Chapter 9

SQL SELECT Statement

 Structured Query Language (SQL)
• SQL (Structured Query Language)
– Pronounced as separate letters, "S" ̶ "Q" ̶ "L", not "sequel"
– A programming language for selecting and manipulating sets of data in
a relational database
– A nonprocedural language
 Focus is on input/output rather than on program steps
– Standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
 Unfortunately, many vendors include proprietary SQL features that are not
part of the ANSI standard.
 This makes it difficult to move from one DBMS to another.
 ANSI
• ANSI – American National Standards Institute
– Structured Query Language (SQL) is the industry-standard language of
relational database management systems (RDBMS)
– Originally designed by IBM in the mid 1970s
– Widespread use in the early 1980s
– Became an industry standard in 1986 when it was adopted by ANSI
• Three ANSI standardizations of SQL
– ANSI-86, ANSI-92, and ANSI-99

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 SELECT Statement
• The SELECT statement returns a result set from the database
based on criteria defined in the query request
• A query is a request to retrieve a result set from the database
containing specific data according to user requirements
• A result set is all the data or a subset of data from the database
as a set of columns and rows determined by the criteria in the
SELECT statement

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Accessing Data

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Basic Format of SELECT Statement

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Basic Format of SELECT Statement

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 KEYWORD, CLAUSE, STATEMENT
Throughout this course, the following will be used:

• A keyword refers to an individual SQL command

– For example, SELECT and FROM are keywords

SELECT first_name, last_name

FROM employees;

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 KEYWORD, CLAUSE, STATEMENT
Throughout this course, the following will be used:
• A clause is a meaningful logical unit of a SQL statement
• Usually optional, except for SELECT and FROM clauses

SELECT employee_id, last_name - is a clause

FROM employees - is a clause

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 KEYWORD, CLAUSE, STATEMENT
Throughout this course, the following will be used:

• A SQL statement is a combination of two or more clauses

SELECT first_name, last_name

FROM employees;

is a SQL statement

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 Basic SELECT Statement
• In its simplest form, a SELECT statement must include:
– A SELECT clause, which specifies the columns to be returned
– A FROM clause, which specifies the table(s) containing the columns
listed in the SELECT clause

SELECT first_name, last_name -- SELECT Clause

FROM employees; -- FROM Clause

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 SELECT Clause Column-List
• SELECT clause contains a column-list that identifies the
column(s) to be returned in the result set
• Columns are listed one after another separated by a comma

SELECT first_name, last_name

FROM employees;

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 SELECT Statement Column-List
• The column-list can contain:
– An asterisk (*) symbol that represents all columns in the table
– One or more column names, specified in any order
– Constants that are static values embedded in each row of the result set
– SQL functions and arithmetic operators used to return a calculated
value

– SELECT * FROM employees; -- All columns

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 SELECT Statement – FROM Clause

• FROM clause identifies tables and views

SELECT first_name, last_name

FROM employees;

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Selecting All Columns
with SELECT *

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Selecting All Columns
Using Column-List

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Selecting Specific Columns
Using Column-List

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Selecting Specific Columns
in a Different Order

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Selecting One Specific Column

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 Column Alias
• A temporary name assigned to a column in the column-list
– Only exists for the duration of the query
– Immediately follows the column name
– Renames a column heading in the result set
 Display a column name that is easier to understand
 Is useful with calculations

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 Column Alias
• Without aliases, column names are:
– Column names from the table in upper case
– A number or name showing an arithmetic operation such as
salary*commission_pct
SALARY COMMISSION_PCT 00003
SELECT salary,
commission_pct, 2500 (null) (null)
salary * commission_pct
10500 .2 2100
FROM employees;
11000 .3 3300
(null) .2 (null)
7000 .15 1050
(null) (null) (null) 21
Column Alias

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 AS Clause
• Optional AS keyword between the column name and alias
• Requires double quotation marks if the alias contains spaces or
special characters, or is case-sensitive

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Column Alias Using
Optional AS Clause

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 Single Quotes
• Single Quotes(')
– Identify the beginning and ending of character and date constants
– A constant or literal is a character, numeric, or date value that is fixed
and never changes
– Characters and date constants are enclosed within single quotes
– Numeric constants are not included in quotes
• Examples of constants:
– Character constant: 'yearly salary'
– Numeric constant: 500
– Date constant: 'January 31, 2025' 25
Single Quotes

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 Double Quotes
• Double Quote(")
– Encloses identifiers that contain spaces, special symbols, like plus
(+) and negative (-) signs and are case sensitive
– An identifier is the name of an object such as tables, columns, and
alias names
– Double quotes are optional with table and column names and
rarely used
– Table and column names are stored in the database in upper case

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Double Quotes

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Double Quotes

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Double Quotes

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 Concatenation Operator (||)
• Concatenation means to connect two items together
• Two methods of concatenation:
– Concatenation operator uses two vertical bars ( || ), referred to as
"pipes"
– CONCAT function discussed later with SQL functions
• Values on either side of the vertical bars (||) are joined together
resulting in a character string
• Each value can be a column value, arithmetic expression, or
constant value
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Concatenation Operator (||)

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Concatenation with Constants

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 Concatenation with Constants/Literal Values
• Constant/literal values can be included in the SELECT column-list
with the concatenation operator
• Every row returned from a query with constant/literal values will
have the same character string in it
• Consider the example on next slide

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Concatenation and Constant/Literal Values

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SQL Statement Line Spacing

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 Using the Correct Syntax
• Syntax is the set of rules used to create SQL statements, which
includes the correct spelling and arrangement of keywords

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 Using the Correct Syntax
Correct Spelling on Keyword
• The following statement has a spelling error:

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 Using the Correct Syntax
Correct Spelling on Table & Column Names

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 Computed Columns
• A computed column is:
– A column that does not exist in the database
– Usually, a calculated value using data from existing columns in the
database
• Computed columns do not create new columns or modify data
in existing column in the database
• The result of a calculations in the SELECT statement only appear
in the result set

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 Calculated Columns using Arithmetic Operators
• Arithmetic operators are used to perform calculations on
numeric values:

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 Calculated Columns
using Arithmetic Operators

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 Calculated Columns
using Arithmetic Operators

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 Arithmetic Order of Operations – Which is it?
• PEMDAS PEMDAS BEDMAS BODMAS BIDMAS
• BEDMAS ( Parentheses ) ( Brackets ) ( Brackets ) ( Brackets )

• BODMAS Exponents2 Exponents2 POwer2 Indices2

Multiplication x Division ÷ Division ÷ Division ÷
• BIDMAS
Division ÷ Multiplication x Multiplication x Multiplication x
Addition + Addition + Addition + Addition +
Subtraction - Subtraction - Subtraction - Subtraction -

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 Arithmetic Order of Operations
• The order of operations is the order in which the DBMS
evaluates different operators in the same expression

() ^ * / + -

– Multiplication and division take priority over addition and subtraction

– Operators of the same priority (* /) (+ -) are evaluated from left to
right
– Parentheses or brackets are used to force the expression within
parentheses/brackets to be evaluated first
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 Arithmetic Order of Operations
• What's the answer:
• 15 x 2 / (5-3) – 23 + 4 x 2

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Arithmetic Order of Operations

15

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 Using Arithmetic Operators
• Employees are paid a weekly salary. Calculate the new annual
salary by giving employees a 100.00 raise each month on their
weekly salary
• Is this correct?

SELECT last_name, salary, 12 * weekly_salary + 100

FROM employees;

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Solution

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 NULL Values in a Calculated Column
• What is a NULL value?

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 NULL Values
• A null is a value that is unavailable, unassigned, or unknown
– NULL is not the same as zero. Zero is a number
– NULL is not a space. Space is a character

• Sometimes, the value for a column in a database table is not

known
• Relational databases use NULL values to represent unknown
values

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 NULL Values in a Calculated Column
• If any column value in an arithmetic expression is NULL, the
result is NULL
• Dividing by NULL, results is NULL
• Dividing by zero, returns a divide by zero error

• Depending upon the DBMS, NULL values may appear as NULL,

spaces, a dash (-), or other representation

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 NULL Values in Calculated Columns
SELECT salary, comm_pct, salary * comm_pct AS commission
FROM employees;

SALARY COMM_PCT COMMISSION

2500 (null) (null)
10500 .2 2100
11000 .3 3300
(null) .2 (null)
7000 .15 1050
(null) (null) (null)

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 Using DISTINCT to Eliminate Duplicate Rows
• Many times, you may want to know how many unique instances
of something exist
• For example, what if the company wanted a list of cities where
they ship products to customers

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List the cities the company ships to
Does this give us what we want?

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 Using DISTINCT to Eliminate Duplicate Rows
• DISTINCT - used in the column-list to eliminate duplicate values
• As a result, there are fewer rows returned
• The keyword DISTINCT must appear directly after the SELECT
keyword
• The DISTINCT qualifier affects all the columns listed in the
column-list and returns every distinct combination of the
columns in the SELECT clause

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Using DISTINCT
to Eliminate
Duplicate Rows

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