SQL Tutorial

SQL is a standard language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data in databases.
Our SQL tutorial will teach you how to use SQL in: MySQL, SQL Server, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Postgres, and other
database systems.

Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;

Introduction to SQL

SQL is a standard language for accessing and manipulating databases.

What is SQL?
 SQL stands for Structured Query Language
 SQL lets you access and manipulate databases
 SQL became a standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986, and of the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987

What Can SQL do?

 SQL can execute queries against a database
 SQL can retrieve data from a database
 SQL can insert records in a database
 SQL can update records in a database
 SQL can delete records from a database
 SQL can create new databases
 SQL can create new tables in a database
 SQL can create stored procedures in a database
 SQL can create views in a database
 SQL can set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

SQL is a Standard - BUT....

Although SQL is an ANSI/ISO standard, there are different versions of the SQL language.
However, to be compliant with the ANSI standard, they all support at least the major commands (such as SELECT, UPDATE,
DELETE, INSERT, WHERE) in a similar manner.
Note: Most of the SQL database programs also have their own proprietary extensions in addition to the SQL standard!

Using SQL in Your Web Site

To build a web site that shows data from a database, you will need:
 An RDBMS database program (i.e. MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL)
 To use a server-side scripting language, like PHP or ASP
 To use SQL to get the data you want
 To use HTML / CSS to style the page

RDBMS
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System.
RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems such as MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and
Microsoft Access.
The data in RDBMS is stored in database objects called tables. A table is a collection of related data entries and it consists of
columns and rows.
Look at the "Customers" table:

Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »

Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the Customers table consist of CustomerID,
CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode and Country. A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain
specific information about every record in the table.
A record, also called a row, is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example, there are 91 records in the above
Customers table. A record is a horizontal entity in a table.
A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name;
If you want to select all the fields available in the table, use the following syntax:
SELECT * FROM table_name;
SQL Syntax

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.
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database (included in MS Access and MS SQL Server).
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución 2222 México D.F. 05021 Mexico
Emparedados y helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México D.F. 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

The table above contains five records (one for each customer) and seven columns (CustomerID, CustomerName, ContactName,
Address, City, PostalCode, and Country).

SQL Statements
Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements.
The following SQL statement selects all the records in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;

In this tutorial we will teach you all about the different SQL statements.

Keep in Mind That...

 SQL keywords are NOT case sensitive: select is the same as SELECT
In this tutorial we will write all SQL keywords in upper-case.

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.
In this tutorial, we will use semicolon at the end of each SQL statement.

Some of The Most Important SQL Commands

 SELECT - extracts data from a database
 UPDATE - updates data in a database
 DELETE - deletes data from a database
 INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database
 CREATE DATABASE - creates a new database
 ALTER DATABASE - modifies a database
 CREATE TABLE - creates a new table
 ALTER TABLE - modifies a table
 DROP TABLE - deletes a 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 database.
The data returned is stored in a result table, called the result-set.
SELECT Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;
Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from. If you want to select all the fields
available in the table, use the following syntax:
SELECT * FROM table_name;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

D

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

SELECT Column Example

The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, City FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »

SELECT * Example
The following SQL statement selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »

SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.
Inside a table, a column often contains many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list the different (distinct)
values.
SELECT DISTINCT Syntax
SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund
SELECT Example Without DISTINCT
The following SQL statement selects ALL (including the duplicates) values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT Country FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT statement and see the result.

SELECT DISTINCT Examples

The following SQL statement selects only the DISTINCT values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement lists the number of different (distinct) customer countries:
Example
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Country) FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
Note: The example above will not work in Firefox! Because COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) is not supported in Microsoft
Access databases. Firefox is using Microsoft Access in our examples.
Here is the workaround for MS Access:
Example
SELECT Count(*) AS DistinctCountries
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers);

SQL WHERE Clause

The SQL WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to filter records.
The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified condition.
WHERE Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
Note: The WHERE clause is not only used in SELECT statement, it is also used in UPDATE, DELETE statement, etc.!

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución 2222 México D.F. 05021 Mexico

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México D.F. 05023 Mexico

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berglund Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

WHERE Clause Example

The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the country "Mexico", in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Mexico';
Try it Yourself »

Text Fields vs. Numeric Fields

SQL requires single quotes around text values (most database systems will also allow double quotes).
However, numeric fields should not be enclosed in quotes:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID=1;
Try it Yourself »

Operators in The WHERE Clause

The following operators can be used in the WHERE clause:

Operator Description

= Equal
 > Greater than

< Less than

>= Greater than or equal

<= Less than or equal

<> Not equal. Note: In some versions of SQL this operator may be written as !=

BETWEEN Between a certain range

LIKE Search for a pattern

IN To specify multiple possible values for a column

The SQL AND, OR and NOT Operators

The WHERE clause can be combined with AND, OR, and NOT operators.
The AND and OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition:
 The AND operator displays a record if all the conditions separated by AND are TRUE.
 The OR operator displays a record if any of the conditions separated by OR is TRUE.
The NOT operator displays a record if the condition(s) is NOT TRUE.
AND Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 AND condition2 AND condition3 ...;

AND Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany" AND city is "Berlin":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' AND City='Berlin';

OR Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR condition3 ...;

OR Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where city is "Berlin" OR "München":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City='Berlin' OR City='München';
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany" OR "Spain":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' OR Country='Spain';

NOT Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE NOT condition;

NOT Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT "Germany":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE NOT Country='Germany';

Combining AND, OR and NOT

You can also combine the AND, OR and NOT operators.
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany" AND city must be "Berlin" OR
"München" (use parenthesis to form complex expressions):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' AND (City='Berlin' OR City='München');

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT "Germany" and NOT "USA":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE NOT Country='Germany' AND NOT Country='USA';

The SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.
The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in descending order, use the DESC
keyword.
ORDER BY Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;

ORDER BY Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;

ORDER BY DESC Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted DESCENDING by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the "CustomerName"
column. This means that it orders by Country, but if some rows have the same Country, it orders them by CustomerName:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by the "Country" and
descending by the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;

The SQL INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.
INSERT INTO Syntax
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways.
The first way specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, ...)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);
If you are adding values for all the columns of the table, you do not need to specify the column names in the SQL query.
However, make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table. The INSERT INTO syntax would be
as follows:
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);

INSERT INTO Example

The following SQL statement inserts a new record in the "Customers" table:
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway');

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only insert data in specific columns.
The following SQL statement will insert a new record, but only insert data in the "CustomerName", "City", and "Country" columns
(CustomerID will be updated automatically):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Stavanger', 'Norway');

What is a NULL Value?

A field with a NULL value is a field with no value.
If a field in a table is optional, it is possible to insert a new record or update a record without adding a value to this field. Then,
the field will be saved with a NULL value.
Note: A NULL value is different from a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has been
left blank during record creation!

How to Test for NULL Values?

It is not possible to test for NULL values with comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>.
We will have to use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators instead.
IS NULL Syntax
SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NULL;
IS NOT NULL Syntax
SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;
The IS NULL Operator
The IS NULL operator is used to test for empty values (NULL values).
The following SQL lists all customers with a NULL value in the "Address" field:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, ContactName, Address
FROM Customers
WHERE Address IS NULL;

Tip: Always use IS NULL to look for NULL values.

The IS NOT NULL Operator

The IS NOT NULL operator is used to test for non-empty values (NOT NULL values).
The following SQL lists all customers with a value in the "Address" field:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, ContactName, Address
FROM Customers
WHERE Address IS NOT NULL;

The SQL UPDATE Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to modify the existing records in a table.
UPDATE Syntax
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, ...
WHERE condition;
Note: Be careful when updating records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE statement. The WHERE clause
specifies which record(s) that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records in the table will be updated!

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

D

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

UPDATE Table
The following SQL statement updates the first customer (CustomerID = 1) with a new contact person and a new city.
Example
UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName = 'Alfred Schmidt', City= 'Frankfurt'
WHERE CustomerID = 1;

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Alfred Schmidt Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

UPDATE Multiple Records

It is the WHERE clause that determines how many records will be updated.
The following SQL statement will update the contactname to "Juan" for all records where country is "Mexico":
Example
UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan'
WHERE Country='Mexico';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
D

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Alfred Schmidt Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Juan Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico

helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Juan Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

Update Warning!
Be careful when updating records. If you omit the WHERE clause, ALL records will be updated!
Example
UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Juan Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Juan Avda. de la Constitución 2222 México D.F. 05021 Mexico

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Juan Mataderos 2312 México D.F. 05023 Mexico

4 Around the Horn Juan 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Juan Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

SQL DELETE Statement

The SQL DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete existing records in a table.
DELETE Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name WHERE condition;
Note: Be careful when deleting records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE statement. The WHERE clause
specifies which record(s) should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records in the table will be deleted!

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
D

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
 5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund

SQL DELETE Example

The following SQL statement deletes the customer "Alfreds Futterkiste" from the "Customers" table:
Example
DELETE FROM Customers WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste';

The "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCod Country
e

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

Delete All Records

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;
The following SQL statement deletes all rows in the "Customers" table, without deleting the table:
Example
DELETE FROM Customers;

SQL TOP, LIMIT or ROWNUM Clause

The SQL SELECT TOP Clause

The SELECT TOP clause is used to specify the number of records to return.
The SELECT TOP clause is useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records can impact
performance.
Note: Not all database systems support the SELECT TOP clause. MySQL supports the LIMIT clause to select a limited number of
records, while Oracle uses ROWNUM.
SQL Server / MS Access Syntax:
SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
MySQL Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
LIMIT number;
Oracle Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE ROWNUM <= number;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

D

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y helados Constitución 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund
SQL TOP, LIMIT and ROWNUM Examples
The following SQL statement selects the first three records from the "Customers" table (for SQL Server/MS Access):
Example
SELECT TOP 3 * FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example using the LIMIT clause (for MySQL):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
LIMIT 3;
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example using ROWNUM (for Oracle):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

SQL TOP PERCENT Example

The following SQL statement selects the first 50% of the records from the "Customers" table (for SQL Server/MS Access):
Example
SELECT TOP 50 PERCENT * FROM Customers;

ADD a WHERE CLAUSE

The following SQL statement selects the first three records from the "Customers" table, where the country is "Germany" (for SQL
Server/MS Access):
Example
SELECT TOP 3 * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany';
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example using the LIMIT clause (for MySQL):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
LIMIT 3;
The following SQL statement shows the equivalent example using ROWNUM (for Oracle):
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' AND ROWNUM <= 3;

SQL MIN() and MAX() Functions

The SQL MIN() and MAX() Functions

The MIN() function returns the smallest value of the selected column.
The MAX() function returns the largest value of the selected column.
MIN() Syntax
SELECT MIN(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
MAX() Syntax
SELECT MAX(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

MIN() Example
The following SQL statement finds the price of the cheapest product:
Example
SELECT MIN(Price) AS SmallestPrice
FROM Products;

MAX() Example
The following SQL statement finds the price of the most expensive product:
Example
SELECT MAX(Price) AS LargestPrice
FROM Products;

SQL COUNT(), AVG() and SUM() Functions

The SQL COUNT(), AVG() and SUM() Functions

The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criterion.
The AVG() function returns the average value of a numeric column.
The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.
COUNT() Syntax
SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
AVG() Syntax
SELECT AVG(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
SUM() Syntax
SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

COUNT() Example
The following SQL statement finds the number of products:
Example
SELECT COUNT(ProductID)
FROM Products;
Note: NULL values are not counted.

AVG() Example
The following SQL statement finds the average price of all products:
Example
SELECT AVG(Price)
FROM Products;
Note: NULL values are ignored.

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "OrderDetails" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderDetailID OrderID ProductID Quantity

1 10248 11 12

2 10248 42 10

3 10248 72 5

4 10249 14 9

5 10249 51 40

SUM() Example
The following SQL statement finds the sum of the "Quantity" fields in the "OrderDetails" table:
Example
SELECT SUM(Quantity)
FROM OrderDetails;
Note: NULL values are ignored.

SQL LIKE Operator

The SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.
There are two wildcards often used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:
 % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters
 _ - The underscore represents a single character
Note: MS Access uses an asterisk (*) instead of the percent sign (%), and a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_).
The percent sign and the underscore can also be used in combinations!
LIKE Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;
Tip: You can also combine any number of conditions using AND or OR operators.
Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:

LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that start with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that end with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%' Finds any values that have "or" in any position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%' Finds any values that have "r" in the second position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a_%' Finds any values that start with "a" and are at least 2 characters in length

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a__%' Finds any values that start with "a" and are at least 3 characters in length

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that start with "a" and ends with "o"

Demo Database
The table below shows the complete "Customers" table from the Northwind sample database:

SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName ending with "a":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "or" in any position:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "r" in the second position:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in
length:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a__%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a ContactName that starts with "a" and ends with "o":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that does NOT start with "a":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName NOT LIKE 'a%';

SQL Wildcards

SQL Wildcard Characters

A wildcard character is used to substitute one or more characters in a string.
Wildcard characters are used with the SQL LIKE operator. The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified
pattern in a column.
Wildcard Characters in MS Access

Symbo Description Example

l

* Represents zero or more characters bl* finds bl, black, blue, and blob

? Represents a single character h?t finds hot, hat, and hit

[] Represents any single character within the h[oa]t finds hot and hat, but not hit
brackets

! Represents any character not in the brackets h[!oa]t finds hit, but not hot and hat

- Represents a range of characters c[a-b]t finds cat and cbt

 # Represents any single numeric character 2#5 finds 205, 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285,
and 295

Wildcard Characters in SQL Server

Symbol Description Example

% Represents zero or more characters bl% finds bl, black, blue, and blob

_ Represents a single character h_t finds hot, hat, and hit

[] Represents any single character within the brackets h[oa]t finds hot and hat, but not hit

^ Represents any character not in the brackets h[^oa]t finds hit, but not hot and hat

- Represents a range of characters c[a-b]t finds cat and cbt

All the wildcards can also be used in combinations!

Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:

LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that starts with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that ends with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%' Finds any values that have "or" in any position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%' Finds any values that have "r" in the second position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a_%_ Finds any values that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in
%' length

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that starts with "a" and ends with "o"

Using the % Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "ber":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 'ber%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City containing the pattern "es":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '%es%';

Using the _ Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with any character, followed by "ondon":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '_ondon';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "L", followed by any character, followed by "n",
followed by any character, followed by "on":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 'L_n_on';

Using the [charlist] Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "b", "s", or "p":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[bsp]%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "a", "b", or "c":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[a-c]%';

Using the [!charlist] Wildcard

The two following SQL statements select all customers with a City NOT starting with "b", "s", or "p":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[!bsp]%';
Or:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City NOT LIKE '[bsp]%';
SQL IN Operator

The SQL IN Operator

The IN operator allows you to specify multiple values in a WHERE clause.
The IN operator is a shorthand for multiple OR conditions.
IN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (value1, value2, ...);
or:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (SELECT STATEMENT);

IN Operator Examples
The following SQL statement selects all customers that are located in "Germany", "France" or "UK":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country IN ('Germany', 'France', 'UK');
The following SQL statement selects all customers that are NOT located in "Germany", "France" or "UK":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country NOT IN ('Germany', 'France', 'UK');
The following SQL statement selects all customers that are from the same countries as the suppliers:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country IN (SELECT Country FROM Suppliers);

SQL BETWEEN Operator

The SQL BETWEEN Operator

The BETWEEN operator selects values within a given range. The values can be numbers, text, or dates.
The BETWEEN operator is inclusive: begin and end values are included.
BETWEEN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name BETWEEN value1 AND value2;
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

ProductID

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 1 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix

BETWEEN Example
The following SQL statement selects all products with a price BETWEEN 10 and 20:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE Price BETWEEN 10 AND 20;

NOT BETWEEN Example

To display the products outside the range of the previous example, use NOT BETWEEN:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE Price NOT BETWEEN 10 AND 20;

BETWEEN with IN Example

The following SQL statement selects all products with a price BETWEEN 10 and 20. In addition; do not show products with a
CategoryID of 1,2, or 3:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE Price BETWEEN 10 AND 20
AND CategoryID NOT IN (1,2,3);

BETWEEN Text Values Example

The following SQL statement selects all products with a ProductName BETWEEN Carnarvon Tigers and Mozzarella di Giovanni:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE ProductName BETWEEN 'Carnarvon Tigers' AND 'Mozzarella di Giovanni'
ORDER BY ProductName;
The following SQL statement selects all products with a ProductName BETWEEN Carnarvon Tigers and Chef Anton's Cajun
Seasoning:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE ProductName BETWEEN "Carnarvon Tigers" AND "Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning"
ORDER BY ProductName;

NOT BETWEEN Text Values Example

The following SQL statement selects all products with a ProductName NOT BETWEEN Carnarvon Tigers and Mozzarella di
Giovanni:
Example
SELECT * FROM Products
WHERE ProductName NOT BETWEEN 'Carnarvon Tigers' AND 'Mozzarella di Giovanni'
ORDER BY ProductName;

Sample Table
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10248 90 5 7/4/1996 3

10249 81 6 7/5/1996 1

10250 34 4 7/8/1996 2

10251 84 3 7/9/1996 1

10252 76 4 7/10/1996 2

BETWEEN Dates Example

The following SQL statement selects all orders with an OrderDate BETWEEN '01-July-1996' and '31-July-1996':
Example
SELECT * FROM Orders
WHERE OrderDate BETWEEN #01/07/1996# AND #31/07/1996#;
OR:
Example
SELECT * FROM Orders
WHERE OrderDate BETWEEN '1996-07-01' AND '1996-07-31';

SQL Aliases

SQL Aliases
SQL aliases are used to give a table, or a column in a table, a temporary name.
Aliases are often used to make column names more readable.
An alias only exists for the duration of the query.
Alias Column Syntax
SELECT column_name AS alias_name
FROM table_name;
Alias Table Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name AS alias_name;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

y helados Constitución 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

And a selection from the "Orders" table:

 OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10354 58 8 1996-11-14 3

10355 4 6 1996-11-15 1

10356 86 6 1996-11-18 2

Alias for Columns Examples

The following SQL statement creates two aliases, one for the CustomerID column and one for the CustomerName column:
Example
SELECT CustomerID AS ID, CustomerName AS Customer
FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement creates two aliases, one for the CustomerName column and one for the ContactName
column. Note: It requires double quotation marks or square brackets if the alias name contains spaces:
Example
SELECT CustomerName AS Customer, ContactName AS [Contact Person]
FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement creates an alias named "Address" that combine four columns (Address, PostalCode, City and
Country):
Example
SELECT CustomerName, Address + ', ' + PostalCode + ' ' + City + ', ' + Country AS Address
FROM Customers;
Note: To get the SQL statement above to work in MySQL use the following:
SELECT CustomerName, CONCAT(Address,', ',PostalCode,', ',City,', ',Country) AS Address
FROM Customers;

Alias for Tables Example

The following SQL statement selects all the orders from the customer with CustomerID=4 (Around the Horn). We use the
"Customers" and "Orders" tables, and give them the table aliases of "c" and "o" respectively (Here we use aliases to make the
SQL shorter):
Example
SELECT o.OrderID, o.OrderDate, c.CustomerName
FROM Customers AS c, Orders AS o
WHERE c.CustomerName='Around the Horn' AND c.CustomerID=o.CustomerID;
The following SQL statement is the same as above, but without aliases:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Orders.OrderDate, Customers.CustomerName
FROM Customers, Orders
WHERE Customers.CustomerName='Around the Horn' AND Customers.CustomerID=Orders.CustomerID;
Aliases can be useful when:
 There are more than one table involved in a query
 Functions are used in the query
 Column names are big or not very readable
 Two or more columns are combined together

SQL Joins

SQL JOIN
A JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column between them.
Let's look at a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID OrderDate

10308 2 1996-09-18

10309 37 1996-09-19

10310 77 1996-09-20

Then, look at a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Ana Trujillo Mexico

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería

Notice that the "CustomerID" column in the "Orders" table refers to the "CustomerID" in the "Customers" table. The relationship
between the two tables above is the "CustomerID" column.
Then, we can create the following SQL statement (that contains an INNER JOIN), that selects records that have matching values
in both tables:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderDate
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID=Customers.CustomerID;

and it will produce something like this:

OrderID CustomerName OrderDate

10308 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados 9/18/1996

10365 Antonio Moreno Taquería 11/27/1996

10383 Around the Horn 12/16/1996

10355 Around the Horn 11/15/1996

10278 Berglunds snabbköp 8/12/1996

Different Types of SQL JOINs

Here are the different types of the JOINs in SQL:
 (INNER) JOIN: Returns records that have matching values in both tables
 LEFT (OUTER) JOIN: Returns all records from the left table, and the matched records from the right table
 RIGHT (OUTER) JOIN: Returns all records from the right table, and the matched records from the left table
 FULL (OUTER) JOIN: Returns all records when there is a match in either left or right table

SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

The INNER JOIN keyword selects records that have matching values in both tables.
INNER JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
INNER JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1
 10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

And a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y helados Constitución 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

SQL INNER JOIN Example

The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer information:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID;
Note: The INNER JOIN keyword selects all rows from both tables as long as there is a match between the columns. If there are
records in the "Orders" table that do not have matches in "Customers", these orders will not be shown!

JOIN Three Tables

The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer and shipper information:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Shippers.ShipperName
FROM ((Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID)
INNER JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID);

SQL LEFT JOIN Keyword

SQL LEFT JOIN Keyword

The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all records from the left table (table1), and the matched records from the right table (table2).
The result is NULL from the right side, if there is no match.
LEFT JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
LEFT JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;
Note: In some databases LEFT JOIN is called LEFT OUTER JOIN.

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y helados Constitución 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Moreno D.F.
And a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

SQL LEFT JOIN Example

The following SQL statement will select all customers, and any orders they might have:
Example
SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderID
FROM Customers
LEFT JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerID = Orders.CustomerID
ORDER BY Customers.CustomerName;

Note: The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all records from the left table (Customers), even if there are no matches in the right table
(Orders).

SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword

SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword

The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all records from the right table (table2), and the matched records from the left table (table1).
The result is NULL from the left side, when there is no match.
RIGHT JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
RIGHT JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;
Note: In some databases RIGHT JOIN is called RIGHT OUTER JOIN.

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

And a selection from the "Employees" table:

EmployeeID LastName FirstName BirthDate Photo

1 Davolio Nancy 12/8/1968 EmpID1.pic

2 Fuller Andrew 2/19/1952 EmpID2.pic

3 Leverling Janet 8/30/1963 EmpID3.pic

SQL RIGHT JOIN Example

The following SQL statement will return all employees, and any orders they might have placed:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Employees.LastName, Employees.FirstName
FROM Orders
RIGHT JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
ORDER BY Orders.OrderID;
Try it Yourself »
Note: The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all records from the right table (Employees), even if there are no matches in the left
table (Orders).
QL FULL OUTER JOIN Keyword

SQL FULL OUTER JOIN Keyword

The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword returns all records when there is a match in left (table1) or right (table2) table records.
Note: FULL OUTER JOIN can potentially return very large result-sets!
Tip: FULL OUTER JOIN and FULL JOIN are the same.
FULL OUTER JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
FULL OUTER JOIN table2
ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución D.F.
helados 2222

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

And a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

SQL FULL OUTER JOIN Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers, and all orders:
SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderID
FROM Customers
FULL OUTER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerID=Orders.CustomerID
ORDER BY Customers.CustomerName;
A selection from the result set may look like this:

CustomerName OrderID

Alfreds Futterkiste Null

Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados 10308

Antonio Moreno Taquería 10365

Note: The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword returns all matching records from both tables whether the other table matches or not. So,
if there are rows in "Customers" that do not have matches in "Orders", or if there are rows in "Orders" that do not have matches
in "Customers", those rows will be listed as well.

SQL Self JOIN

SQL Self JOIN

A self JOIN is a regular join, but the table is joined with itself.
Self JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1 T1, table1 T2
WHERE condition;
T1 and T2 are different table aliases for the same table.
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCod Country

e

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Moreno D.F.

SQL Self JOIN Example

The following SQL statement matches customers that are from the same city:
Example
SELECT A.CustomerName AS CustomerName1, B.CustomerName AS CustomerName2, A.City
FROM Customers A, Customers B
WHERE A.CustomerID <> B.CustomerID
AND A.City = B.City
ORDER BY A.City;
SQL UNION Operator

The SQL UNION Operator

The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more SELECT statements.
 Each SELECT statement within UNION must have the same number of columns
 The columns must also have similar data types
The columns in each SELECT statement must also be in the same order
UNION Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1
UNION
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;
UNION ALL Syntax
The UNION operator selects only distinct values by default. To allow duplicate values, use UNION ALL:
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1
UNION ALL
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;
Note: The column names in the result-set are usually equal to the column names in the first SELECT statement in the UNION.

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Moreno D.F.

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID SupplierName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Exotic Liquid Charlotte Cooper 49 Gilbert St. London EC1 4SD UK

2 New Orleans Cajun Delights Shelley Burke P.O. Box 78934 New Orleans 70117 USA

3 Grandma Kelly's Homestead Regina Murphy 707 Oxford Rd. Ann Arbor 48104 USA

SQL UNION Example

The following SQL statement returns the cities (only distinct values) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:
Example
SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;
Note: If some customers or suppliers have the same city, each city will only be listed once, because UNION selects only distinct
values. Use UNION ALL to also select duplicate values!

SQL UNION ALL Example

The following SQL statement returns the cities (duplicate values also) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:
Example
SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION ALL
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

SQL UNION With WHERE

The following SQL statement returns the German cities (only distinct values) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers"
table:
Example
SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

SQL UNION ALL With WHERE

The following SQL statement returns the German cities (duplicate values also) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers"
table:
Example
SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION ALL
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;
Try it Yourself »

Another UNION Example

The following SQL statement lists all customers and suppliers:
Example
SELECT 'Customer' AS Type, ContactName, City, Country
FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT 'Supplier', ContactName, City, Country
FROM Suppliers;
Try it Yourself »
Notice the "AS Type" above - it is an alias. SQL Aliases are used to give a table or a column a temporary name. An alias only
exists for the duration of the query. So, here we have created a temporary column named "Type", that list whether the contact
person is a "Customer" or a "Supplier".

SQL GROUP BY Statement

The SQL GROUP BY Statement

The GROUP BY statement groups rows that have the same values into summary rows, like "find the number of customers in each
country".
The GROUP BY statement is often used with aggregate functions (COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, AVG) to group the result-set by one
or more columns.
GROUP BY Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
GROUP BY column_name(s)
ORDER BY column_name(s);

SQL GROUP BY Examples

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country:
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country, sorted high to low:
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
ORDER BY COUNT(CustomerID) DESC;
GROUP BY With JOIN Example
The following SQL statement lists the number of orders sent by each shipper:
Example
SELECT Shippers.ShipperName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders
LEFT JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID
GROUP BY ShipperName;
Try it Yourself »

SQL HAVING Clause

The SQL HAVING Clause

The HAVING clause was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.
HAVING Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
GROUP BY column_name(s)
HAVING condition
ORDER BY column_name(s);

SQL HAVING Examples

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country. Only include countries with more than 5 customers:
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
HAVING COUNT(CustomerID) > 5;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country, sorted high to low (Only include countries with more
than 5 customers):
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
HAVING COUNT(CustomerID) > 5
ORDER BY COUNT(CustomerID) DESC;

More HAVING Examples

The following SQL statement lists the employees that have registered more than 10 orders:
Example
SELECT Employees.LastName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders
FROM (Orders
INNER JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID)
GROUP BY LastName
HAVING COUNT(Orders.OrderID) > 10;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement lists if the employees "Davolio" or "Fuller" have registered more than 25 orders:
Example
SELECT Employees.LastName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
WHERE LastName = 'Davolio' OR LastName = 'Fuller'
GROUP BY LastName
HAVING COUNT(Orders.OrderID) > 25;
SQL EXISTS Operator

The SQL EXISTS Operator

The EXISTS operator is used to test for the existence of any record in a subquery.
The EXISTS operator returns true if the subquery returns one or more records.
EXISTS Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID SupplierName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Exotic Liquid Charlotte Cooper 49 Gilbert St. London EC1 4SD UK

2 New Orleans Cajun Delights Shelley Burke P.O. Box 78934 New Orleans 70117 USA

3 Grandma Kelly's Homestead Regina Murphy 707 Oxford Rd. Ann Arbor 48104 USA

4 Tokyo Traders Yoshi Nagase 9-8 Sekimai Musashino-shi Tokyo 100 Japan

SQL EXISTS Examples

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price less than 20:
Example
SELECT SupplierName
FROM Suppliers
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT ProductName FROM Products WHERE Products.SupplierID = Suppliers.supplierID AND Price < 20);
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price equal to 22:
Example
SELECT SupplierName
FROM Suppliers
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT ProductName FROM Products WHERE Products.SupplierID = Suppliers.supplierID AND Price = 22);
Try it Yourself »
SQL ANY and ALL Operators

The SQL ANY and ALL Operators

The ANY and ALL operators are used with a WHERE or HAVING clause.
The ANY operator returns true if any of the subquery values meet the condition.
The ALL operator returns true if all of the subquery values meet the condition.
ANY Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator ANY
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);
ALL Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator ALL
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);
Note: The operator must be a standard comparison operator (=, <>, !=, >, >=, <, or <=).

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

And a selection from the "OrderDetails" table:

OrderDetailI OrderI ProductI Quantit

D D D y

1 10248 11 12

2 10248 42 10

3 10248 72 5

4 10249 14 9

5 10249 51 40

SQL ANY Examples

The ANY operator returns TRUE if any of the subquery values meet the condition.
The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the product names if it finds ANY records in the OrderDetails table that
quantity = 10:
Example
SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ANY (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity = 10);
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the product names if it finds ANY records in the OrderDetails table that
quantity > 99:
Example
SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ANY (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity > 99);
Try it Yourself »

SQL ALL Example

The ALL operator returns TRUE if all of the subquery values meet the condition.
The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the product names if ALL the records in the OrderDetails table has quantity =
10 (so, this example will return FALSE, because not ALL records in the OrderDetails table has quantity = 10):
Example
SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ALL (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity = 10);

SQL SELECT INTO Statement

The SQL SELECT INTO Statement

The SELECT INTO statement copies data from one table into a new table.
SELECT INTO Syntax
Copy all columns into a new table:
SELECT *
INTO newtable [IN externaldb]
FROM oldtable
WHERE condition;
Copy only some columns into a new table:
SELECT column1, column2, column3, ...
INTO newtable [IN externaldb]
FROM oldtable
WHERE condition;
The new table will be created with the column-names and types as defined in the old table. You can create new column names
using the AS clause.

SQL SELECT INTO Examples

The following SQL statement creates a backup copy of Customers:
SELECT * INTO CustomersBackup2017
FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement uses the IN clause to copy the table into a new table in another database:
SELECT * INTO CustomersBackup2017 IN 'Backup.mdb'
FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement copies only a few columns into a new table:
SELECT CustomerName, ContactName INTO CustomersBackup2017
FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement copies only the German customers into a new table:
SELECT * INTO CustomersGermany
FROM Customers
WHERE Country = 'Germany';
The following SQL statement copies data from more than one table into a new table:
SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderID
INTO CustomersOrderBackup2017
FROM Customers
LEFT JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerID = Orders.CustomerID;
Tip: SELECT INTO can also be used to create a new, empty table using the schema of another. Just add a WHERE clause that
causes the query to return no data:
SELECT * INTO newtable
FROM oldtable
WHERE 1 = 0;
SQL INSERT INTO SELECT Statement

The SQL INSERT INTO SELECT Statement

The INSERT INTO SELECT statement copies data from one table and inserts it into another table.
 INSERT INTO SELECT requires that data types in source and target tables match
 The existing records in the target table are unaffected
INSERT INTO SELECT Syntax
Copy all columns from one table to another table:
INSERT INTO table2
SELECT * FROM table1
WHERE condition;
Copy only some columns from one table into another table:
INSERT INTO table2 (column1, column2, column3, ...)
SELECT column1, column2, column3, ...
FROM table1
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Moreno D.F.

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID SupplierName ContactName Address City Postal Code Country

1 Exotic Liquid Charlotte Cooper 49 Gilbert St. Londona EC1 4SD UK

2 New Orleans Cajun Delights Shelley Burke P.O. Box 78934 New Orleans 70117 USA

3 Grandma Kelly's Homestead Regina Murphy 707 Oxford Rd. Ann Arbor 48104 USA

SQL INSERT INTO SELECT Examples

The following SQL statement copies "Suppliers" into "Customers" (the columns that are not filled with data, will contain NULL):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
SELECT SupplierName, City, Country FROM Suppliers;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement copies "Suppliers" into "Customers" (fill all columns):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
SELECT SupplierName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country FROM Suppliers;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL statement copies only the German suppliers into "Customers":
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
SELECT SupplierName, City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany';
Try it Yourself »

SQL CASE Statement

The SQL CASE Statement

The CASE statement goes through conditions and returns a value when the first condition is met (like an IF-THEN-ELSE
statement). So, once a condition is true, it will stop reading and return the result. If no conditions are true, it returns the value in
the ELSE clause.
If there is no ELSE part and no conditions are true, it returns NULL.
CASE Syntax
CASE
WHEN condition1 THEN result1
WHEN condition2 THEN result2
WHEN conditionN THEN resultN
ELSE result
END;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "OrderDetails" table in the Northwind sample database:
 OrderDetailI OrderI ProductI Quantit
D D D y

1 10248 11 12

2 10248 42 10

3 10248 72 5

4 10249 14 9

5 10249 51 40

SQL CASE Examples

The following SQL goes through conditions and returns a value when the first condition is met:
Example
SELECT OrderID, Quantity,
CASE
WHEN Quantity > 30 THEN 'The quantity is greater than 30'
WHEN Quantity = 30 THEN 'The quantity is 30'
ELSE 'The quantity is under 30'
END AS QuantityText
FROM OrderDetails;
Try it Yourself »
The following SQL will order the customers by City. However, if City is NULL, then order by Country:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, City, Country
FROM Customers
ORDER BY
(CASE
WHEN City IS NULL THEN Country
ELSE City
END);
Try it Yourself »
SQL NULL Functions

SQL IFNULL(), ISNULL(), COALESCE(), and NVL() Functions

Look at the following "Products" table:

P_I ProductNam UnitPric UnitsInStoc UnitsOnOrd

d e e k er

1 Jarlsberg 10.45 16 15

2 Mascarpone 32.56 23

3 Gorgonzola 15.67 9 20

Suppose that the "UnitsOnOrder" column is optional, and may contain NULL values.
Look at the following SELECT statement:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + UnitsOnOrder)
FROM Products;
In the example above, if any of the "UnitsOnOrder" values are NULL, the result will be NULL.

Solutions
MySQL
The MySQL IFNULL() function lets you return an alternative value if an expression is NULL:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + IFNULL(UnitsOnOrder, 0))
FROM Products;
or we can use the COALESCE() function, like this:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + COALESCE(UnitsOnOrder, 0))
FROM Products;
SQL Server
The SQL Server ISNULL() function lets you return an alternative value when an expression is NULL:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + ISNULL(UnitsOnOrder, 0))
FROM Products;
MS Access
The MS Access IsNull() function returns TRUE (-1) if the expression is a null value, otherwise FALSE (0):
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + IIF(IsNull(UnitsOnOrder), 0, UnitsOnOrder))
FROM Products;
Oracle
The Oracle NVL() function achieves the same result:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice * (UnitsInStock + NVL(UnitsOnOrder, 0))
FROM Products;
SQL Stored Procedures for SQL Server

What is a Stored Procedure?

A stored procedure is a prepared SQL code that you can save, so the code can be reused over and over again.
So if you have an SQL query that you write over and over again, save it as a stored procedure, and then just call it to execute it.
You can also pass parameters to a stored procedure, so that the stored procedure can act based on the parameter value(s) that
is passed.
Stored Procedure Syntax
CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name
AS
sql_statement
GO;
Execute a Stored Procedure
EXEC procedure_name;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Constitución México 05021 Mexico
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

Stored Procedure Example

The following SQL statement creates a stored procedure named "SelectAllCustomers" that selects all records from the
"Customers" table:
Example
CREATE PROCEDURE SelectAllCustomers
AS
SELECT * FROM Customers
GO;
Execute the stored procedure above as follows:
Example
EXEC SelectAllCustomers;

Stored Procedure With One Parameter

The following SQL statement creates a stored procedure that selects Customers from a particular City from the "Customers"
table:
Example
CREATE PROCEDURE SelectAllCustomers @City nvarchar(30)
AS
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = @City
GO;
Execute the stored procedure above as follows:
Example
EXEC SelectAllCustomers @City = 'London';

Stored Procedure With Multiple Parameters

Setting up multiple parameters is very easy. Just list each parameter and the data type separated by a comma as shown below.
The following SQL statement creates a stored procedure that selects Customers from a particular City with a particular
PostalCode from the "Customers" table:
Example
CREATE PROCEDURE SelectAllCustomers @City nvarchar(30), @PostalCode nvarchar(10)
AS
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE City = @City AND PostalCode = @PostalCode
GO;
Execute the stored procedure above as follows:
Example
EXEC SelectAllCustomers @City = 'London', @PostalCode = 'WA1 1DP';

SQL Comments

SQL Comments
Comments are used to explain sections of SQL statements, or to prevent execution of SQL statements.
Note: The examples in this chapter will not work in Firefox and Microsoft Edge!
Comments are not supported in Microsoft Access databases. Firefox and Microsoft Edge are using Microsoft Access database in
our examples.

Single Line Comments

Single line comments start with --.
Any text between -- and the end of the line will be ignored (will not be executed).
The following example uses a single-line comment as an explanation:
Example
--Select all:
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
The following example uses a single-line comment to ignore the end of a line:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers -- WHERE City='Berlin';
Try it Yourself »
The following example uses a single-line comment to ignore a statement:
Example
--SELECT * FROM Customers;
SELECT * FROM Products;
Try it Yourself »

Multi-line Comments
Multi-line comments start with /* and end with */.
Any text between /* and */ will be ignored.
The following example uses a multi-line comment as an explanation:
Example
/*Select all the columns
of all the records
in the Customers table:*/
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
The following example uses a multi-line comment to ignore many statements:
Example
/*SELECT * FROM Customers;
SELECT * FROM Products;
SELECT * FROM Orders;
SELECT * FROM Categories;*/
SELECT * FROM Suppliers;
Try it Yourself »
To ignore just a part of a statement, also use the /* */ comment.
The following example uses a comment to ignore part of a line:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, /*City,*/ Country FROM Customers;
Try it Yourself »
The following example uses a comment to ignore part of a statement:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE (CustomerName LIKE 'L%'
OR CustomerName LIKE 'R%' /*OR CustomerName LIKE 'S%'
OR CustomerName LIKE 'T%'*/ OR CustomerName LIKE 'W%')
AND Country='USA'
ORDER BY CustomerName;

SQL Operators

SQL Arithmetic Operators

Operator Description

+ Add

- Subtract

* Multiply

/ Divide

% Modulo

SQL Bitwise Operators

Operato Description
r

& Bitwise AND

| Bitwise OR
 ^ Bitwise exclusive OR

SQL Comparison Operators

Operato Description
r

= Equal to

> Greater than

< Less than

>= Greater than or equal to

<= Less than or equal to

<> Not equal to

SQL Compound Operators

Operato Description
r

+= Add equals

-= Subtract equals

*= Multiply equals

/= Divide equals

%= Modulo equals

&= Bitwise AND equals

^-= Bitwise exclusive equals

|*= Bitwise OR equals

SQL Logical Operators

Operator Description

ALL TRUE if all of the subquery values meet the condition

AND TRUE if all the conditions separated by AND is TRUE

ANY TRUE if any of the subquery values meet the condition

BETWEEN TRUE if the operand is within the range of comparisons

EXISTS TRUE if the subquery returns one or more records

IN TRUE if the operand is equal to one of a list of expressions

LIKE TRUE if the operand matches a pattern

NOT Displays a record if the condition(s) is NOT TRUE

OR TRUE if any of the conditions separated by OR is TRUE

SOME TRUE if any of the subquery values meet the condition