DP 10 1 SG

Database Programming with
SQL
10-1
Fundamentals of Subqueries
Copyright © 2020, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Objectives
• This lesson covers the following objectives:
−Define and explain the purpose of subqueries for retrieving
data
−Construct and execute a single-row subquery in the WHERE
clause
−Distinguish between single-row and multiple-row subqueries
DP 10-1
Fundamentals of Subqueries Copyright © 2020, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3
3
Purpose
• Has a friend asked you to go to a movie, but before you
could answer "yes" or "no", you first had to check with
your parents?
• Has someone asked you the answer to a math
problem, but before you can give the answer, you had
to do the problem yourself?
• Asking parents, or doing the math problem, are
examples of subqueries
• In SQL, subqueries enable us to find the information
we need so that we can get the information we want
DP 10-1
4
Subquery Overview
• Throughout this course, you have written queries to
extract data from a database
• What if you wanted to write a query, only to find out
you didn't have all the information you needed to
construct it?
• You can solve this problem by nesting queries—placing
one query inside the other query
• The inner query is called a "subquery."
DP 10-1
5
Subquery Overview
• The subquery executes to find the information you
don't know
• The outer query uses that information to find out what
you need to know
• Being able to combine two queries into one can be
very useful when you need to select rows from a
table with a condition that depends on the
data in the table itself
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Subquery Overview
• A subquery is a SELECT statement that is embedded in
a clause of another SELECT statement
• A subquery executes once before the main query
• The result of the subquery is used by the main or outer
query
• Subqueries can be placed in a number of SQL clauses,
including the WHERE clause, the HAVING clause, and
the FROM clause SELECT select_list
• The subquery syntax is: FROM table
WHERE expression operator
The SELECT statement in parentheses
(SELECT select_list
is the inner query or 'subquery'.
It executes first, before the outer query. FROM table);
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Guidelines for Using Subqueries
• Guidelines:
−The subquery is enclosed in parentheses
−The subquery is placed on the right side of the comparison
condition
−The outer and inner queries can get data from different
tables
−Only one ORDER BY clause can be used for a SELECT
statement; if used, it must be the last clause in the outer
query
−A subquery cannot have its own ORDER BY clause
−The only limit on the number of subqueries is the buffer size
the query uses
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Two Types of Subqueries
• The two types of subqueries are:
−Single-row subqueries that use single-row operators (>, =, >=,
<, <>, <=) and return only one row from the inner query
−Multiple-row subqueries that use multiple-row operators (IN,
ANY, ALL) and return more than one row from the inner query
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Subquery Example
• What if you wanted to find out the names of the
employees that were hired after Peter Vargas?
• The first thing you need to know is the answer to the
question, "When was Peter Vargas hired?"
• Once you know his hire date, then you can select
those employees whose hire dates are after his
SELECT first_name, last_name, FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME HIRE_DATE
hire_date Eleni Zlotkey 29-Jan-2000
FROM employees
Kimberely Grant 24-May-1999
WHERE hire_date >
Kevin Mourgos 16-Nov-1999
(SELECT hire_date
FROM employees Diana Lorentz 07-Feb-1999
WHERE last_name = 'Vargas');
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Subquery and Null
• If a subquery returns a null value or no rows, the outer
query takes the results of the subquery (null) and uses
this result in its WHERE clause
• The outer query will then return no rows, because
comparing any value with a null always yields a null
SELECT last_name
FROM employees
WHERE department_id =
(SELECT department_id
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Grant'); no data found
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Subquery and Null
• Who works in the same department as Grant?
• Grant's department_id is null, so the subquery returns
NULL
• The outer query then substitutes this value in the
WHERE clause (WHERE department_id = NULL)
• The outer query returns no rows, because comparing
anything with a null returns a null
SELECT last_name
FROM employees
WHERE department_id =
(SELECT department_id
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Grant'); no data found
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Terminology
• Key terms used in this lesson included:
−Subquery
−Inner query
−Outer query
−Single-row subquery
−Multiple-row subquery
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Summary
• In this lesson, you should have learned how to:
−Define and explain the purpose of subqueries for retrieving
data
−Construct and execute a single-row subquery in the WHERE
clause
−Distinguish between single-row and multiple-row subqueries
DP 10-1
14

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