SQL - Data Types

SQL Data Type is an attribute that specifies the type of data of any object. Each
column, variable and expression has a related data type in SQL. You can use these
data types while creating your tables. You can choose a data type for a table column
based on your requirement.
SQL Server offers six categories of data types for your use which are listed below −

Exact Numeric Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO

bigint -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

int -2,147,483,648 2,147,483,647

smallint -32,768 32,767

tinyint 0 255

bit 0 1

decimal -10^38 +1 10^38 -1

numeric -10^38 +1 10^38 -1

money -922,337,203,685,477.5808 +922,337,203,685,477.5807

smallmoney -214,748.3648 +214,748.3647

Approximate Numeric Data Types

 DATA TYPE FROM TO

float -1.79E + 308 1.79E + 308

real -3.40E + 38 3.40E + 38

Date and Time Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO

datetime Jan 1, 1753 Dec 31, 9999

smalldatetime Jan 1, 1900 Jun 6, 2079

date Stores a date like June 30, 1991

time Stores a time of day like 12:30 P.M.

Note − Here, datetime has 3.33 milliseconds accuracy where as smalldatetime has 1
minute accuracy.

Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description

1 char
Maximum length of 8,000 characters.( Fixed length non-Unicode characters)

varchar
2
Maximum of 8,000 characters.(Variable-length non-Unicode data).
 varchar(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters, Variable-length non-Unicode data (SQL
Server 2005 only).

text
4 Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647
characters.

Unicode Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description

1 nchar
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.( Fixed length Unicode)

nvarchar
2
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.(Variable length Unicode)

nvarchar(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters (SQL Server 2005 only).( Variable length
Unicode)

ntext
4
Maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. ( Variable length Unicode )

Binary Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description

1 binary
 Maximum length of 8,000 bytes(Fixed-length binary data )

varbinary
2
Maximum length of 8,000 bytes.(Variable length binary data)

varbinary(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). ( Variable length
Binary data)

image
4
Maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. ( Variable length Binary Data)

Misc Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description

sql_variant
1
Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext,
and timestamp.

timestamp
2 Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets
updated

uniqueidentifier
3
Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)

xml
4 Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (SQL
Server 2005 only).

5 cursor
 Reference to a cursor object

table
6
Stores a result set for later processing

SQL - Operators
What is an Operator in SQL?
An operator is a reserved word or a character used primarily in an SQL statement's
WHERE clause to perform operation(s), such as comparisons and arithmetic
operations. These Operators are used to specify conditions in an SQL statement and
to serve as conjunctions for multiple conditions in a statement.

 Arithmetic operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Operators used to negate conditions

SQL Arithmetic Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Adds values on either side of the operator. a + b will

+ (Addition)
give 30

Subtracts right hand operand from left hand operand. a - b will

- (Subtraction)
give -10

Multiplies values on either side of the operator. a * b will

* (Multiplication)
give 200
 Divides left hand operand by right hand operand. b / a will
/ (Division)
give 2

Divides left hand operand by right hand operand and returns b%a
% (Modulus) remainder. will give
0

SQL Comparison Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes then (a = b) is
=
condition becomes true. not true.

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are (a != b)
!=
not equal then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are (a <> b)
<>
not equal then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right (a > b) is
>
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. not true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right (a < b) is
<
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the (a >= b)
>= value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is not
true.

<= Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value
(a <= b)
 of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the value of left operand is not less than the value of right (a !< b)
!<
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is false.

Checks if the value of left operand is not greater than the value of (a !> b)
!>
right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is true.

SQL Logical Operators

Here is a list of all the logical operators available in SQL.
Show Examples

Sr.No. Operator & Description

1 ALL
The ALL operator is used to compare a value to all values in another value set.

AND
2 The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL
statement's WHERE clause.

ANY
3 The ANY operator is used to compare a value to any applicable value in the list
as per the condition.

BETWEEN
4 The BETWEEN operator is used to search for values that are within a set of
values, given the minimum value and the maximum value.

EXISTS
5 The EXISTS operator is used to search for the presence of a row in a specified
table that meets a certain criterion.
 IN
6 The IN operator is used to compare a value to a list of literal values that have
been specified.

LIKE
7 The LIKE operator is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard
operators.

NOT

8 The NOT operator reverses the meaning of the logical operator with which it is
used. Eg: NOT EXISTS, NOT BETWEEN, NOT IN, etc. This is a negate
operator.

OR
9 The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's
WHERE clause.

IS NULL
10
The NULL operator is used to compare a value with a NULL value.

UNIQUE
11 The UNIQUE operator searches every row of a specified table for uniqueness (no
duplicates).

SQL - Expressions
An expression is a combination of one or more values, operators and SQL functions
that evaluate to a value. These SQL EXPRESSIONs are like formulae and they are
written in query language. You can also use them to query the database for a specific
set of data.
Syntax
Consider the basic syntax of the SELECT statement as follows −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [CONDITION|EXPRESSION];
There are different types of SQL expressions, which are mentioned below −

 Boolean
 Numeric
 Date
Let us now discuss each of these in detail.

Boolean Expressions
SQL Boolean Expressions fetch the data based on matching a single value. Following
is the syntax −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE SINGLE VALUE MATCHING EXPRESSION;
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)
The following table is a simple example showing the usage of various SQL Boolean
Expressions −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE SALARY = 10000;
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Numeric Expression
These expressions are used to perform any mathematical operation in any query.
Following is the syntax −
SELECT numerical_expression as OPERATION_NAME
[FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION] ;
Here, the numerical_expression is used for a mathematical expression or any formula.
Following is a simple example showing the usage of SQL Numeric Expressions −
SQL> SELECT (15 + 6) AS ADDITION
+----------+
| ADDITION |
+----------+
| 21 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
There are several built-in functions like avg(), sum(), count(), etc., to perform what is
known as the aggregate data calculations against a table or a specific table column.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) AS "RECORDS" FROM CUSTOMERS;
+---------+
| RECORDS |
+---------+
| 7 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Date Expressions
Date Expressions return current system date and time values −
SQL> SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
+---------------------+
| Current_Timestamp |
+---------------------+
| 2009-11-12 06:40:23 |
+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Another date expression is as shown below −
SQL> SELECT GETDATE();;
+-------------------------+
| GETDATE |
+-------------------------+
| 2009-10-22 12:07:18.140 |
+-------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)