SQL
SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. This tutorial will give you a quick start to SQL. It covers most of the
topics required for a basic understanding of SQL and to get a feel of how it works.
SQL is a language to operate databases; it includes database creation, deletion, fetching rows, modifying rows, etc.
SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard language, but there are many different versions of
the SQL language.
What is SQL?
SQL is Structured Query Language, which is a computer language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data
stored in a relational database.
SQL is the standard language for Relational Database System. All the Relational Database Management Systems
(RDMS) like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Postgres and SQL Server use SQL as their standard
database language.
Why SQL?
1970 − Dr. Edgar F. "Ted" Codd of IBM is known as the father of relational databases. He described a
relational model for databases.
1974 − Structured Query Language appeared.
1978 − IBM worked to develop Codd's ideas and released a product named System/R.
1986 − IBM developed the first prototype of relational database and standardized by ANSI. The first
relational database was released by Relational Software which later came to be known as Oracle.
SQL Process
When you are executing an SQL command for any RDBMS, the system determines the best way to carry out your
request and SQL engine figures out how to interpret the task.
Query Dispatcher
Optimization Engines
A classic query engine handles all the non-SQL queries, but a SQL query engine won't handle logical files.
The standard SQL commands to interact with relational databases are CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
and DROP. These commands can be classified into the following groups based on their nature −
CREATE
1
Creates a new table, a view of a table, or other object in the database.
2
ALTER
Modifies an existing database object, such as a table.
DROP
3
Deletes an entire table, a view of a table or other objects in the database.
SELECT
1
Retrieves certain records from one or more tables.
INSERT
2
Creates a record.
UPDATE
3
Modifies records.
DELETE
4
Deletes records.
GRANT
1
Gives a privilege to user.
REVOKE
2
Takes back privileges granted from user.
What is RDBMS?
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern
database systems like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.
A Relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on
the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd.
What is a table?
The data in an RDBMS is stored in database objects which are called as tables. This table is basically a collection of
related data entries and it consists of numerous columns and rows.
Remember, a table is the most common and simplest form of data storage in a relational database. The following
program is an example of a CUSTOMERS table −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
What is a field?
Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the CUSTOMERS table consist of ID, NAME,
AGE, ADDRESS and SALARY.
A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain specific information about every record in the table.
A record is also called as a row of data is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example, there are 7
records in the above CUSTOMERS table. Following is a single row of data or record in the CUSTOMERS table −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
What is a column?
A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.
For example, a column in the CUSTOMERS table is ADDRESS, which represents location description and would be
as shown below −
+-----------+
| ADDRESS |
+-----------+
| Ahmedabad |
| Delhi |
| Kota |
| Mumbai |
| Bhopal |
| MP |
| Indore |
+----+------+
A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank, which means a field with a NULL value is a
field with no value.
It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A
field with a NULL value is the one that has been left blank during a record creation.
SQL Constraints
Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on a table. These are used to limit the type of data that can go
into a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database.
Constraints can either be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied only to one column
whereas, table level constraints are applied to the entire table.
Following are some of the most commonly used constraints available in SQL −
NOT NULL Constraint − Ensures that a column cannot have a NULL value.
DEFAULT Constraint − Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Constraint − Ensures that all the values in a column are different.
CHECK Constraint − The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain conditions.
INDEX − Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.
Data Integrity
Domain Integrity − Enforces valid entries for a given column by restricting the type, the format, or the
range of values.
Referential integrity − Rows cannot be deleted, which are used by other records.
User-Defined Integrity − Enforces some specific business rules that do not fall into entity, domain or
referential integrity.
Database Normalization
Database normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are two reasons of this
normalization process −
Eliminating redundant data, for example, storing the same data in more than one table.
Both these reasons are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensures that
data is logically stored. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that help guide you in creating a good
database structure.
Normalization guidelines are divided into normal forms; think of a form as the format or the way a database
structure is laid out. The aim of normal forms is to organize the database structure, so that it complies with the
rules of first normal form, then second normal form and finally the third normal form.
It is your choice to take it further and go to the fourth normal form, fifth normal form and so on, but in general,
the third normal form is more than enough.
There are many popular RDBMS available to work with. This tutorial gives a brief overview of some of the most
popular RDBMS’s. This would help you to compare their basic features.
MySQL
MySQL is an open source SQL database, which is developed by a Swedish company – MySQL AB. MySQL is
pronounced as "my ess-que-ell," in contrast with SQL, pronounced "sequel."
MySQL is supporting many different platforms including Microsoft Windows, the major Linux distributions, UNIX,
and Mac OS X.
MySQL has free and paid versions, depending on its usage (non-commercial/commercial) and features. MySQL
comes with a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user and robust SQL database server.
History
Features
High Performance.
High Availability.
Management Ease.
MS SQL Server
MS SQL Server is a Relational Database Management System developed by Microsoft Inc. Its primary query
languages are −
T-SQL
ANSI SQL
History
Features
High Performance
High Availability
Database mirroring
Database snapshots
CLR integration
Service Broker
DDL triggers
Ranking functions
XML integration
TRY...CATCH
Database Mail
ORACLE
It is a very large multi-user based database management system. Oracle is a relational database management
system developed by 'Oracle Corporation'.
Oracle works to efficiently manage its resources, a database of information among the multiple clients requesting
and sending data in the network.
It is an excellent database server choice for client/server computing. Oracle supports all major operating systems
for both clients and servers, including MSDOS, NetWare, UnixWare, OS/2 and most UNIX flavors.
History
Oracle began in 1977 and celebrating its 32 wonderful years in the industry (from 1977 to 2009).
1977 - Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories to undertake
development work.
1979 - Version 2.0 of Oracle was released and it became first commercial relational database and first
SQL database. The company changed its name to Relational Software Inc. (RSI).
1981 - RSI started developing tools for Oracle.
1982 - RSI was renamed to Oracle Corporation.
1983 - Oracle released version 3.0, rewritten in C language and ran on multiple platforms.
1984 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control - multi-version read
consistency, etc.
1985 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control - multi-version read
consistency, etc.
2007 - Oracle released Oracle11g. The new version focused on better partitioning, easy migration, etc.
Features
Concurrency
Read Consistency
Locking Mechanisms
Quiesce Database
Portability
Self-managing database
SQL*Plus
ASM
Scheduler
Resource Manager
Data Warehousing
Materialized views
Bitmap indexes
Table compression
Parallel Execution
Analytic SQL
Data mining
Partitioning
MS ACCESS
This is one of the most popular Microsoft products. Microsoft Access is an entry-level database management
software. MS Access database is not only inexpensive but also a powerful database for small-scale projects.
MS Access uses the Jet database engine, which utilizes a specific SQL language dialect (sometimes referred to as
Jet SQL).
MS Access comes with the professional edition of MS Office package. MS Access has easyto-use intuitive graphical
interface.
Features
Users can create tables, queries, forms and reports and connect them together with macros.
Option of importing and exporting the data to many formats including Excel, Outlook, ASCII, dBase,
Paradox, FoxPro, SQL Server, Oracle, ODBC, etc.
There is also the Jet Database format (MDB or ACCDB in Access 2007), which can contain the application
and data in one file. This makes it very convenient to distribute the entire application to another user,
who can run it in disconnected environments.
Microsoft Access offers parameterized queries. These queries and Access tables can be referenced from
other programs like VB6 and .NET through DAO or ADO.
The desktop editions of Microsoft SQL Server can be used with Access as an alternative to the Jet
Database Engine.
Microsoft Access is a file server-based database. Unlike the client-server relational database management
systems (RDBMS), Microsoft Access does not implement database triggers, stored procedures or
transaction logging.
SQL is followed by a unique set of rules and guidelines called Syntax. This tutorial gives you a quick start
with SQL by listing all the basic SQL Syntax.
All the SQL statements start with any of the keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER,
DROP, CREATE, USE, SHOW and all the statements end with a semicolon (;).
The most important point to be noted here is that SQL is case insensitive, which means SELECT and select
have same meaning in SQL statements. Whereas, MySQL makes difference in table names. So, if you are
working with MySQL, then you need to give table names as they exist in the database.
Various Syntax in SQL
All the examples given in this tutorial have been tested with a MySQL server.
SQL IN Clause
SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);
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 −
tinyint 0 255
bit 0 1
Note − Here, datetime has 3.33 milliseconds accuracy where as smalldatetime has 1 minute accuracy.
char
1
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 231characters, 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.
nchar
1
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.( Fixed length Unicode)
2
nvarchar
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.(Variable length Unicode)
nvarchar(max)
3
Maximum length of 231characters (SQL Server 2005 only).( Variable length Unicode)
ntext
4
Maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. ( Variable length Unicode )
binary
1
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 231 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). ( Variable length Binary data)
image
4
Maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. ( Variable length Binary Data)
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).
cursor
5
Reference to a cursor object
table
6
Stores a result set for later processing
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
Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples
Divides left hand operand by right hand operand and returns b%a
% (Modulus) remainder. will give
0
Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples
Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes then condition (a = b) is
= becomes true. not
true.
!= Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then (a != b)
condition becomes true. is true.
Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then (a <> b)
<>
condition becomes true. is true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand, if (a > b) is
> yes then condition becomes true. not
true.
Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand, if yes (a < b) is
<
then condition becomes true. true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of right (a >= b)
>= 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 of right (a <= b)
<=
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is true.
Checks if the value of left operand is not less than the value of right operand, if (a !< b)
!<
yes then condition becomes true. is false.
Checks if the value of left operand is not greater than the value of right operand, (a !> b)
!>
if yes then condition becomes true. is true.
Show Examples
ALL
1
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.
9
OR
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).
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
There are different types of SQL expressions, which are mentioned below −
Boolean
Numeric
Date
Boolean Expressions
SQL Boolean Expressions fetch the data based on matching a single value. Following is the syntax −
The following table is a simple example showing the usage of various SQL Boolean Expressions −
Numeric Expression
These expressions are used to perform any mathematical operation in any query. Following is the syntax −
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 −
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.
Date Expressions
The SQL CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a new SQL database.
Syntax
Example
If you want to create a new database <testDB>, then the CREATE DATABASE statement would be as shown below
−
Make sure you have the admin privilege before creating any database. Once a database is created, you can check
it in the list of databases as follows −
The SQL DROP DATABASE statement is used to drop an existing database in SQL schema.
Syntax
Example
If you want to delete an existing database <testDB>, then the DROP DATABASE statement would be as shown
below −
NOTE − Be careful before using this operation because by deleting an existing database would result in loss of
complete information stored in the database.
Make sure you have the admin privilege before dropping any database. Once a database is dropped, you can
check it in the list of the databases as shown below −
When you have multiple databases in your SQL Schema, then before starting your operation, you would need to
select a database where all the operations would be performed.
The SQL USE statement is used to select any existing database in the SQL schema.
Syntax
USE DatabaseName;
Always the database name should be unique within the RDBMS.
Example
Now, if you want to work with the AMROOD database, then you can execute the following SQL command and
start working with the AMROOD database.
Creating a basic table involves naming the table and defining its columns and each column's data type.
Syntax
Then in brackets comes the list defining each column in the table and what sort of data type it is. The syntax
becomes clearer with the following example.
A copy of an existing table can be created using a combination of the CREATE TABLE statement and the SELECT
statement. You can check the complete details at Create Table Using another Table.
Example
The following code block is an example, which creates a CUSTOMERS table with an ID as a primary key and NOT
NULL are the constraints showing that these fields cannot be NULL while creating records in this table −
You can verify if your table has been created successfully by looking at the message displayed by the SQL server,
otherwise you can use the DESCcommand as follows −
Now, you have CUSTOMERS table available in your database which you can use to store the required information
related to customers.
The SQL DROP TABLE statement is used to remove a table definition and all the data, indexes, triggers,
constraints and permission specifications for that table.
NOTE − You should be very careful while using this command because once a table is deleted then all the
information available in that table will also be lost forever.
Syntax
Example
Let us first verify the CUSTOMERS table and then we will delete it from the database as shown below −
This means that the CUSTOMERS table is available in the database, so let us now drop it as shown below.
Now, if you would try the DESC command, then you will get the following error −
Here, TEST is the database name which we are using for our examples.
The SQL INSERT INTO Statement is used to add new rows of data to a table in the database.
Syntax
There are two basic syntaxes of the INSERT INTO statement which are shown below.
Here, column1, column2, column3,...columnN are the names of the columns in the table into which you want to
insert the data.
You may not need to specify the column(s) name in the SQL query if you are adding values for all the columns of
the table. But make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table.
Example
The following statements would create six records in the CUSTOMERS table.
You can create a record in the CUSTOMERS table by using the second syntax as shown below.
All the above statements would produce the following records in the CUSTOMERS table as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
You can populate the data into a table through the select statement over another table; provided the other table
has a set of fields, which are required to populate the first table.
The SQL SELECT statement is used to fetch the data from a database table which returns this data in the form of a
result table. These result tables are called result-sets.
Syntax
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields of the customers available in
CUSTOMERS table.
+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
If you want to fetch all the fields of the CUSTOMERS table, then you should use the following query.
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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL WHERE clause is used to specify a condition while fetching the data from a single table or by joining with
multiple tables. If the given condition is satisfied, then only it returns a specific value from the table. You should
use the WHERE clause to filter the records and fetching only the necessary records.
The WHERE clause is not only used in the SELECT statement, but it is also used in the UPDATE, DELETE statement,
etc., which we would examine in the subsequent chapters.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the SELECT statement with the WHERE clause is as shown below.
You can specify a condition using the comparison or logical operators like >, <, =, LIKE, NOT, etc. The following
examples would make this concept clear.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code is an example which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table,
where the salary is greater than 2000 −
+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The following query is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table
for a customer with the name Hardik.
Here, it is important to note that all the strings should be given inside single quotes (''). Whereas, numeric values
should be given without any quote as in the above example.
+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The SQL AND & OR operators are used to combine multiple conditions to narrow data in an SQL statement. These
two operators are called as the conjunctive operators.
These operators provide a means to make multiple comparisons with different operators in the same SQL
statement.
The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the AND operator with a WHERE clause is as follows −
You can combine N number of conditions using the AND operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL
statement, whether it be a transaction or a query, all conditions separated by the AND must be TRUE.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table, where the
salary is greater than 2000 and the age is less than 25 years −
The OR Operator
The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.
Syntax
You can combine N number of conditions using the OR operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL statement,
whether it be a transaction or query, the only any ONE of the conditions separated by the OR must be TRUE.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block hasa query, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS
table, where the salary is greater than 2000 and the age is less than 25 years.
+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 3 | kaushik | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The SQL UPDATE Query is used to modify the existing records in a table. You can use the WHERE clause with the
UPDATE query to update the selected rows, otherwise all the rows would be affected.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the UPDATE query with a WHERE clause is as follows −
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2...., columnN = valueN
WHERE [condition];
You can combine N number of conditions using the AND or the OR operators.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following query will update the ADDRESS for a customer whose ID number is 6 in the table.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 | Pune | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to modify all the ADDRESS and the SALARY column values in the CUSTOMERS table, you do not need
to use the WHERE clause as the UPDATE query would be enough as shown in the following code block.
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Pune | 1000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
The SQL DELETE Query is used to delete the existing records from a table.
You can use the WHERE clause with a DELETE query to delete the selected rows, otherwise all the records would
be deleted.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the DELETE query with the WHERE clause is as follows −
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code has a query, which will DELETE a customer, whose ID is 6.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to DELETE all the records from the CUSTOMERS table, you do not need to use the WHERE clause and
the DELETE query would be as follows −
The percent sign represents zero, one or multiple characters. The underscore represents a single number or
character. These symbols can be used in combinations.
Syntax
or
or
or
or
You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators. Here, XXXX could be any numeric or string
value.
Example
The following table has a few examples showing the WHERE part having different LIKE clause with '%' and '_'
operators −
Let us take a real example, consider the CUSTOMERS table having the records as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would display all the records from the CUSTOMERS table, where the SALARY starts
with 200.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL TOP clause is used to fetch a TOP N number or X percent records from a table.
Note − All the databases do not support the TOP clause. For example MySQL supports the LIMIT clause to fetch
limited number of records while Oracle uses the ROWNUM command to fetch a limited number of records.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the TOP clause with a SELECT statement would be as follows.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following query is an example on the SQL server, which would fetch the top 3 records from the CUSTOMERS
table.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
If you are using an Oracle server, then the following code block has an equivalent example.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more
columns. Some databases sort the query results in an ascending order by default.
Syntax
SELECT column-list
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition]
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];
You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure whatever column you are using to sort
that column should be in the column-list.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in an ascending order by the NAME and the
SALARY −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in the descending order by NAME.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL GROUP BY clause is used in collaboration with the SELECT statement to arrange identical data into
groups. This GROUP BY clause follows the WHERE clause in a SELECT statement and precedes the ORDER BY
clause.
Syntax
The basic syntax of a GROUP BY clause is shown in the following code block. The GROUP BY clause must follow
the conditions in the WHERE clause and must precede the ORDER BY clause if one is used.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to know the total amount of the salary on each customer, then the GROUP BY query would be as
follows.
+----------+-------------+
| NAME | SUM(SALARY) |
+----------+-------------+
| Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| Hardik | 8500.00 |
| kaushik | 2000.00 |
| Khilan | 1500.00 |
| Komal | 4500.00 |
| Muffy | 10000.00 |
| Ramesh | 2000.00 |
+----------+-------------+
Now, let us look at a table where the CUSTOMERS table has the following records with duplicate names −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Now again, if you want to know the total amount of salary on each customer, then the GROUP BY query would be
as follows −
+---------+-------------+
| NAME | SUM(SALARY) |
+---------+-------------+
| Hardik | 8500.00 |
| kaushik | 8500.00 |
| Komal | 4500.00 |
| Muffy | 10000.00 |
| Ramesh | 3500.00 |
+---------+-------------+
The SQL DISTINCT keyword is used in conjunction with the SELECT statement to eliminate all the duplicate
records and fetching only unique records.
There may be a situation when you have multiple duplicate records in a table. While fetching such records, it
makes more sense to fetch only those unique records instead of fetching duplicate records.
Syntax
The basic syntax of DISTINCT keyword to eliminate the duplicate records is as follows −
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
First, let us see how the following SELECT query returns the duplicate salary records.
This would produce the following result, where the salary (2000) is coming twice which is a duplicate record from
the original table.
+----------+
| SALARY |
+----------+
| 1500.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 4500.00 |
| 6500.00 |
| 8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+
Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT query and then see the result.
This would produce the following result where we do not have any duplicate entry.
+----------+
| SALARY |
+----------+
| 1500.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 4500.00 |
| 6500.00 |
| 8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+
The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more
columns. Some databases sort the query results in an ascending order by default.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the ORDER BY clause which would be used to sort the result in an ascending or descending
order is as follows −
SELECT column-list
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition]
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];
You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure that whatever column you are using to
sort, that column should be in the column-list.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would sort the result in an ascending order by NAME and SALARY.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in a descending order by NAME.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
To fetch the rows with their own preferred order, the SELECT query used would be as follows −
This will sort the customers by ADDRESS in your ownoOrder of preference first and in a natural order for the
remaining addresses. Also, the remaining Addresses will be sorted in the reverse alphabetical order.
Constraints are the rules enforced on the data columns of a table. These are used to limit the type of data that
can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database.
Constraints could be either on a column level or a table level. The column level constraints are applied only to one
column, whereas the table level constraints are applied to the whole table.
Following are some of the most commonly used constraints available in SQL. These constraints have already been
discussed in SQL - RDBMS Conceptschapter, but it’s worth to revise them at this point.
NOT NULL Constraint − Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
DEFAULT Constraint − Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Constraint − Ensures that all values in a column are different.
PRIMARY Key − Uniquely identifies each row/record in a database table.
FOREIGN Key − Uniquely identifies a row/record in any of the given database table.
CHECK Constraint − The CHECK constraint ensures that all the values in a column satisfies certain
conditions.
INDEX − Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.
Constraints can be specified when a table is created with the CREATE TABLE statement or you can use the ALTER
TABLE statement to create constraints even after the table is created.
Dropping Constraints
Any constraint that you have defined can be dropped using the ALTER TABLE command with the DROP
CONSTRAINT option.
For example, to drop the primary key constraint in the EMPLOYEES table, you can use the following command.
ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEES DROP CONSTRAINT EMPLOYEES_PK;
Some implementations may provide shortcuts for dropping certain constraints. For example, to drop the primary
key constraint for a table in Oracle, you can use the following command.
Some implementations allow you to disable constraints. Instead of permanently dropping a constraint from the
database, you may want to temporarily disable the constraint and then enable it later.
Integrity Constraints
Integrity constraints are used to ensure accuracy and consistency of the data in a relational database. Data
integrity is handled in a relational database through the concept of referential integrity.
There are many types of integrity constraints that play a role in Referential Integrity (RI). These constraints
include Primary Key, Foreign Key, Unique Constraints and other constraints which are mentioned above.
The SQL Joins clause is used to combine records from two or more tables in a database. A JOIN is a means for
combining fields from two tables by using values common to each.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Now, let us join these two tables in our SELECT statement as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+--------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | AMOUNT |
+----+----------+-----+--------+
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | 3000 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | 1500 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | 1560 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | 2060 |
+----+----------+-----+--------+
Here, it is noticeable that the join is performed in the WHERE clause. Several operators can be used to join tables,
such as =, <, >, <>, <=, >=, !=, BETWEEN, LIKE, and NOT; they can all be used to join tables. However, the most
common operator is the equal to symbol.
Syntax
UNION
Here, the given condition could be any given expression based on your requirement.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
|OID | DATE | CUSTOMER_ID | AMOUNT |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
| 102 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 3000 |
| 100 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 1500 |
| 101 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | 2 | 1560 |
| 103 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | 4 | 2060 |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
Now, let us join these two tables in our SELECT statement as follows −
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
| ID | NAME | AMOUNT | DATE |
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
| 1 | Ramesh | NULL | NULL |
| 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 |
| 5 | Hardik | NULL | NULL |
| 6 | Komal | NULL | NULL |
| 7 | Muffy | NULL | NULL |
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
The UNION ALL operator is used to combine the results of two SELECT statements including duplicate rows.
The same rules that apply to the UNION clause will apply to the UNION ALL operator.
Syntax
UNION ALL
Here, the given condition could be any given expression based on your requirement.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Table 2 − ORDERS table is as follows.
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
|OID | DATE | CUSTOMER_ID | AMOUNT |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
| 102 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 3000 |
| 100 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 1500 |
| 101 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | 2 | 1560 |
| 103 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | 4 | 2060 |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
Now, let us join these two tables in our SELECT statement as follows −
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
| ID | NAME | AMOUNT | DATE |
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
| 1 | Ramesh | NULL | NULL |
| 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 |
| 5 | Hardik | NULL | NULL |
| 6 | Komal | NULL | NULL |
| 7 | Muffy | NULL | NULL |
| 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 |
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+
There are two other clauses (i.e., operators), which are like the UNION clause.
SQL INTERSECT Clause − This is used to combine two SELECT statements, but returns rows only from the
first SELECT statement that are identical to a row in the second SELECT statement.
SQL EXCEPT Clause − This combines two SELECT statements and returns rows from the first SELECT
statement that are not returned by the second SELECT statement.
The SQL NULL is the term used to represent a missing value. A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that
appears to be blank.
A field with a NULL value is a field with no value. It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different
than a zero value or a field that contains spaces.
Syntax
Here, NOT NULL signifies that column should always accept an explicit value of the given data type. There are two
columns where we did not use NOT NULL, which means these columns could be NULL.
A field with a NULL value is the one that has been left blank during the record creation.
Example
The NULL value can cause problems when selecting data. However, because when comparing an unknown value
to any other value, the result is always unknown and not included in the results. You must use the IS NULL or IS
NOT NULL operators to check for a NULL value.
Consider the following CUSTOMERS table having the records as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 | |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
You can rename a table or a column temporarily by giving another name known as Alias. The use of table aliases
is to rename a table in a specific SQL statement. The renaming is a temporary change and the actual table name
does not change in the database. The column aliases are used to rename a table's columns for the purpose of a
particular SQL query.
Syntax
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
|OID | DATE | CUSTOMER_ID | AMOUNT |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
| 102 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 3000 |
| 100 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 1500 |
| 101 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | 2 | 1560 |
| 103 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | 4 | 2060 |
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
Now, the following code block shows the usage of a table alias.
+----+----------+-----+--------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | AMOUNT |
+----+----------+-----+--------+
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | 3000 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | 1500 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | 1560 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | 2060 |
+----+----------+-----+--------+
+-------------+---------------+
| CUSTOMER_ID | CUSTOMER_NAME |
+-------------+---------------+
| 1 | Ramesh |
| 2 | Khilan |
| 3 | kaushik |
| 4 | Chaitali |
| 5 | Hardik |
| 6 | Komal |
| 7 | Muffy |
+-------------+---------------+
Indexes are special lookup tables that the database search engine can use to speed up data retrieval. Simply put,
an index is a pointer to data in a table. An index in a database is very similar to an index in the back of a book.
For example, if you want to reference all pages in a book that discusses a certain topic, you first refer to the index,
which lists all the topics alphabetically and are then referred to one or more specific page numbers.
An index helps to speed up SELECT queries and WHERE clauses, but it slows down data input, with
the UPDATE and the INSERT statements. Indexes can be created or dropped with no effect on the data.
Creating an index involves the CREATE INDEX statement, which allows you to name the index, to specify the table
and which column or columns to index, and to indicate whether the index is in an ascending or descending order.
Indexes can also be unique, like the UNIQUE constraint, in that the index prevents duplicate entries in the column
or combination of columns on which there is an index.
Single-Column Indexes
A single-column index is created based on only one table column. The basic syntax is as follows.
Unique Indexes
Unique indexes are used not only for performance, but also for data integrity. A unique index does not allow any
duplicate values to be inserted into the table. The basic syntax is as follows.
Composite Indexes
A composite index is an index on two or more columns of a table. Its basic syntax is as follows.
Should there be only one column used, a single-column index should be the choice. Should there be two or more
columns that are frequently used in the WHERE clause as filters, the composite index would be the best choice.
Implicit Indexes
Implicit indexes are indexes that are automatically created by the database server when an object is created.
Indexes are automatically created for primary key constraints and unique constraints.
An index can be dropped using SQL DROP command. Care should be taken when dropping an index because the
performance may either slow down or improve.
You can check the INDEX Constraint chapter to see some actual examples on Indexes.
Although indexes are intended to enhance a database's performance, there are times when they should be
avoided.
The following guidelines indicate when the use of an index should be reconsidered.
The SQL ALTER TABLE command is used to add, delete or modify columns in an existing table. You should also use
the ALTER TABLE command to add and drop various constraints on an existing table.
Syntax
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to add a New Column in an existing table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to change the DATA TYPE of a column in a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to add a NOT NULL constraint to a column in a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to ADD UNIQUE CONSTRAINT to a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to ADD CHECK CONSTRAINTto a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to ADD PRIMARY KEYconstraint to a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to DROP CONSTRAINT from a table is as follows.
The basic syntax of an ALTER TABLE command to DROP PRIMARY KEYconstraint from a table is as follows.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Now, the CUSTOMERS table is changed and following would be output from the SELECT statement.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY | SEX |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 | NULL |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 | NULL |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 | NULL |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 | NULL |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 | NULL |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 | NULL |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 | NULL |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
Following is the example to DROP sex column from the existing table.
Now, the CUSTOMERS table is changed and following would be the output from the SELECT statement.
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL TRUNCATE TABLE command is used to delete complete data from an existing table.
You can also use DROP TABLE command to delete complete table but it would remove complete table structure
form the database and you would need to re-create this table once again if you wish you store some data.
Syntax
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is the example of a Truncate command.
Now, the CUSTOMERS table is truncated and the output from SELECT statement will be as shown in the code
block below −
The WHERE clause places conditions on the selected columns, whereas the HAVING clause places conditions on
groups created by the GROUP BY clause.
Syntax
The following code block shows the position of the HAVING Clause in a query.
SELECT
FROM
WHERE
GROUP BY
HAVING
ORDER BY
The HAVING clause must follow the GROUP BY clause in a query and must also precede the ORDER BY clause if
used. The following code block has the syntax of the SELECT statement including the HAVING clause −
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would display a record for a similar age count that would be more than or equal to
2.
+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+
A transaction is a unit of work that is performed against a database. Transactions are units or sequences of work
accomplished in a logical order, whether in a manual fashion by a user or automatically by some sort of a
database program.
A transaction is the propagation of one or more changes to the database. For example, if you are creating a
record or updating a record or deleting a record from the table, then you are performing a transaction on that
table. It is important to control these transactions to ensure the data integrity and to handle database errors.
Practically, you will club many SQL queries into a group and you will execute all of them together as a part of a
transaction.
Properties of Transactions
Transactions have the following four standard properties, usually referred to by the acronym ACID.
Atomicity − ensures that all operations within the work unit are completed successfully. Otherwise, the
transaction is aborted at the point of failure and all the previous operations are rolled back to their
former state.
Consistency − ensures that the database properly changes states upon a successfully committed
transaction.
Isolation − enables transactions to operate independently of and transparent to each other.
Durability − ensures that the result or effect of a committed transaction persists in case of a system
failure.
Transaction Control
Transactional control commands are only used with the DML Commands such as - INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE
only. They cannot be used while creating tables or dropping them because these operations are automatically
committed in the database.
The COMMIT command is the transactional command used to save changes invoked by a transaction to the
database.
The COMMIT command is the transactional command used to save changes invoked by a transaction to the
database. The COMMIT command saves all the transactions to the database since the last COMMIT or ROLLBACK
command.
COMMIT;
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example which would delete those records from the table which have age = 25 and then COMMIT
the changes in the database.
Thus, two rows from the table would be deleted and the SELECT statement would produce the following result.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The ROLLBACK command is the transactional command used to undo transactions that have not already been
saved to the database. This command can only be used to undo transactions since the last COMMIT or ROLLBACK
command was issued.
ROLLBACK;
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would delete those records from the table which have the age = 25 and then
ROLLBACK the changes in the database.
Thus, the delete operation would not impact the table and the SELECT statement would produce the following
result.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
A SAVEPOINT is a point in a transaction when you can roll the transaction back to a certain point without rolling
back the entire transaction.
SAVEPOINT SAVEPOINT_NAME;
This command serves only in the creation of a SAVEPOINT among all the transactional statements. The ROLLBACK
command is used to undo a group of transactions.
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT_NAME;
Following is an example where you plan to delete the three different records from the CUSTOMERS table. You
want to create a SAVEPOINT before each delete, so that you can ROLLBACK to any SAVEPOINT at any time to
return the appropriate data to its original state.
Example
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Notice that only the first deletion took place since you rolled back to SP2.
The RELEASE SAVEPOINT command is used to remove a SAVEPOINT that you have created.
Once a SAVEPOINT has been released, you can no longer use the ROLLBACK command to undo transactions
performed since the last SAVEPOINT.
The SET TRANSACTION command can be used to initiate a database transaction. This command is used to specify
characteristics for the transaction that follows. For example, you can specify a transaction to be read only or read
write.
We have already discussed about the SQL LIKE operator, which is used to compare a value to similar values using
the wildcard operators.
SQL supports two wildcard operators in conjunction with the LIKE operator which are explained in detail in the
following table.
Note − MS Access uses the asterisk (*) wildcard character instead of the percent sign (%) wildcard
character.
Note − MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_) to match any one
character.
The percent sign represents zero, one or multiple characters. The underscore represents a single number or a
character. These symbols can be used in combinations.
Syntax
or
or
or
You can combine N number of conditions using the AND or the OR operators. Here, XXXX could be any numeric or
string value.
Example
The following table has a number of examples showing the WHERE part having different LIKE clauses with '%' and
'_' operators.
Let us take a real example, consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 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 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block is an example, which would display all the records from the CUSTOMERS table where
the SALARY starts with 200.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+