MySQL Tutorial

MySQL tutorial provides basic and advanced concepts of MySQL. Our MySQL tutorial
is designed for beginners and professionals.

MySQL is a relational database management system based on the Structured Query

Language, which is the popular language for accessing and managing the records in
the database. MySQL is open-source and free software under the GNU license. It is
supported by Oracle Company.

Our MySQL tutorial includes all topics of MySQL database that provides for how to
manage database and to manipulate data with the help of various SQL queries. These
queries are: insert records, update records, delete records, select records, create
tables, drop tables, etc. There are also given MySQL interview questions to help you
better understand the MySQL database.

What is Database?
It is very important to understand the database before learning MySQL. A database is
an application that stores the organized collection of records. It can be accessed and
manage by the user very easily. It allows us to organize data into tables, rows,
columns, and indexes to find the relevant information very quickly. Each database
contains distinct API

for performing database operations such as creating, managing, accessing, and searching the
data it stores. Today, many databases available like MySQL, Sybase, Oracle
, MongoDB
, PostgreSQL
, SQL Server
, etc. In this section, we are going to focus on MySQL mainly.

What is MySQL?
MySQL is currently the most popular database management system software used
for managing the relational database. It is open-source database software, which is
supported by Oracle Company. It is fast, scalable, and easy to use database
management system in comparison with Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle Database.
It is commonly used in conjunction with PHP

scripts for creating powerful and dynamic server-side or web-based enterprise applications.
It is developed, marketed, and supported by MySQL AB, a Swedish company, and
written in C programming language and C++ programming language

. The official pronunciation of MySQL is not the My Sequel; it is My Ess Que Ell. However,
you can pronounce it in your way. Many small and big companies use MySQL. MySQL
supports many Operating Systems like Windows
, Linux
, MacOS, etc. with C, C++, and Java languages
.

MySQL is a Relational Database Management System

(RDBMS) software that provides many things, which are as follows:

o It allows us to implement database operations on tables, rows, columns, and
indexes.
o It defines the database relationship in the form of tables (collection of rows
and columns), also known as relations.
o It provides the Referential Integrity between rows or columns of various
tables.
o It allows us to updates the table indexes automatically.
o It uses many SQL queries and combines useful information from multiple
tables for the end-users.

How MySQL Works?

MySQL follows the working of Client-Server Architecture. This model is designed for
the end-users called clients to access the resources from a central computer known
as a server using network services. Here, the clients make requests through a
graphical user interface (GUI), and the server will give the desired output as soon as
the instructions are matched. The process of MySQL environment is the same as the
client-server model.
The core of the MySQL database is the MySQL Server. This server is available as a
separate program and responsible for handling all the database instructions,
statements, or commands. The working of MySQL database with MySQL Server are
as follows:

1. MySQL creates a database that allows you to build many tables to store and
manipulate data and defining the relationship between each table.
2. Clients make requests through the GUI screen or command prompt by using
specific SQL expressions on MySQL.
3. Finally, the server application will respond with the requested expressions and
produce the desired result on the client-side.

A client can use any MySQL GUI

. But, it is making sure that your GUI should be lighter and user-friendly to make your data
management activities faster and easier. Some of the most widely used MySQL GUIs are
MySQL Workbench, SequelPro, DBVisualizer, and the Navicat DB Admin Tool. Some GUIs
are commercial, while some are free with limited functionality, and some are only compatible
with MacOS. Thus, you can choose the GUI according to your needs.

Reasons for popularity

MySQL is becoming so popular because of these following reasons:

o MySQL is an open-source database, so you don't have to pay a single penny

to use it.
o MySQL is a very powerful program that can handle a large set of functionality
of the most expensive and powerful database packages.
o MySQL is customizable because it is an open-source database, and the open-
source GPL license facilitates programmers to modify the SQL software
according to their own specific environment.
o MySQL is quicker than other databases, so it can work well even with the large
data set.
o MySQL supports many operating systems with many languages like PHP,
PERL, C, C++, JAVA, etc.
o MySQL uses a standard form of the well-known SQL data language.
o MySQL is very friendly with PHP, the most popular language for web
development.
 o MySQL supports large databases, up to 50 million rows or more in a table. The
default file size limit for a table is 4GB, but you can increase this (if your
operating system can handle it) to a theoretical limit of 8 million terabytes
(TB).

History of MySQL
The project of MySQL was started in 1979 when MySQL's inventor Michael
Widenius developed an in-house database tool called UNIREG for managing
databases. After that, UNIREG has been rewritten in several different languages and
extended to handle big databases. After some time, Michael Widenius
contacted David Hughes, the author of mSQL, to see if Hughes would be interested
in connecting mSQL to UNIREG's B+ ISAM handler to provide indexing to mSQL.
That's the way MySQL came into existence.

MySQL is named after the daughter of co-founder Michael Widenius whose

name is "My".

History by Year:

Yea Happenings
r

1995 MySQL AB, founded by Michael Widenius (Monty), David Axmark, and Allan Larsson in
Sweden.

2000 MySQL goes open-source and releases software under the terms of the GPL. Revenues
dropped 80% as a result, and it took a year to make up for it.

2001 Marten Mickos elected CEO at age 38. Marten was the CEO of several nordic companies
before joining MySQL and comes with a sales and marketing background. 2 million active
installations. Raised series with an undisclosed amount from Scandinavian venture capitalists.
It was estimated to be around $1 to $2 million.

2002 MySQL launched its headquarters in addition to Swedish headquarters. At that time, 3 million
active users. MySQL was ended this year with $6.5 million in revenue with 1,000 paying
customers.

2003 This year raised a $19.5 million series b from benchmark capital and index ventures. At this
time, 4 million active installations and over 30,000 downloads per day. It ended the year with
 $12 million in revenue.

2004 With the main revenue coming from the OEM dual-licensing model, MySQL decides to move
more into the enterprise market and to focus more on recurring revenue from end-users
rather than one-time licensing fees from their OEM partners. It ended the year with $20
million in revenue.

2005 MySQL launched the MySQL network model after the Redhat network. The MySQL network is
a subscription service targeted at end-users that provide updates, alerts, notifications, and
product-level support designed to make it easier for companies to manage hundreds of
MySQL servers. MySQL 5 ships and includes many new features to go after enterprise users
(e.g., stored procedures, triggers, views, cursors, distributed transactions, federated storage
engines, etc.) Oracle buys innobase, the 4-person, and a Finland's company behind MySQL's
InnoDB storage backend, ended the year with $34 million in revenue based on 3400
customers.

2006 Marten Mickos confirms that Oracle tried to buy MySQL. Oracle' CEO Larry Ellison
commented: "we've spoken to them, in fact, we've spoken to almost everyone. Are we
interested? It's a tiny company. I think the revenues from MySQL are between $30 million and
$40 million. Oracle's revenue next year is $15 billion." Oracle buys sleepycat, the company
that provides MySQL with the Berkeley db transactional storage engine. Marten Mickos
announces that they are making MySQL ready for an IPO in 2008 on a projected $100 million
in revenues. 8 million active installations. MySQL has 320 employees in 25 countries, 70
percent of whom work from home, raised an $18 million series c based on a rumored
valuation north of $300 million. MySQL is estimated to have a 33% market share measured in
install base and 0.2% market share measured in revenue (the database market was a $15
billion market in 2006). It ended the year with $50 million in revenue.

2007 It ended the year with $75 million in revenue.

2008 Sun Microsystems acquired MySQL AB for approximately $1 billion. Michael Widenius (Monty)
and David Axmark, two of MySQL AB's co-founders, begin to criticize Sun publicly and leave
Sun shortly after.

2009 Marten Mickos leaves Sun and becomes entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark Capital. Sun
has now lost the business and spiritual leaders that turned MySQL into a success.
Sun Microsystems and Oracle announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement
under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The
transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion.
MySQL Features
MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) based on the SQL (Structured
Query Language) queries. It is one of the most popular languages for accessing and managing
the records in the table. MySQL is open-source and free software under the GNU license.
Oracle Company supports it.

The following are the most important features of MySQL:

Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)

MySQL is a relational database management system. This database language is based on

the SQL queries to access and manage the records of the table.

Easy to use

MySQL is easy to use. We have to get only the basic knowledge of SQL. We can build
and interact with MySQL by using only a few simple SQL statements.

It is secure

MySQL consists of a solid data security layer that protects sensitive data from
intruders. Also, passwords are encrypted in MySQL.

Client/ Server Architecture

MySQL follows the working of a client/server architecture. There is a database server

(MySQL) and arbitrarily many clients (application programs), which communicate
with the server; that is, they can query data, save changes, etc.

Free to download

MySQL is free to use so that we can download it from MySQL official website without
any cost.

It is scalable

MySQL supports multi-threading that makes it easily scalable. It can handle almost
any amount of data, up to as much as 50 million rows or more. The default file size
limit is about 4 GB. However, we can increase this number to a theoretical limit of 8
TB of data.

Speed
MySQL is considered one of the very fast database languages, backed by a large
number of the benchmark test.

High Flexibility

MySQL supports a large number of embedded applications, which makes MySQL

very flexible.

Compatible on many operating systems

MySQL is compatible to run on many operating systems, like Novell NetWare,

Windows* Linux*, many varieties of UNIX* (such as Sun* Solaris*, AIX, and DEC*
UNIX), OS/2, FreeBSD*, and others. MySQL also provides a facility that the clients can
run on the same computer as the server or on another computer (communication via
a local network or the Internet).

Allows roll-back

MySQL allows transactions to be rolled back, commit, and crash recovery.

Memory efficiency

Its efficiency is high because it has a very low memory leakage problem.

High Performance

MySQL is faster, more reliable, and cheaper because of its unique storage engine
architecture. It provides very high-performance results in comparison to other
databases without losing an essential functionality of the software. It has fast loading
utilities because of the different cache memory.

High Productivity

MySQL uses Triggers, Stored procedures, and views that allow the developer to give
higher productivity.

Platform Independent

t can download, install, and execute on most of the available operating systems.

Partitioning

This feature improves the performance and provides fast management of the large
database.
 GUI Support

MySQL provides a unified visual database graphical user interface tool named
"MySQL Workbench" to work with database architects, developers, and Database
Administrators. MySQL Workbench

provides SQL development, data modeling, data migration, and comprehensive administration tools
for server configuration, user administration, backup, and many more. MySQL has a fully GUI
supports from MySQL Server version 5.6 and higher.

Dual Password Support

MySQL version 8.0 provides support for dual passwords: one is the current password,
and another is a secondary password, which allows us to transition to the new
password.

Disadvantages/Drawback of MySQL
Following are the few disadvantages of MySQL:

o MySQL version less than 5.0 doesn't support ROLE, COMMIT, and stored procedure.
o MySQL does not support a very large database size as efficiently.
o MySQL doesn't handle transactions very efficiently, and it is prone to data corruption.
o MySQL is accused that it doesn't have a good developing and debugging tool
compared to paid databases.
o MySQL doesn't support SQL check constraints.

The release history of previous versions of MySQL through the following table:

Version Released End of Description

Name Date Support

MySQL 5.1 14-11-2008 December This version contains the releases of MySQL 5.0 to MySQL
2013 5.1.73 versions. To read about the first version of MySQL,
click here.

MySQL 5.5 03-12-2010 December This version contains the releases of MySQL 5.5 to MySQL
2018 5.5.62 versions.

MySQL 5.6 05-02-2013 February This version contains the releases of MySQL 5.6 to MySQL
2021 5.5.45 versions.

MySQL 5.7 21-10-2015 October This version contains the releases of MySQL 5.7 to MySQL
 2023 5.6.27 versions.

MySQL 8.0 19-04-2018 April 2026 This version contains the releases of MySQL 8.0 to MySQL
8.0.21 versions.

MySQL Data Types

A Data Type specifies a particular type of data, like integer, floating points, Boolean,
etc. It also identifies the possible values for that type, the operations that can be
performed on that type, and the way the values of that type are stored. In MySQL,
each database table has many columns and contains specific data types for each
column.

We can determine the data type in MySQL with the following characteristics:

o The type of values (fixed or variable) it represents.

o The storage space it takes is based on whether the values are a fixed-length or
variable length.
o Its values can be indexed or not.
o How MySQL performs a comparison of values of a particular data type.

MySQL supports a lot number of SQL standard data types in various categories. It

uses many different data types that can be broken into the following categories:
numeric, date and time, string types, spatial types, and JSON data types.

Numeric Data Type

MySQL has all essential SQL numeric data types. These data types can include the
exact numeric data types (For example, integer, decimal, numeric, etc.), as well as the
approximate numeric data types (For example, float, real, and double precision). It
also supports BIT datatype to store bit values. In MySQL, numeric data types are
categories into two types, either signed or unsigned except for bit data type.

The following table contains all numeric data types that support in MySQL:

Data Type Description

Syntax
TINYINT It is a very small integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed, the allowable range is from
-128 to 127. If unsigned, the allowable range is from 0 to 255. We can specify a width of up
to 4 digits. It takes 1 byte for storage.

SMALLINT It is a small integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed, the allowable range is from
-32768 to 32767. If unsigned, the allowable range is from 0 to 65535. We can specify a width
of up to 5 digits. It requires 2 bytes for storage.

MEDIUMINT It is a medium-sized integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed, the allowable range is
from -8388608 to 8388607. If unsigned, the allowable range is from 0 to 16777215. We can
specify a width of up to 9 digits. It requires 3 bytes for storage.

INT It is a normal-sized integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed, the allowable range is
from -2147483648 to 2147483647. If unsigned, the allowable range is from 0 to 4294967295.
We can specify a width of up to 11 digits. It requires 4 bytes for storage.

BIGINT It is a large integer that can be signed or unsigned. If signed, the allowable range is from
-9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807. If unsigned, the allowable range is from 0
to 18446744073709551615. We can specify a width of up to 20 digits. It requires 8 bytes for
storage.

FLOAT(m,d) It is a floating-point number that cannot be unsigned. You can define the display length (m)
and the number of decimals (d). This is not required and will default to 10,2, where 2 is the
number of decimals, and 10 is the total number of digits (including decimals). Decimal
precision can go to 24 places for a float type. It requires 2 bytes for storage.

DOUBLE(m,d) It is a double-precision floating-point number that cannot be unsigned. You can define the
display length (m) and the number of decimals (d). This is not required and will default to
16,4, where 4 is the number of decimals. Decimal precision can go to 53 places for a double.
Real is a synonym for double. It requires 8 bytes for storage.

DECIMAL(m,d) An unpacked floating-point number that cannot be unsigned. In unpacked decimals, each
decimal corresponds to one byte. Defining the display length (m) and the number of
decimals (d) is required. Numeric is a synonym for decimal.

BIT(m) It is used for storing bit values into the table column. Here, M determines the number of bit
per value that has a range of 1 to 64.

BOOL It is used only for the true and false condition. It considered numeric value 1 as true and 0 as
false.
BOOLEAN It is Similar to the BOOL.

Date and Time Data Type:

This data type is used to represent temporal values such as date, time, datetime,
timestamp, and year. Each temporal type contains values, including zero. When we
insert the invalid value, MySQL cannot represent it, and then zero value is used.

The following table illustrates all date and time data types that support in MySQL:

Data Type Maximum Size Explanation

Syntax

YEAR[(2|4)] Year value as 2 digits or 4 digits. The default is 4 digits. It takes 1 byte for
storage.

DATE Values range from '1000-01-01' to Displayed as 'yyyy-mm-dd'. It takes 3 bytes

'9999-12-31'. for storage.

TIME Values range from '-838:59:59' to Displayed as 'HH:MM:SS'. It takes 3 bytes

'838:59:59'. plus fractional seconds for storage.

DATETIME Values range from '1000-01-01 Displayed as 'yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss'. It

00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59'. takes 5 bytes plus fractional seconds for
storage.

TIMESTAMP(m) Values range from '1970-01-01 Displayed as 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'. It

00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-19 takes 4 bytes plus fractional seconds for
03:14:07' TC. storage.

String Data Types:

The string data type is used to hold plain text and binary data, for example, files,
images, etc. MySQL can perform searching and comparison of string value based on
the pattern matching such as LIKE operator, Regular Expressions, etc.

The following table illustrates all string data types that support in MySQL:

Data Type Maximum Size Explanation

Syntax

CHAR(size) It can have a maximum size of 255 Here size is the number of characters to
 characters. store. Fixed-length strings. Space padded
on the right to equal size characters.

VARCHAR(size) It can have a maximum size of 255 Here size is the number of characters to
characters. store. Variable-length string.

TINYTEXT(size) It can have a maximum size of 255 Here size is the number of characters to
characters. store.

TEXT(size) Maximum size of 65,535 Here size is the number of characters to

characters. store.

MEDIUMTEXT(size) It can have a maximum size of Here size is the number of characters to
16,777,215 characters. store.

LONGTEXT(size) It can have a maximum size of 4GB Here size is the number of characters to
or 4,294,967,295 characters. store.

BINARY(size) It can have a maximum size of 255 Here size is the number of binary characters
characters. to store. Fixed-length strings. Space
padded on the right to equal size
characters.
(introduced in MySQL 4.1.2)

VARBINARY(size) It can have a maximum size of 255 Here size is the number of characters to
characters. store. Variable-length string.
(introduced in MySQL 4.1.2)

ENUM It takes 1 or 2 bytes that depend It is short for enumeration, which means
on the number of enumeration that each column may have one of the
values. An ENUM can have a specified possible values. It uses numeric
maximum of 65,535 values. indexes (1, 2, 3…) to represent string values.

SET It takes 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 bytes that It can hold zero or more, or any number of
depends on the number of set string values. They must be chosen from a
members. It can store a maximum predefined list of values specified during
of 64 members. table creation

Binary Large Object Data Types (BLOB):

BLOB in MySQL is a data type that can hold a variable amount of data. They are
categories into four different types based on the maximum length of values can hold.

The following table shows all Binary Large Object data types that support in MySQL:
 Data Type Syntax Maximum Size

TINYBLOB It can hold a maximum size of 255 bytes.

BLOB(size) It can hold the maximum size of 65,535 bytes.

MEDIUMBLOB It can hold the maximum size of 16,777,215 bytes.

LONGBLOB It can hold the maximum size of 4gb or 4,294,967,295 bytes.

Spatial Data Types

It is a special kind of data type which is used to hold various geometrical and
geographical values. It corresponds to OpenGIS classes. The following table shows all
spatial types that support in MySQL:

Data Types Descriptions

GEOMETRY It is a point or aggregate of points that can hold spatial values of any type that has a
location.

POINT A point in geometry represents a single location. It stores the values of X, Y

coordinates.

POLYGON It is a planar surface that represents multisided geometry. It can be defined by zero
or more interior boundary and only one exterior boundary.

LINESTRING It is a curve that has one or more point values. If it contains only two points, it always
represents Line.

GEOMETRYCOLLECTIO It is a kind of geometry that has a collection of zero or more geometry values.
N

MULTILINESTRING It is a multi-curve geometry that has a collection of line

string values.

MULTIPOINT It is a collection of multiple point elements. Here, the point cannot be connected or
ordered in any way.
MULTIPLYGON It is a multi surface object that represents a collection of multiple polygon elements.
It is a type of two-dimensional geometry.

JSON Data Type

MySQL provides support for native JSON data type from the version v5.7.8. This data
type allows us to store and access the JSON document quickly and efficiently.

The JSON data type has the following advantages over storing JSON-format strings
in a string column:

1. It provides automatic validation of JSON documents. If we stored invalid documents

in JSON columns, it would produce an error.
2. It provides an optimal storage format.

M
180
History of Java

MySQL Variables
Variables are used for storing data or information during the execution of a program.
It is a way of labeling data with an appropriate name that helps to understand the
program more clearly by the reader. The main purpose of the variable is to store data
in memory and can be used throughout the program.

MySQL can use variables in three different ways, which are given below:

1. User-Defined Variable
2. Local Variable
3. System Variable

Next
ay

User-Defined Variable
Sometimes, we want to pass values from one statement to another statement. The
user-defined variable enables us to store a value in one statement and later can refer
it to another statement. MySQL

provides a SET and SELECT statement to declare and initialize a variable. The user-defined

variable name starts with @ symbol.
 The user-defined variables are not case-sensitive such as @name and @NAME; both
are the same. A user-defined variable declares by one person cannot visible to
another person. We can assign the user-defined variable into limited data types like
integer, float, decimal, string, or NULL. The user-defined variable can be a maximum
of 64 characters in length.

Syntax

The following syntax is used to declare a user-defined variable.

1. By using the SET statement

 Note: We can use either '=' or ':=' assignment operator with the SET
statement.

 By using the SELECT statement

1. SELECT @var_name := value;  
Example1

Here, we are going to assign a value to a variable by using the SET statement.

1. mysql> SET @name='peter';  

Then, we can display the above value by using the SELECT statement.

mysql> SELECT @name;  

Local Variable
 It is a type of variable that is not prefixed by @ symbol. The local variable is a
strongly typed variable. The scope of the local variable is in a stored program block
in which it is declared. MySQL uses the DECLARE keyword to specify the local
variable. The DECLARE statement also combines a DEFAULT clause to provide a
default value to a variable. If you do not provide the DEFAULT clause, it will give the
initial value NULL. It is mainly used in the stored procedure program.

Syntax

We can use the DECLARE statement with the following syntax:

1. DECLARE variable_name datatype(size) [DEFAULT default_value];  

Let us see the following example to use the local variable.

Example

1. mysql> DECLARE total_price Oct(8,2) DEFAULT 0.0;  

We can also define two or more variables with the same data type by using a single
DECLARE statement.

1. mysql> DECLARE a,b,c INT DEFAULT 0;