabetical order AND the OrderNumber in
numerical order:

SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders

ORDER BY Company DESC, OrderNumber ASC

Result:

Company OrderNumber
W3Schools 2312
W3Schools 6798
Sega 3412
ABC Shop 5678

Notice that there are two equal company names (W3Schools) in the result above. The
only time you will see the second column in ASC order would be when there are
duplicated values in the first sort column, or a handful of nulls.

SQL AND & OR

AND & OR
AND and OR join two or more conditions in a WHERE clause.

The AND operator displays a row if ALL conditions listed are true. The OR operator
displays a row if ANY of the conditions listed are true.

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName FirstName Address City
Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Svendson Stephen Kaivn 18 Sandnes

Example
Use AND to display each person with the first name equal to "Tove", and the last name
equal to "Svendson":

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE FirstName='Tove'
AND LastName='Svendson'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

Example
Use OR to display each person with the first name equal to "Tove", or the last name equal
to "Svendson":

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE firstname='Tove'
OR lastname='Svendson'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Svendson Stephen Kaivn 18 Sandnes

Example
You can also combine AND and OR (use parentheses to form complex expressions):
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE
(FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Stephen')
AND LastName='Svendson'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Svendson Stephen Kaivn 18 Sandnes

SQL IN

IN
The IN operator may be used if you know the exact value you want to return for at least
one of the columns.

SELECT column_name FROM table_name

WHERE column_name IN (value1,value2,..)

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName FirstName Address City
Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Nordmann Anna Neset 18 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

Example 1
To display the persons with LastName equal to "Hansen" or "Pettersen", use the
following SQL:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE LastName IN ('Hansen','Pettersen')

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

SQL BETWEEN

BETWEEN ... AND

The BETWEEN ... AND operator selects a range of data between two values. These
values can be numbers, text, or dates.

SELECT column_name FROM table_name

WHERE column_name
BETWEEN value1 AND value2

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName FirstName Address City
Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Nordmann Anna Neset 18 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

Example 1
To display the persons alphabetically between (and including) "Hansen" and exclusive
"Pettersen", use the following SQL:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName
BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Nordmann Anna Neset 18 Sandnes

IMPORTANT! The BETWEEN...AND operator is treated differently in different

databases. With some databases a person with the LastName of "Hansen" or "Pettersen"
will not be listed (BETWEEN..AND only selects fields that are between and excluding
the test values). With some databases a person with the last name of "Hansen" or
"Pettersen" will be listed (BETWEEN..AND selects fields that are between and including
the test values). With other databases a person with the last name of "Hansen" will be
listed, but "Pettersen" will not be listed (BETWEEN..AND selects fields between the test
values, including the first test value and excluding the last test value). Therefore: Check
how your database treats the BETWEEN....AND operator!

Example 2
To display the persons outside the range used in the previous example, use the NOT
operator:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName

NOT BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

SQL Alias

With SQL, aliases can be used for column names and table names.
Column Name Alias
The syntax is:

SELECT column AS column_alias FROM table

Table Name Alias

The syntax is:

SELECT column FROM table AS table_alias

Example: Using a Column Alias

This table (Persons):

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

And this SQL:

SELECT LastName AS Family, FirstName AS Name

FROM Persons

Returns this result:

Family Name
Hansen Ola
Svendson Tove
Pettersen Kari
Example: Using a Table Alias
This table (Persons):

LastName FirstName Address City

Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

And this SQL:

SELECT LastName, FirstName

FROM Persons AS Employees

Returns this result:

Table Employees:

LastName FirstName
Hansen Ola
Svendson Tove
Pettersen Kari

SQL JOIN

Joins and Keys

Sometimes we have to select data from two or more tables to make our result complete.
We have to perform a join.

Tables in a database can be related to each other with keys. A primary key is a column
with a unique value for each row. Each primary key value must be unique within the
table. The purpose is to bind data together, across tables, without repeating all of the data
in every table.

In the "Employees" table below, the "Employee_ID" column is the primary key, meaning
that no two rows can have the same Employee_ID. The Employee_ID distinguishes two
persons even if they have the same name.
When you look at the example tables below, notice that: 

 The "Employee_ID" column is the primary key of the "Employees" table

 The "Prod_ID" column is the primary key of the "Orders" table
 The "Employee_ID" column in the "Orders" table is used to refer to the persons in
the "Employees" table without using their names

Employees:

Employee_ID Name
01 Hansen, Ola
02 Svendson, Tove
03 Svendson, Stephen
04 Pettersen, Kari

Orders:

Prod_ID Product Employee_ID

234 Printer 01
657 Table 03
865 Chair 03

Referring to Two Tables

We can select data from two tables by referring to two tables, like this:

Example

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product

FROM Employees, Orders
WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

Result

Name Product
Hansen, Ola Printer
Svendson, Stephen Table
Svendson, Stephen Chair

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name
FROM Employees, Orders
WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID
AND Orders.Product='Printer'

Result

Name
Hansen, Ola

Using Joins
OR we can select data from two tables with the JOIN keyword, like this:

Example INNER JOIN

Syntax

SELECT field1, field2, field3

FROM first_table
INNER JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product

FROM Employees
INNER JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The INNER JOIN returns all rows from both tables where there is a match. If there are
rows in Employees that do not have matches in Orders, those rows will not be listed.

Result
Name Product
Hansen, Ola Printer
Svendson, Stephen Table
Svendson, Stephen Chair

Example LEFT JOIN

Syntax

SELECT field1, field2, field3

FROM first_table
LEFT JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

List all employees, and their orders - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product

FROM Employees
LEFT JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The LEFT JOIN returns all the rows from the first table (Employees), even if there are no
matches in the second table (Orders). If there are rows in Employees that do not have
matches in Orders, those rows also will be listed.

Result

Name Product
Hansen, Ola Printer
Svendson, Tove  
Svendson, Stephen Table
Svendson, Stephen Chair
Pettersen, Kari  

Example RIGHT JOIN

Syntax

SELECT field1, field2, field3

FROM first_table
RIGHT JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield
List all orders, and who has ordered - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product

FROM Employees
RIGHT JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The RIGHT JOIN returns all the rows from the second table (Orders), even if there are no
matches in the first table (Employees). If there had been any rows in Orders that did not
have matches in Employees, those rows also would have been listed.

Result

Name Product
Hansen, Ola Printer
Svendson, Stephen Table
Svendson, Stephen Chair

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name
FROM Employees
INNER JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID
WHERE Orders.Product = 'Printer'

Result

Name
Hansen, Ola

SQL UNION and UNION ALL

UNION
The UNION command is used to select related information from two tables, much like
the JOIN command. However, when using the UNION command all selected columns
need to be of the same data type.
Note: With UNION, only distinct values are selected.

SQL Statement 1
UNION
SQL Statement 2

Employees_Norway:

E_ID E_Name
01 Hansen, Ola
02 Svendson, Tove
03 Svendson, Stephen
04 Pettersen, Kari

Employees_USA:

E_ID E_Name
01 Turner, Sally
02 Kent, Clark
03 Svendson, Stephen
04 Scott, Stephen

Using the UNION Command

Example

List all different employee names in Norway and USA:

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway

UNION
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

Result

E_Name
Hansen, Ola
Svendson, Tove
Svendson, Stephen
Pettersen, Kari
Turner, Sally
Kent, Clark
Scott, Stephen

Note: This command cannot be used to list all employees in Norway and USA. In the
example above we have two employees with equal names, and only one of them is listed.
The UNION command only selects distinct values.

UNION ALL
The UNION ALL command is equal to the UNION command, except that UNION ALL
selects all values.

SQL Statement 1
UNION ALL
SQL Statement 2

Using the UNION ALL Command

Example

List all employees in Norway and USA:

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway

UNION ALL
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

Result

E_Name
Hansen, Ola
Svendson, Tove
Svendson, Stephen
Pettersen, Kari
Turner, Sally
Kent, Clark
Svendson, Stephen
Scott, Stephen

SQL Create Database, Table, and Index

Create a Database
To create a database:

CREATE DATABASE database_name

Create a Table
To create a table in a database:

CREATE TABLE table_name

(
column_name1 data_type,
column_name2 data_type,
.......
)

Example

This example demonstrates how you can create a table named "Person", with four
columns. The column names will be "LastName", "FirstName", "Address", and "Age":

CREATE TABLE Person 

(
LastName varchar,
FirstName varchar,
Address varchar,
Age int
)
This example demonstrates how you can specify a maximum length for some columns:

CREATE TABLE Person 

(
LastName varchar(30),
FirstName varchar,
Address varchar,
Age int(3) 
)

The data type specifies what type of data the column can hold. The table below contains
the most common data types in SQL:

Data Type Description

integer(size) Hold integers only. The maximum number of digits are
int(size) specified in parenthesis.
smallint(size)
tinyint(size)
decimal(size,d) Hold numbers with fractions. The maximum number of digits
numeric(size,d) are specified in "size". The maximum number of digits to the
right of the decimal is specified in "d".
char(size) Holds a fixed length string (can contain letters, numbers, and
special characters). The fixed size is specified in parenthesis.
varchar(size) Holds a variable length string (can contain letters, numbers,
and special characters). The maximum size is specified in
parenthesis.
date(yyyymmdd) Holds a date

Create Index
Indices are created in an existing table to locate rows more quickly and efficiently. It is
possible to create an index on one or more columns of a table, and each index is given a
name. The users cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed up queries. 

Note: Updating a table containing indexes takes more time than updating a table without,
this is because the indexes also need an update. So, it is a good idea to create indexes
only on columns that are often used for a search.

A Unique Index

Creates a unique index on a table. A unique index means that two rows cannot have the
same index value.
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name (column_name)

The "column_name" specifies the column you want indexed.

A Simple Index

Creates a simple index on a table. When the UNIQUE keyword is omitted, duplicate
values are allowed.

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column_name)

The "column_name" specifies the column you want indexed.

Example

This example creates a simple index, named "PersonIndex", on the LastName field of the
Person table:

CREATE INDEX PersonIndex

ON Person (LastName)

If you want to index the values in a column in descending order, you can add the
reserved word DESC after the column name:

CREATE INDEX PersonIndex

ON Person (LastName DESC)

If you want to index more than one column you can list the column names within the
parentheses, separated by commas:

CREATE INDEX PersonIndex

ON Person (LastName, FirstName)

SQL Drop Index, Table and Database

Drop Index
You can delete an existing index in a table with the DROP INDEX statement.
Syntax for Microsoft SQLJet (and Microsoft Access):

DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name

Syntax for MS SQL Server:

DROP INDEX table_name.index_name

Syntax for IBM DB2 and Oracle:

DROP INDEX index_name

Syntax for MySQL:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP INDEX index_name

Delete a Table or Database

To delete a table (the table structure, attributes, and indexes will also be deleted):

DROP TABLE table_name

To delete a database:

DROP DATABASE database_name

Truncate a Table
What if we only want to get rid of the data inside a table, and not the table itself? Use the
TRUNCATE TABLE command (deletes only the data inside the table):

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name

SQL ALTER TABLE

ALTER TABLE
The ALTER TABLE statement is used to add or drop columns in an existing table.

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name datatype
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN column_name

Note: Some database systems don't allow the dropping of a column in a database table
(DROP COLUMN column_name).

Person:

LastName FirstName Address

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20

Example
To add a column named "City" in the "Person" table:

ALTER TABLE Person ADD City varchar(30)

Result:

LastName FirstName Address City

Pettersen Kari Storgt 20  

Example
To drop the "Address" column in the "Person" table:

ALTER TABLE Person DROP COLUMN Address

Result:

LastName FirstName City

Pettersen Kari  
SQL Functions

SQL has a lot of built-in functions for counting and calculations.

Function Syntax
The syntax for built-in SQL functions is:

SELECT function(column) FROM table

Types of Functions
There are several basic types and categories of functions in SQL. The basic types of
functions are:

 Aggregate Functions
 Scalar functions

Aggregate functions
Aggregate functions operate against a collection of values, but return a single value.

Note: If used among many other expressions in the item list of a SELECT statement, the
SELECT must have a GROUP BY clause!!

"Persons" table (used in most examples)

Name Age
Hansen, Ola 34
Svendson, Tove 45
Pettersen, Kari 19
Aggregate functions in MS Access
Function Description
AVG(column) Returns the average value of a column
COUNT(column) Returns the number of rows (without a NULL value) of a
column
COUNT(*) Returns the number of selected rows
FIRST(column) Returns the value of the first record in a specified field
LAST(column) Returns the value of the last record in a specified field
MAX(column) Returns the highest value of a column
MIN(column) Returns the lowest value of a column
STDEV(column)  
STDEVP(column)  
SUM(column) Returns the total sum of a column
VAR(column)  
VARP(column)  

Aggregate functions in SQL Server

Function Description
AVG(column) Returns the average value of a column
BINARY_CHECKSUM  
CHECKSUM  
CHECKSUM_AGG  
COUNT(column) Returns the number of rows (without a NULL value) of a
column
COUNT(*) Returns the number of selected rows
COUNT(DISTINCT column) Returns the number of distinct results
FIRST(column) Returns the value of the first record in a specified field
(not supported in SQLServer2K)
LAST(column) Returns the value of the last record in a specified field
(not supported in SQLServer2K)
MAX(column) Returns the highest value of a column
MIN(column) Returns the lowest value of a column
STDEV(column)  
STDEVP(column)  
SUM(column) Returns the total sum of a column
VAR(column)  
VARP(column)  

Scalar functions
Scalar functions operate against a single value, and return a single value based on the
input value.

Useful Scalar Functions in MS Access

Function Description
UCASE(c) Converts a field to upper case
LCASE(c) Converts a field to lower case
MID(c,start[,end]) Extract characters from a text field
LEN(c) Returns the length of a text field
INSTR(c,char) Returns the numeric position of a named character within
a text field
LEFT(c,number_of_char) Return the left part of a text field requested
RIGHT(c,number_of_char) Return the right part of a text field requested
ROUND(c,decimals) Rounds a numeric field to the number of decimals
specified
MOD(x,y) Returns the remainder of a division operation
NOW() Returns the current system date
FORMAT(c,format) Changes the way a field is displayed
DATEDIFF(d,date1,date2) Used to perform date calculations

SQL GROUP BY and HAVING

Aggregate functions (like SUM) often need an added GROUP BY functionality.

GROUP BY...
GROUP BY... was added to SQL because aggregate functions (like SUM) return the
aggregate of all column values every time they are called, and without the GROUP BY
function it was impossible to find the sum for each individual group of column values.

The syntax for the GROUP BY function is:

SELECT column,SUM(column) FROM table GROUP BY column

GROUP BY Example
This "Sales" Table:

Company Amount
W3Schools 5500
IBM 4500
W3Schools 7100

And This SQL:

SELECT Company, SUM(Amount) FROM Sales

Returns this result:

Company SUM(Amount)
W3Schools 17100
IBM 17100
W3Schools 17100

The above code is invalid because the column returned is not part of an aggregate. A
GROUP BY clause will solve this problem:

SELECT Company,SUM(Amount) FROM Sales

GROUP BY Company

Returns this result:

Company SUM(Amount)
W3Schools 12600
IBM 4500
HAVING...
HAVING... was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used against
aggregate functions (like SUM), and without HAVING... it would be impossible to test
for result conditions.

The syntax for the HAVING function is:

SELECT column,SUM(column) FROM table

GROUP BY column
HAVING SUM(column) condition value

This "Sales" Table:

Company Amount
W3Schools 5500
IBM 4500
W3Schools 7100

This SQL:

SELECT Company,SUM(Amount) FROM Sales

GROUP BY Company
HAVING SUM(Amount)>10000

Returns this result

Company SUM(Amount)
W3Schools 12600

SQL SELECT INTO Statement

The SELECT INTO Statement

The SELECT INTO statement is most often used to create backup copies of tables or for
archiving records.
Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) INTO newtable [IN externaldatabase]
FROM source

Make a Backup Copy

The following example makes a backup copy of the "Persons" table:

SELECT * INTO Persons_backup

FROM Persons

The IN clause can be used to copy tables into another database:

SELECT Persons.* INTO Persons IN 'Backup.mdb'

FROM Persons

If you only want to copy a few fields, you can do so by listing them after the SELECT
statement:

SELECT LastName,FirstName INTO Persons_backup

FROM Persons

You can also add a WHERE clause. The following example creates a "Persons_backup"
table with two columns (FirstName and LastName) by extracting the persons who lives in
"Sandnes" from the "Persons" table:

SELECT LastName,Firstname INTO Persons_backup

FROM Persons
WHERE City='Sandnes'

Selecting data from more than one table is also possible. The following example creates a
new table "Empl_Ord_backup" that contains data from the two tables Employees and
Orders:

SELECT Employees.Name,Orders.Product
INTO Empl_Ord_backup
FROM Employees
INNER JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

SQL CREATE VIEW Statement

A view is a virtual table based on the result-set of a SELECT statement.

What is a View?
In SQL, a VIEW is a virtual table based on the result-set of a SELECT statement.

A view contains rows and columns, just like a real table. The fields in a view are fields
from one or more real tables in the database. You can add SQL functions, WHERE, and
JOIN statements to a view and present the data as if the data were coming from a single
table.

Note: The database design and structure will NOT be affected by the functions, where, or
join statements in a view.

Syntax
CREATE VIEW view_name AS
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

Note: The database does not store the view data! The database engine recreates the data,
using the view's SELECT statement, every time a user queries a view.

Using Views
A view could be used from inside a query, a stored procedure, or from inside another
view. By adding functions, joins, etc., to a view, it allows you to present exactly the data
you want to the user.

The sample database Northwind has some views installed by default. The view "Current
Product List" lists all active products (products that are not discontinued) from the
Products table. The view is created with the following SQL:

CREATE VIEW [Current Product List] AS

SELECT ProductID,ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE Discontinued=No
We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Current Product List]

Another view from the Northwind sample database selects every product in the Products
table that has a unit price that is higher than the average unit price:

CREATE VIEW [Products Above Average Price] AS

SELECT ProductName,UnitPrice
FROM Products
WHERE UnitPrice>(SELECT AVG(UnitPrice) FROM Products)

We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Products Above Average Price]

Another example view from the Northwind database calculates the total sale for each
category in 1997. Note that this view selects its data from another view called "Product
Sales for 1997":

CREATE VIEW [Category Sales For 1997] AS

SELECT DISTINCT CategoryName,Sum(ProductSales) AS CategorySales
FROM [Product Sales for 1997]
GROUP BY CategoryName

We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997]

We can also add a condition to the query. Now we want to see the total sale only for the
category "Beverages":

SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997]

WHERE CategoryName='Beverages'

SQL Servers - RDBMS

Modern SQL Servers are built on RDBMS.

DBMS - Database Management System
A Database Management System (DBMS) is a computer program that can access data in
a database.

The DBMS program enables you to extract, modify, or store information in a database.

Different DBMS programs provides different functions for querying data, reporting data,
and modifying data. 

RDBMS - Relational Database Management System

A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a Database Management
System (DBMS) where the database is organized and accessed according to the
relationships between data.

RDBMS was invented by IBM in the early 1970's.

RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems like Oracle, SQL
Server, IBM DB2, Sybase, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.

SQL Quick Reference

SQL Quick Reference from W3Schools. Print it, and fold it in your pocket.

SQL Syntax
Statement Syntax
AND / OR SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
AND|OR condition
ALTER TABLE (add column) ALTER TABLE table_name
 ADD column_name datatype
ALTER TABLE (drop ALTER TABLE table_name
column) DROP COLUMN column_name
AS (alias for column) SELECT column_name AS column_alias
FROM table_name
AS (alias for table) SELECT column_name
FROM table_name  AS table_alias
BETWEEN SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
BETWEEN value1 AND value2
CREATE DATABASE CREATE DATABASE database_name
CREATE INDEX CREATE INDEX index_name
ON table_name (column_name)
CREATE TABLE CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type,
column_name2 data_type,
.......
)
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name (column_name)
CREATE VIEW CREATE VIEW view_name AS
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
DELETE FROM DELETE FROM table_name
(Note: Deletes the entire table!!)

or

DELETE FROM table_name

WHERE condition
DROP DATABASE DROP DATABASE database_name
DROP INDEX DROP INDEX table_name.index_name
DROP TABLE DROP TABLE table_name
GROUP BY SELECT column_name1,SUM(column_name2)
FROM table_name
GROUP BY column_name1
HAVING SELECT column_name1,SUM(column_name2)
FROM table_name
 GROUP BY column_name1
HAVING SUM(column_name2) condition value
IN SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
IN (value1,value2,..)
INSERT INTO INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2,....)

or

INSERT INTO table_name

(column_name1, column_name2,...)
VALUES (value1, value2,....)
LIKE SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
LIKE pattern
ORDER BY SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name [ASC|DESC]
SELECT SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
SELECT * SELECT *
FROM table_name
SELECT DISTINCT SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
SELECT INTO SELECT *
(used to create backup copies INTO new_table_name
of tables) FROM original_table_name

or

SELECT column_name(s)
INTO new_table_name
FROM original_table_name
TRUNCATE TABLE TRUNCATE TABLE table_name
(deletes only the data inside
the table)
UPDATE UPDATE table_name
SET column_name=new_value
[, column_name=new_value]
WHERE column_name=some_value
WHERE SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

Source : http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_quickref.asp

You Have Learned SQL,

Now What?

SQL Summary
This tutorial has taught you the standard computer language for accessing and
manipulating database systems.

You have learned how to execute queries, retrieve data, insert new records, delete records
and update records in a database with SQL.

SQL is a standard language that works with database programs like MS Access, DB2,
Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, and other database systems.

Now You Know SQL, What's Next?

The next step is to learn ADO.

ADO is a programming interface to access data in a database from a web site.

ADO uses SQL to query data in a database.

If you want to learn more about ADO, please visit o