Introduction To SQL

Introduction to SQL
Previous Next Chapter 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 is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard
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 (American National Standards Institute) standard, there are many 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 some data from a database, you will need the following:

An RDBMS database program (i.e. MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL) A server-side scripting language, like PHP or ASP SQL HTML / CSS
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. 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.
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. Below is an example of a table called "Persons": P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
The table above contains three records (one for each person) and five columns (P_Id, LastName, FirstName, Address, and City).
SQL Statements
Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements. The following SQL statement will select all the records in the "Persons" table:
SELECT * FROM Persons In this tutorial we will teach you all about the different SQL statements.
Keep in Mind That...
SQL is not case sensitive
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. We are using MS Access and SQL Server 2000 and we do not have to put a semicolon after each SQL statement, but some database programs force you to use it.
SQL DML and DDL

SQL can be divided into two parts: The Data Manipulation Language (DML) and the Data Definition Language (DDL). The query and update commands form the DML part of SQL:

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
The DDL part of SQL permits database tables to be created or deleted. It also define indexes (keys), specify links between tables, and impose constraints between tables. The most important DDL statements in SQL are:

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
The SQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database. The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set.
SQL SELECT Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name
and
SELECT * FROM table_name
Note: SQL is not case sensitive. SELECT is the same as select.
An SQL SELECT Example

The "Persons" table:
P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select the content of the columns named "LastName" and "FirstName" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen
FirstName Ola Tove Kari
SELECT * Example
Now we want to select all the columns from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
Tip: The asterisk (*) is a quick way of selecting all columns! The result-set will look like this:
Navigation in a Result-set
Most database software systems allow navigation in the result-set with programming functions, like: Move-To-First-Record, Get-Record-Content, Move-To-Next-Record, etc. Programming functions like these are not a part of this tutorial. To learn about accessing data with function calls, please visit our ADO tutorial or our PHP tutorial.
The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

In a table, some of the columns may contain duplicate values. This is not a problem, however, sometimes you will want to list only the different (distinct) values in a table. The DISTINCT keyword can be used to return only distinct (different) values.
SQL SELECT DISTINCT Syntax SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s) FROM table_name
SELECT DISTINCT Example

Now we want to select only the distinct values from the column named "City" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Persons

City Sandnes Stavanger
The WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.
SQL WHERE Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value
WHERE Clause Example

Now we want to select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City='Sandnes'

P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Quotes Around Text Fields

SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept double quotes). Although, numeric values should not be enclosed in quotes. For text values:
This is correct: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' This is wrong: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName=Tove
For numeric values:

This is correct: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year=1965 This is wrong: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year='1965'
Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause

With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used:
Operator = <> > Equal Not equal Greater than Description
< >= <=
Less than Greater than or equal Less than or equal
BETWEEN Between an inclusive range LIKE IN Search for a pattern If you know the exact value you want to return for at least one of the columns
Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=
The AND & OR Operators

The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition and the second condition is true. The OR operator displays a record if either the first condition or the second condition is true.
AND Operator Example

The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" AND the last name equal to "Svendson": We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' AND LastName='Svendson' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 2 LastName Svendson FirstName Tove Address Borgvn 23 City Sandnes
OR Operator Example
Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" OR the first name equal to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Combining AND & OR

You can also combine AND and OR (use parenthesis to form complex expressions). Now we want to select only the persons with the last name equal to "Svendson" AND the first name equal to "Tove" OR to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Svendson' AND (FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola') The result-set will look like this: P_Id 2 LastName Svendson FirstName Tove Address Borgvn 23 City Sandnes
The ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by a specified column.
The ORDER BY keyword sort the records in ascending order by default. If you want to sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword.
SQL ORDER BY Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name(s) ASC|DESC
ORDER BY Example
P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Tom Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Vingvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the persons by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName

P_Id 1 4 LastName Hansen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tom Address Timoteivn 10 Vingvn 23 City Sandnes Stavanger
3 2
Pettersen Svendson
Kari Tove
Storgt 20 Borgvn 23
Stavanger Sandnes
ORDER BY DESC Example

Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the persons descending by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName DESC

P_Id 2 3 4 1 LastName Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Hansen FirstName Tove Kari Tom Ola Address Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Vingvn 23 Timoteivn 10 City Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
The INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert a new row in a table.
SQL INSERT INTO Syntax
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two forms. The first form doesn't specify the column names where the data will be inserted, only their values:
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)
The second form specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,...) VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)
SQL INSERT INTO Example

We have the following "Persons" table:
Now we want to insert a new row in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
INSERT INTO Persons VALUES (4,'Nilsen', 'Johan', 'Bakken 2', 'Stavanger')
The "Persons" table will now look like this:

P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only add data in specific columns. The following SQL statement will add a new row, but only add data in the "P_Id", "LastName" and the "FirstName" columns:
INSERT INTO Persons (P_Id, LastName, FirstName) VALUES (5, 'Tjessem', 'Jakob')

P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
The UPDATE Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to update existing records in a table.
SQL UPDATE Syntax UPDATE table_name SET column1=value, column2=value2,... WHERE some_column=some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be updated!
SQL UPDATE Example

P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Now we want to update the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
UPDATE Persons SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes' WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'

P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 Nissestien 67 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
SQL UPDATE Warning

Be careful when updating records. If we had omitted the WHERE clause in the example above, like this:
UPDATE Persons SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes'
The "Persons" table would have looked like this:

P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 City Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes
The DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete rows in a table.
SQL DELETE Syntax DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be deleted!
SQL DELETE Example

3 4 5
Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem
Kari Johan Jakob
Storgt 20 Bakken 2 Nissestien 67
Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
Now we want to delete the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
DELETE FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'

P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Delete All Rows

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 or DELETE * FROM table_name
Note: Be very careful when deleting records. You cannot undo this statement!
The TOP Clause

The TOP clause is used to specify the number of records to return. The TOP clause can be very useful on large tables with thousands of records. Returning a large number of records can impact on performance. Note: Not all database systems support the TOP clause.
SQL Server Syntax SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s) FROM table_name
SQL SELECT TOP Equivalent in MySQL and Oracle

MySQL Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name LIMIT number Example SELECT * FROM Persons LIMIT 5 Oracle Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE ROWNUM <= number Example SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE ROWNUM <=5
SQL TOP Example

P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Tom Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Vingvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Now we want to select only the two first records in the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT TOP 2 * FROM Persons

SQL TOP PERCENT Example

Nilsen
Tom
Vingvn 23
Stavanger
Now we want to select only 50% of the records in the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT TOP 50 PERCENT * FROM Persons

The LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator is used to search for a specified pattern in a column.
SQL LIKE Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE pattern
LIKE Operator Example

Now we want to select the persons living in a city that starts with "s" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City LIKE 's%'
The "%" sign can be used to define wildcards (missing letters in the pattern) both before and after the pattern. The result-set will look like this:
Next, we want to select the persons living in a city that ends with an "s" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City LIKE '%s'

Next, we want to select the persons living in a city that contains the pattern "tav" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City LIKE '%tav%'

P_Id 3 LastName Pettersen FirstName Kari Address Storgt 20 City Stavanger
It is also possible to select the persons living in a city that NOT contains the pattern "tav" from the "Persons" table, by using the NOT keyword. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City NOT LIKE '%tav%'

SQL Wildcards
SQL wildcards can substitute for one or more characters when searching for data in a database. SQL wildcards must be used with the SQL LIKE operator. With SQL, the following wildcards can be used: Wildcard % _ [charlist] [^charlist] or [!charlist] Description A substitute for zero or more characters A substitute for exactly one character Any single character in charlist Any single character not in charlist
SQL Wildcard Examples

We have the following "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Using the % Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons living in a city that starts with "sa" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City LIKE 'sa%' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Next, we want to select the persons living in a city that contains the pattern "nes" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City LIKE '%nes%' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Using the _ Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons with a first name that starts with any character, followed by "la" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName LIKE '_la' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 LastName Hansen FirstName Ola Address Timoteivn 10 City Sandnes
Next, we want to select the persons with a last name that starts with "S", followed by any character, followed by "end", followed by any character, followed by "on" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName LIKE 'S_end_on' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 2 LastName Svendson FirstName Tove Address Borgvn 23 City Sandnes
Using the [charlist] Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons with a last name that starts with "b" or "s" or "p" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName LIKE '[bsp]%' The result-set will look like this: P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
2 3
Svendson Pettersen
Tove Kari
Borgvn 23 Storgt 20
Sandnes Stavanger
Next, we want to select the persons with a last name that do not start with "b" or "s" or "p" from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName LIKE '[!bsp]%' The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 LastName Hansen FirstName Ola Address Timoteivn 10 City Sandnes
The IN Operator
The IN operator allows you to specify multiple values in a WHERE clause.
SQL IN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name IN (value1,value2,...)
IN Operator Example
Now we want to select the persons with a last name equal to "Hansen" or "Pettersen" from the table above.
We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName IN ('Hansen','Pettersen')

P_Id 1 3 LastName Hansen Pettersen FirstName Ola Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Stavanger
The BETWEEN operator is used in a WHERE clause to select a range of data between two values.
The BETWEEN Operator

The BETWEEN operator selects a range of data between two values. The values can be numbers, text, or dates.
SQL BETWEEN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name BETWEEN value1 AND value2
BETWEEN Operator Example

Pettersen
Kari
Storgt 20
Stavanger
Now we want to select the persons with a last name alphabetically between "Hansen" and "Pettersen" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

P_Id 1 LastName Hansen FirstName Ola Address Timoteivn 10 City Sandnes
Note: The BETWEEN operator is treated differently in different databases! In some databases, persons with the LastName of "Hansen" or "Pettersen" will not be listed, because the BETWEEN operator only selects fields that are between and excluding the test values. In other databases, persons with the LastName of "Hansen" or "Pettersen" will be listed, because the BETWEEN operator selects fields that are between and including the test values. And in other databases, persons with the LastName of "Hansen" will be listed, but "Pettersen" will not be listed (like the example above), because the BETWEEN operator selects fields between the test values, including the first test value and excluding the last test value. Therefore: Check how your database treats the BETWEEN operator.
Example 2
To display the persons outside the range in the previous example, use NOT BETWEEN:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName NOT BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

P_Id 2 3 LastName Svendson Pettersen FirstName Tove Kari Address Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Stavanger
SQL Alias
You can give a table or a column another name by using an alias. This can be a good thing to do if you have very long or complex table names or column names. An alias name could be anything, but usually it is short.
SQL Alias Syntax for Tables SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name AS alias_name SQL Alias Syntax for Columns SELECT column_name AS alias_name FROM table_name
Alias Example
Assume we have a table called "Persons" and another table called "Product_Orders". We will give the table aliases of "p" and "po" respectively. Now we want to list all the orders that "Ola Hansen" is responsible for. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT po.OrderID, p.LastName, p.FirstName FROM Persons AS p, Product_Orders AS po WHERE p.LastName='Hansen' AND p.FirstName='Ola'
The same SELECT statement without aliases:

SELECT Product_Orders.OrderID, Persons.LastName, Persons.FirstName FROM Persons, Product_Orders WHERE Persons.LastName='Hansen' AND Persons.FirstName='Ola'
As you'll see from the two SELECT statements above; aliases can make queries easier to both write and to read.
SQL JOIN
The JOIN keyword is used in an SQL statement to query data from two or more tables, based on a relationship between certain columns in these tables. Tables in a database are often related to each other with keys. A primary key is a column (or a combination of columns) with a unique value for each row. Each primary key value must be unique within the table. The purpose is to bind data together, across tables, without repeating all of the data in every table. Look at the "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Note that the "P_Id" column is the primary key in the "Persons" table. This means that no two rows can have the same P_Id. The P_Id distinguishes two persons even if they have the same name. Next, we have the "Orders" table: O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 34764 P_Id 3 3 1 1 15
Note that the "O_Id" column is the primary key in the "Orders" table and that the "P_Id" column refers to the persons in the "Persons" table without using their names.
Notice that the relationship between the two tables above is the "P_Id" column.
Different SQL JOINs

Before we continue with examples, we will list the types of JOIN you can use, and the differences between them.

JOIN: Return rows when there is at least one match in both tables LEFT JOIN: Return all rows from the left table, even if there are no matches in the right table RIGHT JOIN: Return all rows from the right table, even if there are no matches in the left table FULL JOIN: Return rows when there is a match in one of the tables
SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

The INNER JOIN keyword return rows when there is at least one match in both tables.
SQL INNER JOIN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 INNER JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name
PS: INNER JOIN is the same as JOIN.
SQL INNER JOIN Example

The "Orders" table:

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 34764 P_Id 3 3 1 1 15
Now we want to list all the persons with any orders. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT Persons.LastName, Persons.FirstName, Orders.OrderNo FROM Persons INNER JOIN Orders ON Persons.P_Id=Orders.P_Id ORDER BY Persons.LastName

LastName Hansen Hansen Pettersen Pettersen FirstName Ola Ola Kari Kari OrderNo 22456 24562 77895 44678
The INNER JOIN keyword return rows when there is at least one match in both tables. If there are rows in "Persons" that do not have matches in "Orders", those rows will NOT be listed.
SQL LEFT JOIN Keyword

The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all rows from the left table (table_name1), even if there are no matches in the right table (table_name2).
SQL LEFT JOIN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 LEFT JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name
PS: In some databases LEFT JOIN is called LEFT OUTER JOIN.
SQL LEFT JOIN Example

The "Orders" table:

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 34764 P_Id 3 3 1 1 15
Now we want to list all the persons and their orders - if any, from the tables above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT Persons.LastName, Persons.FirstName, Orders.OrderNo FROM Persons
LEFT JOIN Orders ON Persons.P_Id=Orders.P_Id ORDER BY Persons.LastName

LastName Hansen Hansen Pettersen Pettersen Svendson FirstName Ola Ola Kari Kari Tove OrderNo 22456 24562 77895 44678
The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the left table (Persons), even if there are no matches in the right table (Orders).
SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword

The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the right table (table_name2), even if there are no matches in the left table (table_name1).
SQL RIGHT JOIN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 RIGHT JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name
PS: In some databases RIGHT JOIN is called RIGHT OUTER JOIN.
SQL RIGHT JOIN Example

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
1 2 3
Hansen Svendson Pettersen
Ola Tove Kari
Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20
Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
The "Orders" table:

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 34764 P_Id 3 3 1 1 15
Now we want to list all the orders with containing persons - if any, from the tables above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT Persons.LastName, Persons.FirstName, Orders.OrderNo FROM Persons RIGHT JOIN Orders ON Persons.P_Id=Orders.P_Id ORDER BY Persons.LastName

LastName Hansen Hansen Pettersen Pettersen FirstName Ola Ola Kari Kari OrderNo 22456 24562 77895 44678
34764
The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the right table (Orders), even if there are no matches in the left table (Persons).
SQL FULL JOIN Keyword

The FULL JOIN keyword return rows when there is a match in one of the tables.
SQL FULL JOIN Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 FULL JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name
SQL FULL JOIN Example

The "Orders" table:

O_Id 1 2 3 4 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 P_Id 3 3 1 1
34764
15
Now we want to list all the persons and their orders, and all the orders with their persons. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT Persons.LastName, Persons.FirstName, Orders.OrderNo FROM Persons FULL JOIN Orders ON Persons.P_Id=Orders.P_Id ORDER BY Persons.LastName

LastName Hansen Hansen Pettersen Pettersen Svendson FirstName Ola Ola Kari Kari Tove 34764 OrderNo 22456 24562 77895 44678
The FULL JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the left table (Persons), and all the rows from the right table (Orders). If there are rows in "Persons" that do not have matches in "Orders", or if there are rows in "Orders" that do not have matches in "Persons", those rows will be listed as well.
The SQL UNION Operator

The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more SELECT statements. Notice that each SELECT statement within the UNION must have the same number of columns. The columns must also have similar data types. Also, the columns in each SELECT statement must be in the same order.
SQL UNION Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 UNION SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2
Note: The UNION operator selects only distinct values by default. To allow duplicate values, use UNION ALL.
SQL UNION ALL Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 UNION ALL SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2
PS: The column names in the result-set of a UNION are always equal to the column names in the first SELECT statement in the UNION.
SQL UNION Example

Look at the following tables: "Employees_Norway":
E_ID 01 02 03 04 E_Name Hansen, Ola Svendson, Tove Svendson, Stephen Pettersen, Kari
"Employees_USA":
E_ID 01 02 E_Name Turner, Sally Kent, Clark
03 04
Svendson, Stephen Scott, Stephen
Now we want to list all the different employees in Norway and USA. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway UNION SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

E_Name Hansen, Ola Svendson, Tove Svendson, Stephen Pettersen, Kari Turner, Sally Kent, Clark Scott, Stephen
Note: This command cannot be used to list all employees in Norway and USA. In the example above we have two employees with equal names, and only one of them will be listed. The UNION command selects only distinct values.
SQL UNION ALL Example

Now we want to list all employees in Norway and USA:
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway UNION ALL
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA
Result
E_Name Hansen, Ola Svendson, Tove Svendson, Stephen Pettersen, Kari Turner, Sally Kent, Clark Svendson, Stephen Scott, Stephen
The SQL SELECT INTO Statement

The SELECT INTO statement selects data from one table and inserts it into a different table. The SELECT INTO statement is most often used to create backup copies of tables.
SQL SELECT INTO Syntax
We can select all columns into the new table:

SELECT * INTO new_table_name [IN externaldatabase] FROM old_tablename
Or we can select only the columns we want into the new table:
SELECT column_name(s) INTO new_table_name [IN externaldatabase] FROM old_tablename
SQL SELECT INTO Example

Make a Backup Copy - Now we want to make an exact copy of the data in our "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT * INTO Persons_Backup FROM Persons
We can also use the IN clause to copy the table into another database:
SELECT * INTO Persons_Backup IN 'Backup.mdb' FROM Persons
We can also copy only a few fields into the new table:
SELECT LastName,FirstName INTO Persons_Backup FROM Persons
SQL SELECT INTO - With a WHERE Clause

We can also add a WHERE clause. The following SQL statement creates a "Persons_Backup" table with only the persons who lives in the city "Sandnes":
SELECT LastName,Firstname INTO Persons_Backup FROM Persons WHERE City='Sandnes'
SQL SELECT INTO - Joined Tables

Selecting data from more than one table is also possible. The following example creates a "Persons_Order_Backup" table contains data from the two tables "Persons" and "Orders":
SELECT Persons.LastName,Orders.OrderNo INTO Persons_Order_Backup FROM Persons INNER JOIN Orders ON Persons.P_Id=Orders.P_Id
The CREATE DATABASE Statement

The CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a database.
SQL CREATE DATABASE Syntax CREATE DATABASE database_name
CREATE DATABASE Example

Now we want to create a database called "my_db". We use the following CREATE DATABASE statement:
CREATE DATABASE my_db
Database tables can be added with the CREATE TABLE statement.
The CREATE TABLE Statement

The CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a table in a database.
SQL CREATE TABLE Syntax CREATE TABLE table_name ( column_name1 data_type,
column_name2 data_type, column_name3 data_type, .... )
The data type specifies what type of data the column can hold. For a complete reference of all the data types available in MS Access, MySQL, and SQL Server, go to our complete Data Types reference.
CREATE TABLE Example

Now we want to create a table called "Persons" that contains five columns: P_Id, LastName, FirstName, Address, and City. We use the following CREATE TABLE statement:
CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int, LastName varchar(255), FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) )
The P_Id column is of type int and will hold a number. The LastName, FirstName, Address, and City columns are of type varchar with a maximum length of 255 characters. The empty "Persons" table will now look like this:
P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
The empty table can be filled with data with the INSERT INTO statement.
SQL Constraints
Constraints are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table.
Constraints can be specified when a table is created (with the CREATE TABLE statement) or after the table is created (with the ALTER TABLE statement). We will focus on the following constraints:

NOT NULL UNIQUE PRIMARY KEY FOREIGN KEY CHECK DEFAULT
The next chapters will describe each constraint in detail.
SQL NOT NULL Constraint

The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values. The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always contain a value. This means that you cannot insert a new record, or update a record without adding a value to this field. The following SQL enforces the "P_Id" column and the "LastName" column to not accept NULL values: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) )
SQL UNIQUE Constraint

The UNIQUE constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table. The UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints both provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a column or set of columns. A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint defined on it. Note that you can have many UNIQUE constraints per table, but only one PRIMARY KEY constraint per table.
SQL UNIQUE Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a UNIQUE constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons" table is created: MySQL: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), UNIQUE (P_Id) ) SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL UNIQUE, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) ) To allow naming of a UNIQUE constraint, and for defining a UNIQUE constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID UNIQUE (P_Id,LastName) )
SQL UNIQUE Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a UNIQUE constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ADD UNIQUE (P_Id) To allow naming of a UNIQUE constraint, and for defining a UNIQUE constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ADD CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID UNIQUE (P_Id,LastName)
To DROP a UNIQUE Constraint

To drop a UNIQUE constraint, use the following SQL: MySQL: ALTER TABLE Persons DROP INDEX uc_PersonID SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons DROP CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint

The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table. Primary keys must contain unique values. A primary key column cannot contain NULL values. Each table should have a primary key, and each table can have only ONE primary key.
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons" table is created: MySQL: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), PRIMARY KEY (P_Id) ) SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) ) To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName) ) Note: In the example above there is only ONE PRIMARY KEY (pk_PersonID). However, the value of the pk_PersonID is made up of two columns (P_Id and LastName).
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ADD PRIMARY KEY (P_Id) To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ADD CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName) Note: If you use the ALTER TABLE statement to add a primary key, the primary key column(s) must already have been declared to not contain NULL values (when the table was first created).
To DROP a PRIMARY KEY Constraint

To drop a PRIMARY KEY constraint, use the following SQL: MySQL: ALTER TABLE Persons DROP PRIMARY KEY SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons DROP CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint

A FOREIGN KEY in one table points to a PRIMARY KEY in another table. Let's illustrate the foreign key with an example. Look at the following two tables:
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
The "Orders" table: O_Id 1 2 3 4 OrderNo 77895 44678 22456 24562 P_Id 3 3 2 1
Note that the "P_Id" column in the "Orders" table points to the "P_Id" column in the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column in the "Persons" table is the PRIMARY KEY in the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column in the "Orders" table is a FOREIGN KEY in the "Orders" table. The FOREIGN KEY constraint is used to prevent actions that would destroy links between tables. The FOREIGN KEY constraint also prevents that invalid data form being inserted into the foreign key column, because it has to be one of the values contained in the table it points to.
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a FOREIGN KEY on the "P_Id" column when the "Orders" table is created: MySQL: CREATE TABLE Orders ( O_Id int NOT NULL, OrderNo int NOT NULL, P_Id int, PRIMARY KEY (O_Id), FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id) )
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Orders ( O_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, OrderNo int NOT NULL, P_Id int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(P_Id) ) To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Orders ( O_Id int NOT NULL, OrderNo int NOT NULL, P_Id int, PRIMARY KEY (O_Id), CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id) )
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a FOREIGN KEY constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Orders" table is already created, use the following SQL: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Orders ADD FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id) To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Orders ADD CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
To DROP a FOREIGN KEY Constraint

To drop a FOREIGN KEY constraint, use the following SQL: MySQL: ALTER TABLE Orders DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_PerOrders SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Orders DROP CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders
SQL CHECK Constraint

The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only certain values for this column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values in certain columns based on values in other columns in the row.
SQL CHECK Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a CHECK constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons" table is created. The CHECK constraint specifies that the column "P_Id" must only include integers greater than 0. My SQL: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), CHECK (P_Id>0)
) SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL CHECK (P_Id>0), LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) ) To allow naming of a CHECK constraint, and for defining a CHECK constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), CONSTRAINT chk_Person CHECK (P_Id>0 AND City='Sandnes') )
SQL CHECK Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a CHECK constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ADD CHECK (P_Id>0) To allow naming of a CHECK constraint, and for defining a CHECK constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax: MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT chk_Person CHECK (P_Id>0 AND City='Sandnes')
To DROP a CHECK Constraint

To drop a CHECK constraint, use the following SQL: SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons DROP CONSTRAINT chk_Person
SQL DEFAULT Constraint

The DEFAULT constraint is used to insert a default value into a column. The default value will be added to all new records, if no other value is specified.
SQL DEFAULT Constraint on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a DEFAULT constraint on the "City" column when the "Persons" table is created: My SQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) DEFAULT 'Sandnes' ) The DEFAULT constraint can also be used to insert system values, by using functions like GETDATE(): CREATE TABLE Orders ( O_Id int NOT NULL, OrderNo int NOT NULL, P_Id int,
OrderDate date DEFAULT GETDATE() )
SQL DEFAULT Constraint on ALTER TABLE

To create a DEFAULT constraint on the "City" column when the table is already created, use the following SQL: MySQL: ALTER TABLE Persons ALTER City SET DEFAULT 'SANDNES' SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ALTER COLUMN City SET DEFAULT 'SANDNES'
To DROP a DEFAULT Constraint

To drop a DEFAULT constraint, use the following SQL: MySQL: ALTER TABLE Persons ALTER City DROP DEFAULT SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access: ALTER TABLE Persons ALTER COLUMN City DROP DEFAULT
Indexes
An index can be created in a table to find data more quickly and efficiently. The users cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed up searches/queries. Note: Updating a table with indexes takes more time than updating a table without (because the indexes also need an update). So you should only create indexes on columns (and tables) that will be frequently searched against.
SQL CREATE INDEX Syntax
Creates an index on a table. Duplicate values are allowed:

CREATE INDEX index_name ON table_name (column_name) SQL CREATE UNIQUE INDEX Syntax
Creates a unique index on a table. Duplicate values are not allowed:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name ON table_name (column_name)
Note: The syntax for creating indexes varies amongst different databases. Therefore: Check the syntax for creating indexes in your database.
CREATE INDEX Example

The SQL statement below creates an index named "PIndex" on the "LastName" column in the "Persons" table:
CREATE INDEX PIndex ON Persons (LastName)
If you want to create an index on a combination of columns, you can list the column names within the parentheses, separated by commas:
CREATE INDEX PIndex ON Persons (LastName, FirstName)
The DROP INDEX Statement

The DROP INDEX statement is used to delete an index in a table.
DROP INDEX Syntax for MS Access: DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name
DROP INDEX Syntax for MS SQL Server: DROP INDEX table_name.index_name DROP INDEX Syntax for DB2/Oracle: DROP INDEX index_name DROP INDEX Syntax for MySQL: ALTER TABLE table_name DROP INDEX index_name
The DROP TABLE Statement

The DROP TABLE statement is used to delete a table.
DROP TABLE table_name
The DROP DATABASE Statement

The DROP DATABASE statement is used to delete a database.
DROP DATABASE database_name
The TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

What if we only want to delete the data inside the table, and not the table itself? Then, use the TRUNCATE TABLE statement:
TRUNCATE TABLE table_name
The ALTER TABLE Statement
The ALTER TABLE statement is used to add, delete, or modify columns in an existing table.
SQL ALTER TABLE Syntax
To add a column in a table, use the following syntax:

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name datatype
To delete a column in a table, use the following syntax (notice that some database systems don't allow deleting a column):
ALTER TABLE table_name DROP COLUMN column_name
To change the data type of a column in a table, use the following syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name ALTER COLUMN column_name datatype
SQL ALTER TABLE Example

Look at the "Persons" table:
Now we want to add a column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
ALTER TABLE Persons ADD DateOfBirth date
Notice that the new column, "DateOfBirth", is of type date and is going to hold a date. The data type specifies what type of data the column can hold. For a complete reference of all the data types available in MS Access, MySQL, and SQL Server, go to our complete Data Types reference. The "Persons" table will now like this:
P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger DateOfBirth
Change Data Type Example

Now we want to change the data type of the column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
ALTER TABLE Persons ALTER COLUMN DateOfBirth year
Notice that the "DateOfBirth" column is now of type year and is going to hold a year in a twodigit or four-digit format.
DROP COLUMN Example

Next, we want to delete the column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
ALTER TABLE Persons DROP COLUMN DateOfBirth
The "Persons" table will now like this:
P_Id 1 2 3
LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen
Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20
City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
AUTO INCREMENT a Field

Very often we would like the value of the primary key field to be created automatically every time a new record is inserted. We would like to create an auto-increment field in a table.
Syntax for MySQL

The following SQL statement defines the "P_Id" column to be an auto-increment primary key field in the "Persons" table: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), PRIMARY KEY (P_Id) ) MySQL uses the AUTO_INCREMENT keyword to perform an auto-increment feature. By default, the starting value for AUTO_INCREMENT is 1, and it will increment by 1 for each new record. To let the AUTO_INCREMENT sequence start with another value, use the following SQL statement: ALTER TABLE Persons AUTO_INCREMENT=100 To insert a new record into the "Persons" table, we will not have to specify a value for the "P_Id" column (a unique value will be added automatically):
INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName) VALUES ('Lars','Monsen') The SQL statement above would insert a new record into the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column would be assigned a unique value. The "FirstName" column would be set to "Lars" and the "LastName" column would be set to "Monsen".
Syntax for SQL Server

The following SQL statement defines the "P_Id" column to be an auto-increment primary key field in the "Persons" table: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) ) The MS SQL Server uses the IDENTITY keyword to perform an auto-increment feature. By default, the starting value for IDENTITY is 1, and it will increment by 1 for each new record. To specify that the "P_Id" column should start at value 10 and increment by 5, change the identity to IDENTITY(10,5). To insert a new record into the "Persons" table, we will not have to specify a value for the "P_Id" column (a unique value will be added automatically): INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName) VALUES ('Lars','Monsen') The SQL statement above would insert a new record into the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column would be assigned a unique value. The "FirstName" column would be set to "Lars" and the "LastName" column would be set to "Monsen".
Syntax for Access
The following SQL statement defines the "P_Id" column to be an auto-increment primary key field in the "Persons" table: CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255) ) The MS Access uses the AUTOINCREMENT keyword to perform an auto-increment feature. By default, the starting value for AUTOINCREMENT is 1, and it will increment by 1 for each new record. To specify that the "P_Id" column should start at value 10 and increment by 5, change the autoincrement to AUTOINCREMENT(10,5). To insert a new record into the "Persons" table, we will not have to specify a value for the "P_Id" column (a unique value will be added automatically): INSERT INTO Persons (FirstName,LastName) VALUES ('Lars','Monsen') The SQL statement above would insert a new record into the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column would be assigned a unique value. The "FirstName" column would be set to "Lars" and the "LastName" column would be set to "Monsen".
Syntax for Oracle

In Oracle the code is a little bit more tricky. You will have to create an auto-increment field with the sequence object (this object generates a number sequence). Use the following CREATE SEQUENCE syntax: CREATE SEQUENCE seq_person MINVALUE 1 START WITH 1 INCREMENT BY 1 CACHE 10
The code above creates a sequence object called seq_person, that starts with 1 and will increment by 1. It will also cache up to 10 values for performance. The cache option specifies how many sequence values will be stored in memory for faster access. To insert a new record into the "Persons" table, we will have to use the nextval function (this function retrieves the next value from seq_person sequence): INSERT INTO Persons (P_Id,FirstName,LastName) VALUES (seq_person.nextval,'Lars','Monsen') The SQL statement above would insert a new record into the "Persons" table. The "P_Id" column would be assigned the next number from the seq_person sequence. The "FirstName" column would be set to "Lars" and the "LastName" column would be set to "Monsen".
SQL CREATE VIEW Statement

In SQL, a view is a virtual table based on the result-set of an SQL statement. A view contains rows and columns, just like a real table. The fields in a view are fields from one or more real tables in the database. You can add SQL functions, WHERE, and JOIN statements to a view and present the data as if the data were coming from one single table.
SQL CREATE VIEW Syntax CREATE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE condition
Note: A view always shows up-to-date data! The database engine recreates the data, using the view's SQL statement, every time a user queries a view.
SQL CREATE VIEW Examples

If you have the Northwind database you can see that it has several views installed by default. The view "Current Product List" lists all active products (products that are not discontinued) from the "Products" table. The view is created with the following SQL:
CREATE VIEW [Current Product List] AS SELECT ProductID,ProductName
FROM Products WHERE Discontinued=No
We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Current Product List]
Another view in the Northwind sample database selects every product in the "Products" table with a unit price higher than the average unit price:
CREATE VIEW [Products Above Average Price] AS SELECT ProductName,UnitPrice FROM Products WHERE UnitPrice>(SELECT AVG(UnitPrice) FROM Products)

SELECT * FROM [Products Above Average Price]
Another view in the Northwind database calculates the total sale for each category in 1997. Note that this view selects its data from another view called "Product Sales for 1997":
CREATE VIEW [Category Sales For 1997] AS SELECT DISTINCT CategoryName,Sum(ProductSales) AS CategorySales FROM [Product Sales for 1997] GROUP BY CategoryName

SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997]
We can also add a condition to the query. Now we want to see the total sale only for the category "Beverages":
SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997] WHERE CategoryName='Beverages'
SQL Updating a View

You can update a view by using the following syntax:
SQL CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW Syntax CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE condition
Now we want to add the "Category" column to the "Current Product List" view. We will update the view with the following SQL:
CREATE VIEW [Current Product List] AS SELECT ProductID,ProductName,Category FROM Products WHERE Discontinued=No
SQL Dropping a View

You can delete a view with the DROP VIEW command.
SQL DROP VIEW Syntax DROP VIEW view_name
SQL Dates
The most difficult part when working with dates is to be sure that the format of the date you are trying to insert, matches the format of the date column in the database. As long as your data contains only the date portion, your queries will work as expected. However, if a time portion is involved, it gets complicated. Before talking about the complications of querying for dates, we will look at the most important built-in functions for working with dates.
MySQL Date Functions

The following table lists the most important built-in date functions in MySQL: Function NOW() CURDATE() CURTIME() DATE() EXTRACT() DATE_ADD() DATE_SUB() DATEDIFF() DATE_FORMAT() Description Returns the current date and time Returns the current date Returns the current time Extracts the date part of a date or date/time expression Returns a single part of a date/time Adds a specified time interval to a date Subtracts a specified time interval from a date Returns the number of days between two dates Displays date/time data in different formats
SQL Server Date Functions

The following table lists the most important built-in date functions in SQL Server: Function GETDATE() DATEPART() DATEADD() DATEDIFF() CONVERT() Description Returns the current date and time Returns a single part of a date/time Adds or subtracts a specified time interval from a date Returns the time between two dates Displays date/time data in different formats
SQL Date Data Types

MySQL comes with the following data types for storing a date or a date/time value in the database:

DATE - format YYYY-MM-DD DATETIME - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TIMESTAMP - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS YEAR - format YYYY or YY
SQL Server comes with the following data types for storing a date or a date/time value in the database:
DATE - format YYYY-MM-DD DATETIME - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS SMALLDATETIME - format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS TIMESTAMP - format: a unique number
Note: The date types are chosen for a column when you create a new table in your database! For an overview of all data types available, go to our complete Data Types reference.
SQL Working with Dates

You can compare two dates easily if there is no time component involved! Assume we have the following "Orders" table: OrderId 1 2 3 4 ProductName Geitost Camembert Pierrot Mozzarella di Giovanni Mascarpone Fabioli OrderDate 2008-11-11 2008-11-09 2008-11-11 2008-10-29
Now we want to select the records with an OrderDate of "2008-11-11" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement: SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate='2008-11-11' The result-set will look like this: OrderId 1 3 ProductName Geitost Mozzarella di Giovanni OrderDate 2008-11-11 2008-11-11
Now, assume that the "Orders" table looks like this (notice the time component in the "OrderDate" column): OrderId 1 2 3 4 ProductName Geitost Camembert Pierrot Mozzarella di Giovanni Mascarpone Fabioli OrderDate 2008-11-11 13:23:44 2008-11-09 15:45:21 2008-11-11 11:12:01 2008-10-29 14:56:59
If we use the same SELECT statement as above: SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE OrderDate='2008-11-11' we will get no result! This is because the query is looking only for dates with no time portion. Tip: If you want to keep your queries simple and easy to maintain, do not allow time components in your dates!
SQL NULL Values

If a column in a table is optional, we can insert a new record or update an existing record without adding a value to this column. This means that the field will be saved with a NULL value. NULL values are treated differently from other values. NULL is used as a placeholder for unknown or inapplicable values. Note: It is not possible to compare NULL and 0; they are not equivalent.
SQL Working with NULL Values

Look at the following "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Suppose that the "Address" column in the "Persons" table is optional. This means that if we insert a record with no value for the "Address" column, the "Address" column will be saved with a NULL value. How can we 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.
SQL IS NULL
How do we select only the records with NULL values in the "Address" column? We will have to use the IS NULL operator: SELECT LastName,FirstName,Address FROM Persons WHERE Address IS NULL The result-set will look like this: LastName Hansen Pettersen FirstName Ola Kari Address
Tip: Always use IS NULL to look for NULL values.
SQL IS NOT NULL

How do we select only the records with no NULL values in the "Address" column? We will have to use the IS NOT NULL operator: SELECT LastName,FirstName,Address FROM Persons WHERE Address IS NOT NULL The result-set will look like this: LastName Svendson FirstName Tove Address Borgvn 23
In the next chapter we will look at the ISNULL(), NVL(), IFNULL() and COALESCE() functions.
SQL ISNULL(), NVL(), IFNULL() and COALESCE() Functions

Look at the following "Products" table: P_Id 1 2 3 ProductName Jarlsberg Mascarpone Gorgonzola UnitPrice 10.45 32.56 15.67 UnitsInStock 16 23 9 UnitsOnOrder 15 20
Suppose that the "UnitsOnOrder" column is optional, and may contain NULL values. We have 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 is NULL. Microsoft's ISNULL() function is used to specify how we want to treat NULL values. The NVL(), IFNULL(), and COALESCE() functions can also be used to achieve the same result. In this case we want NULL values to be zero. Below, if "UnitsOnOrder" is NULL it will not harm the calculation, because ISNULL() returns a zero if the value is NULL: SQL Server / MS Access SELECT ProductName,UnitPrice*(UnitsInStock+ISNULL(UnitsOnOrder,0)) FROM Products Oracle Oracle does not have an ISNULL() function. However, we can use the NVL() function to achieve the same result: SELECT ProductName,UnitPrice*(UnitsInStock+NVL(UnitsOnOrder,0)) FROM Products MySQL MySQL does have an ISNULL() function. However, it works a little bit different from Microsoft's ISNULL() function. In MySQL we can use the IFNULL() function, like this: 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
Microsoft Access Data Types

Data type Text Memo Description Use for text or combinations of text and numbers. 255 characters maximum Memo is used for larger amounts of text. Stores up to 65,536 characters. Note: You cannot sort a memo field. However, they are searchable Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767 Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 Single precision floating-point. Will handle most decimals Double precision floating-point. Will handle most decimals Use for currency. Holds up to 15 digits of whole dollars, plus 4 decimal places. Tip: You can choose which country's currency to use AutoNumber fields automatically give each record its own number, usually starting at 1 Use for dates and times A logical field can be displayed as Yes/No, True/False, or On/Off. In code, use the constants True and False (equivalent to -1 and 0). Note: Null values are not allowed in Yes/No fields Can store pictures, audio, video, or other BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects) Contain links to other files, including web pages Let you type a list of options, which can then be chosen from a drop-down list Storage
Byte Integer Long Single Double Currency
1 byte 2 bytes 4 bytes 4 bytes 8 bytes 8 bytes
AutoNumber Date/Time Yes/No
4 bytes 8 bytes 1 bit
Ole Object Hyperlink Lookup Wizard
up to 1GB 4 bytes
MySQL Data Types

In MySQL there are three main types : text, number, and Date/Time types. Text types: Data type CHAR(size) Description Holds a fixed length string (can contain letters, numbers, and special characters). The fixed size is specified in parenthesis. Can store up to 255 characters VARCHAR(size) Holds a variable length string (can contain letters, numbers, and special characters). The maximum size is specified in parenthesis. Can store up to 255 characters. Note: If you put a greater value than 255 it will be converted
TINYTEXT TEXT BLOB MEDIUMTEXT MEDIUMBLOB LONGTEXT LONGBLOB ENUM(x,y,z,etc.)
to a TEXT type Holds a string with a maximum length of 255 characters Holds a string with a maximum length of 65,535 characters For BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects). Holds up to 65,535 bytes of data Holds a string with a maximum length of 16,777,215 characters For BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects). Holds up to 16,777,215 bytes of data Holds a string with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295 characters For BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects). Holds up to 4,294,967,295 bytes of data Let you enter a list of possible values. You can list up to 65535 values in an ENUM list. If a value is inserted that is not in the list, a blank value will be inserted. Note: The values are sorted in the order you enter them. You enter the possible values in this format: ENUM('X','Y','Z') Similar to ENUM except that SET may contain up to 64 list items and can store more than one choice
SET
Number types: Data type TINYINT(size) Description -128 to 127 normal. 0 to 255 UNSIGNED*. The maximum number of digits may be specified in parenthesis SMALLINT(size) -32768 to 32767 normal. 0 to 65535 UNSIGNED*. The maximum number of digits may be specified in parenthesis MEDIUMINT(size) -8388608 to 8388607 normal. 0 to 16777215 UNSIGNED*. The maximum number of digits may be specified in parenthesis INT(size) -2147483648 to 2147483647 normal. 0 to 4294967295 UNSIGNED*. The maximum number of digits may be specified in parenthesis BIGINT(size) -9223372036854775808 to 9223372036854775807 normal. 0 to 18446744073709551615 UNSIGNED*. The maximum number of digits may be specified in parenthesis FLOAT(size,d) A small number with a floating decimal point. The maximum number of digits may be specified in the size parameter. The maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point is specified in the d parameter DOUBLE(size,d) A large number with a floating decimal point. The maximum number of digits may be specified in the size parameter. The maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point is specified in the d parameter DECIMAL(size,d) A DOUBLE stored as a string , allowing for a fixed decimal point. The maximum number of digits may be specified in the size parameter. The maximum number of digits to the right of the decimal point is specified in the d parameter
*The integer types have an extra option called UNSIGNED. Normally, the integer goes from an negative to positive value. Adding the UNSIGNED attribute will move that range up so it starts at zero instead of a negative number. Date types: Data type DATE() Description A date. Format: YYYY-MM-DD Note: The supported range is from '1000-01-01' to '9999-12-31' *A date and time combination. Format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS Note: The supported range is from '1000-01-01 00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59' *A timestamp. TIMESTAMP values are stored as the number of seconds since the Unix epoch ('1970-01-01 00:00:00' UTC). Format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS Note: The supported range is from '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-0109 03:14:07' UTC A time. Format: HH:MM:SS Note: The supported range is from '-838:59:59' to '838:59:59' A year in two-digit or four-digit format. Note: Values allowed in four-digit format: 1901 to 2155. Values allowed in two-digit format: 70 to 69, representing years from 1970 to 2069 *Even if DATETIME and TIMESTAMP return the same format, they work very differently. In an INSERT or UPDATE query, the TIMESTAMP automatically set itself to the current date and time. TIMESTAMP also accepts various formats, like YYYYMMDDHHMMSS, YYMMDDHHMMSS, YYYYMMDD, or YYMMDD.
DATETIME()
TIMESTAMP()
TIME()
YEAR()
SQL Server Data Types

Character strings: Data type char(n) varchar(n) varchar(max) Description Fixed-length character string. Maximum 8,000 characters Variable-length character string. Maximum 8,000 characters Variable-length character string. Maximum 1,073,741,824 characters Storage n
text Unicode strings: Data type nchar(n) nvarchar(n) nvarchar(max) ntext Binary types: Data type bit binary(n) varbinary(n) varbinary(max) image Number types: Data type tinyint smallint int bigint decimal(p,s)
Variable-length character string. Maximum 2GB of text data
Description Fixed-length Unicode data. Maximum 4,000 characters Variable-length Unicode data. Maximum 4,000 characters Variable-length Unicode data. Maximum 536,870,912 characters Variable-length Unicode data. Maximum 2GB of text data
Storage
Description Allows 0, 1, or NULL Fixed-length binary data. Maximum 8,000 bytes Variable-length binary data. Maximum 8,000 bytes Variable-length binary data. Maximum 2GB Variable-length binary data. Maximum 2GB
Storage
Description Allows whole numbers from 0 to 255 Allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767 Allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647 Allows whole numbers between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 Fixed precision and scale numbers. Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 1. The p parameter indicates the maximum total number of digits that can be stored (both to the left and to the right of the decimal point). p must be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18.
Storage 1 byte 2 bytes 4 bytes 8 bytes 5-17 bytes
numeric(p,s)
The s parameter indicates the maximum number of digits stored to the right of the decimal point. s must be a value from 0 to p. Default value is 0 Fixed precision and scale numbers. 5-17 bytes Allows numbers from -10^38 +1 to 10^38 1. The p parameter indicates the maximum total number of digits that can be stored (both to the left and to the right of the decimal point).
p must be a value from 1 to 38. Default is 18. The s parameter indicates the maximum number of digits stored to the right of the decimal point. s must be a value from 0 to p. Default value is 0 Monetary data from -214,748.3648 to 214,748.3647 4 bytes Monetary data from -922,337,203,685,477.5808 to 8 bytes 922,337,203,685,477.5807 Floating precision number data from -1.79E + 308 to 1.79E + 308. 4 or 8 bytes The n parameter indicates whether the field should hold 4 or 8 bytes. float(24) holds a 4-byte field and float(53) holds an 8-byte field. Default value of n is 53. Floating precision number data from -3.40E + 38 to 3.40E + 38 4 bytes
smallmoney money float(n)
real Date types: Data type datetime datetime2 smalldatetime date time datetimeoffset timestamp
Description From January 1, 1753 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 3.33 milliseconds From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds From January 1, 1900 to June 6, 2079 with an accuracy of 1 minute Store a date only. From January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999 Store a time only to an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds The same as datetime2 with the addition of a time zone offset Stores a unique number that gets updated every time a row gets created or modified. The timestamp value is based upon an internal clock and does not correspond to real time. Each table may have only one timestamp variable
Storage 8 bytes 6-8 bytes 4 bytes 3 bytes 3-5 bytes 8-10 bytes
Other data types: Data type sql_variant uniqueidentifier xml cursor table Description Stores up to 8,000 bytes of data of various data types, except text, ntext, and timestamp Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID) Stores XML formatted data. Maximum 2GB Stores a reference to a cursor used for database operations Stores a result-set for later processing
SQL Aggregate Functions
SQL aggregate functions return a single value, calculated from values in a column. Useful aggregate functions:

AVG() - Returns the average value COUNT() - Returns the number of rows FIRST() - Returns the first value LAST() - Returns the last value MAX() - Returns the largest value MIN() - Returns the smallest value SUM() - Returns the sum
SQL Scalar functions

SQL scalar functions return a single value, based on the input value. Useful scalar functions:

UCASE() - Converts a field to upper case LCASE() - Converts a field to lower case MID() - Extract characters from a text field LEN() - Returns the length of a text field ROUND() - Rounds a numeric field to the number of decimals specified NOW() - Returns the current system date and time FORMAT() - Formats how a field is to be displayed
Tip: The aggregate functions and the scalar functions will be explained in details in the next chapters.
The AVG() Function

The AVG() function returns the average value of a numeric column.
SQL AVG() Syntax SELECT AVG(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL AVG() Example

We have the following "Orders" table:
O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 6
OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04
OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 2000 100
Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen Jensen Nilsen
Now we want to find the average value of the "OrderPrice" fields. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) AS OrderAverage FROM Orders

OrderAverage 950
Now we want to find the customers that have an OrderPrice value higher than the average OrderPrice value. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT Customer FROM Orders WHERE OrderPrice>(SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) FROM Orders)

Customer Hansen Nilsen
Jensen
The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criteria.
SQL COUNT(column_name) Syntax
The COUNT(column_name) function returns the number of values (NULL values will not be counted) of the specified column:
SELECT COUNT(column_name) FROM table_name SQL COUNT(*) Syntax
The COUNT(*) function returns the number of records in a table:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Syntax
The COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) function returns the number of distinct values of the specified column:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) FROM table_name
Note: COUNT(DISTINCT) works with ORACLE and Microsoft SQL Server, but not with Microsoft Access.
SQL COUNT(column_name) Example

O_Id 1 2 3 OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen
4 5 6
2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04
300 2000 100
Hansen Jensen Nilsen
Now we want to count the number of orders from "Customer Nilsen". We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT COUNT(Customer) AS CustomerNilsen FROM Orders WHERE Customer='Nilsen'
The result of the SQL statement above will be 2, because the customer Nilsen has made 2 orders in total:
CustomerNilsen 2
SQL COUNT(*) Example

If we omit the WHERE clause, like this:
SELECT COUNT(*) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders

NumberOfOrders 6
which is the total number of rows in the table.
SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Example
Now we want to count the number of unique customers in the "Orders" table. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Customer) AS NumberOfCustomers FROM Orders

NumberOfCustomers 3
which is the number of unique customers (Hansen, Nilsen, and Jensen) in the "Orders" table.
The FIRST() Function

The FIRST() function returns the first value of the selected column.
SQL FIRST() Syntax SELECT FIRST(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL FIRST() Example

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 6 OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04 OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 2000 100 Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen Jensen Nilsen
Now we want to find the first value of the "OrderPrice" column. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT FIRST(OrderPrice) AS FirstOrderPrice FROM Orders
Tip: Workaround if FIRST() function is not supported:

SELECT OrderPrice FROM Orders ORDER BY O_Id LIMIT 1

FirstOrderPrice 1000
The LAST() Function

The LAST() function returns the last value of the selected column.
SQL LAST() Syntax SELECT LAST(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL LAST() Example

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 2008/08/30 OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 2000 Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen Jensen
2008/10/04
100
Nilsen
Now we want to find the last value of the "OrderPrice" column. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT LAST(OrderPrice) AS LastOrderPrice FROM Orders
Tip: Workaround if LAST() function is not supported:

SELECT OrderPrice FROM Orders ORDER BY O_Id DESC LIMIT 1

LastOrderPrice 100
The MAX() Function

The MAX() function returns the largest value of the selected column.
SQL MAX() Syntax SELECT MAX(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL MAX() Example

4 5 6
2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04
300 2000 100
Now we want to find the largest value of the "OrderPrice" column. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT MAX(OrderPrice) AS LargestOrderPrice FROM Orders

LargestOrderPrice 2000
The MIN() Function

The MIN() function returns the smallest value of the selected column.
SQL MIN() Syntax SELECT MIN(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL MIN() Example

O_Id 1 2 3 4 OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen
5 6
2008/08/30 2008/10/04
2000 100
Jensen Nilsen
Now we want to find the smallest value of the "OrderPrice" column. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT MIN(OrderPrice) AS SmallestOrderPrice FROM Orders

SmallestOrderPrice 100
The SUM() Function

The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.
SQL SUM() Syntax SELECT SUM(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL SUM() Example

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 2008/08/30 OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 2000 Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen Jensen
2008/10/04
100
Nilsen
Now we want to find the sum of all "OrderPrice" fields". We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT SUM(OrderPrice) AS OrderTotal FROM Orders

OrderTotal 5700
The GROUP BY Statement

The GROUP BY statement is used in conjunction with the aggregate functions to group the result-set by one or more columns.
SQL GROUP BY Syntax SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value GROUP BY column_name
SQL GROUP BY Example

4 5 6
2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04
300 2000 100
Now we want to find the total sum (total order) of each customer. We will have to use the GROUP BY statement to group the customers. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders GROUP BY Customer

Customer Hansen Nilsen Jensen SUM(OrderPrice) 2000 1700 2000
Nice! Isn't it? :) Let's see what happens if we omit the GROUP BY statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen SUM(OrderPrice) 5700 5700 5700 5700
Jensen Nilsen
5700 5700
The result-set above is not what we wanted. Explanation of why the above SELECT statement cannot be used: The SELECT statement above has two columns specified (Customer and SUM(OrderPrice). The "SUM(OrderPrice)" returns a single value (that is the total sum of the "OrderPrice" column), while "Customer" returns 6 values (one value for each row in the "Orders" table). This will therefore not give us the correct result. However, you have seen that the GROUP BY statement solves this problem.
GROUP BY More Than One Column

We can also use the GROUP BY statement on more than one column, like this:
SELECT Customer,OrderDate,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders GROUP BY Customer,OrderDate
The HAVING Clause

The HAVING clause was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used with aggregate functions.
SQL HAVING Syntax SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value GROUP BY column_name HAVING aggregate_function(column_name) operator value
SQL HAVING Example

O_Id 1 2 3 4 5 6
OrderDate 2008/11/12 2008/10/23 2008/09/02 2008/09/03 2008/08/30 2008/10/04
OrderPrice 1000 1600 700 300 2000 100
Customer Hansen Nilsen Hansen Hansen Jensen Nilsen
Now we want to find if any of the customers have a total order of less than 2000. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders GROUP BY Customer HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)<2000

Customer Nilsen SUM(OrderPrice) 1700
Now we want to find if the customers "Hansen" or "Jensen" have a total order of more than 1500. We add an ordinary WHERE clause to the SQL statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders WHERE Customer='Hansen' OR Customer='Jensen' GROUP BY Customer HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)>1500

Customer SUM(OrderPrice)
Hansen Jensen
2000 2000
The UCASE() Function

The UCASE() function converts the value of a field to uppercase.
SQL UCASE() Syntax SELECT UCASE(column_name) FROM table_name Syntax for SQL Server SELECT UPPER(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL UCASE() Example

Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above, and convert the "LastName" column to uppercase. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT UCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons

LastName FirstName
HANSEN SVENDSON PETTERSEN
Ola Tove Kari
The LCASE() Function

The LCASE() function converts the value of a field to lowercase.
SQL LCASE() Syntax SELECT LCASE(column_name) FROM table_name Syntax for SQL Server SELECT LOWER(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL LCASE() Example

Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above, and convert the "LastName" column to lowercase. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
LastName hansen svendson pettersen
The MID() Function

The MID() function is used to extract characters from a text field.
SQL MID() Syntax SELECT MID(column_name,start[,length]) FROM table_name
Parameter column_name start length
Description Required. The field to extract characters from Required. Specifies the starting position (starts at 1) Optional. The number of characters to return. If omitted, the MID() function returns the rest of the text
SQL MID() Example

Now we want to extract the first four characters of the "City" column above.
We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT MID(City,1,4) as SmallCity FROM Persons

SmallCity Sand Sand Stav
The LEN() Function

The LEN() function returns the length of the value in a text field.
SQL LEN() Syntax SELECT LEN(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL LEN() Example

Now we want to select the length of the values in the "Address" column above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LEN(Address) as LengthOfAddress FROM Persons

LengthOfAddress 12 9 9
The ROUND() Function

The ROUND() function is used to round a numeric field to the number of decimals specified.
SQL ROUND() Syntax SELECT ROUND(column_name,decimals) FROM table_name
Parameter column_name decimals
Description Required. The field to round. Required. Specifies the number of decimals to be returned.
SQL ROUND() Example

We have the following "Products" table:
Prod_Id 1 2 3 ProductName Jarlsberg Mascarpone Gorgonzola Unit 1000 g 1000 g 1000 g UnitPrice 10.45 32.56 15.67
Now we want to display the product name and the price rounded to the nearest integer. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT ProductName, ROUND(UnitPrice,0) as UnitPrice FROM Products

ProductName Jarlsberg Mascarpone Gorgonzola UnitPrice 10 33 16
The NOW() Function

The NOW() function returns the current system date and time.
SQL NOW() Syntax SELECT NOW() FROM table_name
SQL NOW() Example

Now we want to display the products and prices per today's date. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice, Now() as PerDate FROM Products
ProductName Jarlsberg Mascarpone Gorgonzola
UnitPrice 10.45 32.56 15.67
PerDate 10/7/2008 11:25:02 AM 10/7/2008 11:25:02 AM 10/7/2008 11:25:02 AM
The FORMAT() Function

The FORMAT() function is used to format how a field is to be displayed.
SQL FORMAT() Syntax SELECT FORMAT(column_name,format) FROM table_name
Parameter column_name format
Description Required. The field to be formatted. Required. Specifies the format.
SQL FORMAT() Example

Now we want to display the products and prices per today's date (with today's date displayed in the following format "YYYY-MM-DD"). We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT ProductName, UnitPrice, FORMAT(Now(),'YYYY-MM-DD') as PerDate FROM Products

ProductName Jarlsberg Mascarpone Gorgonzola UnitPrice 10.45 32.56 15.67 PerDate 2008-10-07 2008-10-07 2008-10-07
SQL Statement AND / OR
ALTER TABLE
Syntax SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE condition AND|OR condition ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name datatype or ALTER TABLE table_name DROP COLUMN column_name SELECT column_name AS column_alias FROM table_name or SELECT column_name FROM table_name AS table_alias SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name BETWEEN value1 AND value2 CREATE DATABASE database_name CREATE TABLE table_name ( column_name1 data_type, column_name2 data_type, column_name2 data_type, ... ) CREATE INDEX index_name
AS (alias)
BETWEEN
CREATE DATABASE CREATE TABLE
CREATE INDEX
ON table_name (column_name) or CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name ON table_name (column_name) CREATE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE condition DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value or DELETE FROM table_name (Note: Deletes the entire table!!) DELETE * FROM table_name (Note: Deletes the entire table!!) DROP DATABASE database_name DROP INDEX table_name.index_name (SQL Server) DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name (MS Access) DROP INDEX index_name (DB2/Oracle) ALTER TABLE table_name DROP INDEX index_name (MySQL) DROP TABLE table_name SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value GROUP BY column_name SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value GROUP BY column_name HAVING aggregate_function(column_name) operator value SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name IN (value1,value2,..) INSERT INTO table_name VALUES (value1, value2, value3,....) or
CREATE VIEW
DELETE
DROP DATABASE DROP INDEX
DROP TABLE GROUP BY
HAVING
IN
INSERT INTO
INNER JOIN
LEFT JOIN
RIGHT JOIN
FULL JOIN
LIKE
ORDER BY
SELECT SELECT * SELECT DISTINCT SELECT INTO
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,...) VALUES (value1, value2, value3,....) SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 INNER JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 LEFT JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 RIGHT JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 FULL JOIN table_name2 ON table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_name SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name LIKE pattern SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name [ASC|DESC] SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name SELECT * FROM table_name SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s) FROM table_name SELECT * INTO new_table_name [IN externaldatabase] FROM old_table_name or SELECT column_name(s) INTO new_table_name [IN externaldatabase] FROM old_table_name SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s) FROM table_name TRUNCATE TABLE table_name SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 UNION
SELECT TOP TRUNCATE TABLE UNION
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2 SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1 UNION ALL SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2 UPDATE UPDATE table_name SET column1=value, column2=value,... WHERE some_column=some_value WHERE SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value Stored procedures are special objects available in sql server. Its a precompiled statements where all the preliminary parsing operations are performed and the statements are ready for execution. UNION ALL Its very fast when compared to ordinary sql statements where the sql statements will undergone a sequence of steps to fetch the data Stored procedure involves various syntax based on the parameters passed. Let me show you a generic syntax for a stored procedure. Code:
Create procedure procName as begin ----Your query should be return here end
To execute the stored procedure we have to use exec command, Code:

exec procName
Let me show you a simple example where i am trying to pass two parameters and retrieving one parameter as output. Code:
CREATE PROCEDURE SPWITHPARAMETER_AND_RETURN_VALUE ( @EMPID INT, @IDVAL INT, @RETURNVALUE INT =0 OUT ) AS DECLARE @COUNT INT BEGIN SELECT @COUNT=COUNT(*) FROM JOINTABLE WHERE EMPID=@EMPID AND IDVAL=@IDVAL IF(@COUNT >0) BEGIN SET @RETURNVALUE = 1; PRINT @RETURNVALUE RETURN @RETURNVALUE
END ELSE BEGIN SET @RETURNVALUE = 1; PRINT @RETURNVALUE RETURN @RETURNVALUE END END
In the above stored procedure the count of rows for empid and rowid matching in the table. Based on the count i am trying to set the return value. To execute the above stored procedure we have to use the below syntax, Code:
EXEC SPWITHPARAMETER_AND_RETURN_VALUE 2,3
SQL Stored Procedures

SQL Server 2000
A stored procedure is a group of Transact-SQL statements compiled into a single execution plan. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 stored procedures return data in four ways:
Output parameters, which can return either data (such as an integer or character value) or a cursor variable (cursors are result sets that can be retrieved one row at a time). Return codes, which are always an integer value. A result set for each SELECT statement contained in the stored procedure or any other stored procedures called by the stored procedure. A global cursor that can be referenced outside the stored procedure.
Stored procedures assist in achieving a consistent implementation of logic across applications. The SQL statements and logic needed to perform a commonly performed task can be designed, coded, and tested once in a stored procedure. Each application needing to perform that task can then simply execute the stored procedure. Coding business logic into a single stored procedure also offers a single point of control for ensuring that business rules are correctly enforced. Stored procedures can also improve performance. Many tasks are implemented as a series of SQL statements. Conditional logic applied to the results of the first SQL statements determines which subsequent SQL statements are executed. If these SQL statements and conditional logic are written into a stored procedure, they become part of a single execution plan on the server. The results do not have to be returned to the client to have the conditional logic applied; all of the work is done on the server. The IF statement in this example shows embedding conditional logic in a procedure to keep from sending a result set to the application:
IF (@QuantityOrdered < (SELECT QuantityOnHand FROM Inventory WHERE PartID = @PartOrdered) ) BEGIN -- SQL statements to update tables and process order. END ELSE BEGIN -- SELECT statement to retrieve the IDs of alternate items -- to suggest as replacements to the customer. END
Applications do not need to transmit all of the SQL statements in the procedure: they have to transmit only an EXECUTE or CALL statement containing the name of the procedure and the values of the parameters. Stored procedures can also shield users from needing to know the details of the tables in the database. If a set of stored procedures supports all of the business functions users need to perform, users never need to access the tables directly; they can just execute the stored procedures that model the business processes with which they are familiar. An illustration of this use of stored procedures is the SQL Server system stored procedures used to insulate users from the system tables. SQL Server includes a set of system stored procedures whose names usually start with sp_. These system stored procedures support all of the administrative tasks required to run a SQL Server system. You can administer a SQL Server system using the Transact-SQL administration-related statements (such as CREATE TABLE) or the system stored procedures, and never need to directly update the system tables.
Stored Procedures and Execution Plans
In SQL Server version 6.5 and earlier, stored procedures were a way to partially precompile an execution plan. At the time the stored procedure was created, a partially compiled execution plan was stored in a system table. Executing a stored procedure was more efficient than executing an SQL statement because SQL Server did not have to compile an execution plan completely, it only had to finish optimizing the stored plan for the procedure. Also, the fully compiled execution plan for the stored procedure was retained in the SQL Server procedure cache, meaning that subsequent executions of the stored procedure could use the precompiled execution plan. SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server version 7.0 incorporate a number of changes to statement processing that extend many of the performance benefits of stored procedures to all SQL statements. SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 7.0 do not save a partially compiled plan for stored procedures when they are created. A stored procedure is compiled at execution time, like any other Transact-SQL statement. SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 7.0 retain execution plans for all SQL statements in the procedure cache, not just stored procedure execution plans. The database engine uses an efficient algorithm for comparing new Transact-SQL statements with the Transact-SQL statements of existing execution plans. If the database engine determines that a new Transact-SQL statement matches the Transact-SQL statement of an existing execution plan,
it reuses the plan. This reduces the relative performance benefit of precompiling stored procedures by extending execution plan reuse to all SQL statements. SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server version 7.0 offer new alternatives for processing SQL statements. For more information, see Query Processor Architecture.
Temporary Stored Procedures
SQL Server 2000 also supports temporary stored procedures that, like temporary tables, are dropped automatically when you disconnect. Temporary stored procedures are stored in tempdb and are useful when connected to earlier versions of SQL Server. Temporary stored procedures can be used when an application builds dynamic Transact-SQL statements that are executed several times. Rather than have the Transact-SQL statements recompiled each time, you can create a temporary stored procedure that is compiled on the first execution, and then execute the precompiled plan multiple times. Heavy use of temporary stored procedures, however, can lead to contention on the system tables in tempdb. Two features of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 7.0 eliminate the need for using temporary stored procedures:
Execution plans from prior SQL statements can be reused. This is especially powerful when coupled with the use of the new sp_executesql system stored procedure. Natively support for the prepare/execute model of OLE DB and ODBC without using any stored procedures.
For more information about alternatives to using temporary stored procedures, see Execution Plan Caching and Reuse.
Stored Procedure Example
This simple stored procedure example illustrates three ways stored procedures can return data:
1. It first issues a SELECT statement that returns a result set summarizing the order activity for the stores in the sales table. 2. It then issues a SELECT statement that fills an output parameter. 3. Finally, it has a RETURN statement with a SELECT statement that returns an integer. Return codes are generally used to pass back error checking information. This procedure runs without errors, so it returns another value to illustrate how returned codes are filled.
USE Northwind GO DROP PROCEDURE OrderSummary GO CREATE PROCEDURE OrderSummary @MaxQuantity INT OUTPUT AS -- SELECT to return a result set summarizing
-- employee sales. SELECT Ord.EmployeeID, SummSales = SUM(OrDet.UnitPrice * OrDet.Quantity) FROM Orders AS Ord JOIN [Order Details] AS OrDet ON (Ord.OrderID = OrDet.OrderID) GROUP BY Ord.EmployeeID ORDER BY Ord.EmployeeID -- SELECT to fill the output parameter with the -- maximum quantity from Order Details. SELECT @MaxQuantity = MAX(Quantity) FROM [Order Details] -- Return the number of all items ordered. RETURN (SELECT SUM(Quantity) FROM [Order Details]) GO -- Test the stored procedure. -- DECLARE variables to hold the return code -- and output parameter. DECLARE @OrderSum INT DECLARE @LargestOrder INT -- Execute the procedure, which returns -- the result set from the first SELECT. EXEC @OrderSum = OrderSummary @MaxQuantity = @LargestOrder OUTPUT -- Use the return code and output parameter. PRINT 'The size of the largest single order was: ' + CONVERT(CHAR(6), @LargestOrder) PRINT 'The sum of the quantities ordered was: ' + CONVERT(CHAR(6), @OrderSum) GO
The output from running this sample is:

EmployeeID SummSales ----------- -------------------------1 202,143.71 2 177,749.26 3 213,051.30 4 250,187.45 5 75,567.75 6 78,198.10 7 141,295.99 8 133,301.03 9 82,964.00 The size of the largest single order was: 130 The sum of the quantities ordered was: 51317
Extended Stored Procedures

SQL Server 2000
New Information - SQL Server 2000 SP3. Extended stored procedures allow you to create your own external routines in a programming language such as C. The extended stored procedures appear to users as normal stored procedures and are executed in the same way. Parameters can be passed to extended stored procedures, and they can return results and return status. Extended stored procedures can be used to extend the capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Security Note Validate all user input. Do not concatenate user input before validating it. Never execute a command constructed from unvalidated user input. For more information, see Validating User Input. Extended stored procedures are dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) that SQL Server can dynamically load and execute. Extended stored procedures run directly in the address space of SQL Server and are programmed using the SQL Server Open Data Services API. Security Note Extended stored procedures should not be used to instantiate the Microsoft .NET Framework common language runtime and execute managed code. This scenario will not be supported in future versions of SQL Server. After an extended stored procedure has been written, members of the sysadmin fixed server role can register the extended stored procedure with SQL Server and then grant permission to other users to execute the procedure. Extended stored procedures can be added only to the master database. Note Extended stored procedures may produce memory leaks or other problems that reduce the performance and reliability of the server. You should consider storing extended stored procedures in an instance of SQL Server separate from the instance containing the referenced data and using distributed queries to access the database. For more information, see Distributed Queries.
Creating a Stored Procedure

SQL Server 2000
You can create stored procedures using the CREATE PROCEDURE Transact-SQL statement. Before creating a stored procedure, consider that:
CREATE PROCEDURE statements cannot be combined with other SQL statements in a single batch. Permission to create stored procedures defaults to the database owner, who can transfer it to other users. Stored procedures are database objects, and their names must follow the rules for identifiers.
You can create a stored procedure only in the current database.
When creating a stored procedure, you should specify:

Any input parameters and output parameters to the calling procedure or batch. The programming statements that perform operations in the database, including calling other procedures. The status value returned to the calling procedure or batch to indicate success or failure (and the reason for failure).
System Stored Procedures
Many of your administrative activities in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 are performed through a special kind of procedure known as a system stored procedure. System stored procedures are created and stored in the master database and have the sp_ prefix. System stored procedures can be executed from any database without having to qualify the stored procedure name fully using the database name master. It is strongly recommended that you do not create any stored procedures using sp_ as a prefix. SQL Server always looks for a stored procedure beginning with sp_ in this order:
1. The stored procedure in the master database. 2. The stored procedure based on any qualifiers provided (database name or owner). 3. The stored procedure using dbo as the owner, if one is not specified.
Therefore, although the user-created stored procedure prefixed with sp_ may exist in the current database, the master database is always checked first, even if the stored procedure is qualified with the database name. Important If any user-created stored procedure has the same name as a system stored procedure, the user-created stored procedure will never be executed.
Grouping
A procedure can be created with the same name as an existing stored procedure if it is given a different identification number, which allows the procedures to be grouped logically. Grouping procedures with the same name allows them to be deleted at the same time. Procedures used in the same application are often grouped this way. For example, the procedures used with the my_app application might be named my_proc;1, my_proc;2, and so on. Deleting my_proc deletes the entire group. After procedures have been grouped, individual procedures within the group cannot be deleted.
Temporary Stored Procedures
Private and global temporary stored procedures, analogous to temporary tables, can be created with the # and ## prefixes added to the procedure name. # denotes a local temporary stored procedure; ## denotes a global temporary stored procedure. These procedures do not exist after SQL Server is shut down. Temporary stored procedures are useful when connecting to earlier versions of SQL Server that do not support the reuse of execution plans for Transact-SQL statements or batches. Applications connecting to SQL Server version 2000 should use the sp_executesql system stored procedure instead of temporary stored procedures. For more information, see Execution Plan Caching and Reuse. Only the connection that created a local temporary procedure can execute it, and the procedure is automatically deleted when the connection is closed (when the user logs out of SQL Server). Any connection can execute a global temporary stored procedure. A global temporary stored procedure exists until the connection used by the user who created the procedure is closed and any currently executing versions of the procedure by any other connections are completed. Once the connection that was used to create the procedure is closed, no further execution of the global temporary stored procedure is allowed. Only those connections that have already started executing the stored procedure are allowed to complete. If a stored procedure not prefixed with # or ## is created directly in the tempdb database, the stored procedure is automatically deleted when SQL Server is shut down because tempdb is recreated every time SQL Server is started. Procedures created directly in tempdb exist even after the creating connection is terminated. As with any other object, permissions to execute the temporary stored procedure can be granted, denied, and revoked to other users.
Specifying Parameters
SQL Server 2000 New Information - SQL Server 2000 SP3. A stored procedure communicates with the calling program through its parameters. When a program executes a stored procedure, it can pass values to the stored procedure through the parameters of the stored procedure. These values can be used as standard variables in the Transact-SQL programming language. The stored procedure can also return values to the calling program through OUTPUT parameters. A stored procedure can have as many as 2100 parameters, with each parameter having a name, data type, direction, and default value. Security Note Validate all user input. Do not concatenate user input before validating it. Never execute a command constructed from unvalidated user input. For more information, see Validating User Input.
Specifying a Name
SQL Server 2000 Specifying a Name
Each stored procedure parameter must be defined with a unique name. Stored procedure names must begin with a single @ character, as in a standard Transact-SQL variable, and must follow the rules for object identifiers. The parameter name can be used in the stored procedure to obtain and change the value of the parameter. Values can be passed to stored procedures either by explicitly naming the parameters and assigning the appropriate value or by supplying the parameter values given in the CREATE PROCEDURE statement without naming them. For example, if the stored procedure my_proc expects three parameters named @first, @second, and @third, the values passed to the stored procedure can be assigned to the parameter names, such as:
EXECUTE my_proc @second = 2, @first = 1, @third = 3
Or by position without naming them:

EXECUTE my_proc 1, 2, 3
Naming the parameters when executing the stored procedure allows the parameters to be supplied in any order. If the parameters are not named, they must be supplied in the same order (left to right) as they are defined in the stored procedure. Additionally, all parameters preceding a given parameter must be supplied even if they are optional and have default values. For example, if the parameters of my_proc are all optional, my_proc could be executed by supplying values only for the first and second parameters, but not by supplying values only for the second and third parameters. This is necessary because, otherwise, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 cannot identify the parameters that are being specified.
Specifying a Data Type

SQL Server 2000 Specifying a Data Type
Parameters in a stored procedure are defined with a data type, much as a column in a table is defined. A stored procedure parameter can be defined with any of the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 data types, except the table data type . Stored procedure parameters can also be defined with user-defined data types. Note The cursor data type can be used only as an OUTPUT parameter to a stored procedure. For more information about using cursor variables, see Scope of Transact-SQL Cursor Names.
The data type of a parameter determines the type and range of values that are accepted for the parameter. For example, if you define a parameter with a tinyint data type, only numeric values ranging from 0 to 255 are accepted. An error is returned if a stored procedure is executed with a value incompatible with the data type.
Specifying the Direction of a Parameter

SQL Server 2000 Specifying the Direction of a Parameter
All procedure parameters can receive input values when the stored procedure is executed by the program that calls the stored procedure.
Examples
The following stored procedure, get_sales_for_title, uses an input parameter. The @title parameter in the stored procedure receives the input value of a title of a book specified by the calling program. The SELECT statement uses the @title parameter to obtain the correct ytd_sales value and displays the value.
CREATE PROCEDURE get_sales_for_title @title varchar(80) -- This is the input parameter. AS -- Get the sales for the specified title. SELECT "YTD_SALES" = ytd_sales FROM titles WHERE title = @title RETURN GO
If you specify the OUTPUT keyword for a parameter in the stored procedure definition, the stored procedure can return the current value of the parameter to the calling program when the stored procedure exits. The calling program must also use the OUTPUT keyword when executing the stored procedure to save the parameter's value in a variable that can be used in the calling program. For more information, see Returning Data Using OUTPUT Parameters.
Specifying a Default Value

SQL Server 2000 Specifying a Default Value
New Information - SQL Server 2000 SP3.
You can create a stored procedure with optional parameters by specifying a default value for optional parameters. When the stored procedure is executed, the default value is used if no other value has been specified. Specifying default values is necessary because a system error is returned if a parameter does not have a default value specified in the stored procedure and the calling program does not provide a value for the parameter when the stored procedure is executed. If no value can be specified appropriately as a default for the parameter, you can specify NULL as the default for a parameter and have the stored procedure return a customized message if the stored procedure is executed without a value for the parameter. Note If the default value is a character string that contains embedded blanks or punctuation, or if it begins with a number (for example, 6xxx), it must be enclosed in single, straight quotation marks. Security Note Validate all user input. Do not concatenate user input before validating it. Never execute a command constructed from unvalidated user input. For more information, see Validating User Input.
Examples
This example shows the get_sales_for_title procedure with special handling for cases when the stored procedure is executed without a value for the @title parameter:
CREATE PROCEDURE get_sales_for_title @title varchar(80) = NULL, -- NULL default value @ytd_sales int OUTPUT AS -- Validate the @title parameter. IF @title IS NULL BEGIN PRINT 'ERROR: You must specify a title value.' RETURN END -- Get the sales for the specified title and -- assign it to the output parameter. SELECT @ytd_sales = ytd_sales FROM titles WHERE title = @title RETURN GO
The following example shows the my_proc procedure with default values for each of the three parameters @first, @second, and @third, and the values displayed when the stored procedure is executed with other parameter values:
CREATE PROCEDURE my_proc @first int = NULL, -- NULL default value @second int = 2, -- Default value of 2 @third int = 3 -- Default value of 3 AS -- Display values. SELECT @first, @second, @third GO EXECUTE my_proc GO -- No parameters supplied
Displays:
NULL 2 3 -- All parameters supplied
EXECUTE my_proc 10, 20, 30 GO
Displays:
10 20 30 -- Only second parameter supplied by name
EXECUTE my_proc @second = 500 GO
Displays:
NULL 500 3
EXECUTE my_proc 40, @third = 50 -- Only first and third parameters GO -- are supplied.
Displays:
40 2 50
CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION Syntax CREATE [DEFINER = { user | CURRENT_USER }] PROCEDURE sp_name ([proc_parameter[,...]]) [characteristic ...] routine_body CREATE [DEFINER = { user | CURRENT_USER }] FUNCTION sp_name ([func_parameter[,...]]) RETURNS type [characteristic ...] routine_body proc_parameter: [ IN | OUT | INOUT ] param_name type func_parameter:
param_name type type: Any valid MySQL data type characteristic: COMMENT 'string' | LANGUAGE SQL | [NOT] DETERMINISTIC | { CONTAINS SQL | NO SQL | READS SQL DATA | MODIFIES SQL DATA } | SQL SECURITY { DEFINER | INVOKER } routine_body: Valid SQL routine statement
These statements create stored routines. By default, a routine is associated with the default database. To associate the routine explicitly with a given database, specify the name as db_name.sp_name when you create it. The CREATE FUNCTION statement is also used in MySQL to support UDFs (user-defined functions). See Section 20.2, Adding New Functions to MySQL. A UDF can be regarded as an external stored function. Stored functions share their namespace with UDFs. See Section 8.2.3, Function Name Parsing and Resolution, for the rules describing how the server interprets references to different kinds of functions. To invoke a stored procedure, use the CALL statement (see Section 12.2.1, CALL Syntax). To invoke a stored function, refer to it in an expression. The function returns a value during expression evaluation. As of MySQL 5.0.3, CREATE PROCEDURE and CREATE FUNCTION require the CREATE ROUTINE privilege. They might also require the SUPER privilege, depending on the DEFINER value, as described later in this section. If binary logging is enabled, CREATE FUNCTION might require the SUPER privilege, as described in Section 17.6, Binary Logging of Stored Programs. By default, MySQL automatically grants the ALTER ROUTINE and EXECUTE privileges to the routine creator. This behavior can be changed by disabling the automatic_sp_privileges system variable. See Section 17.2.2, Stored Routines and MySQL Privileges. The DEFINER and SQL SECURITY clauses specify the security context to be used when checking access privileges at routine execution time, as described later in this section. If the routine name is the same as the name of a built-in SQL function, a syntax error occurs unless you use a space between the name and the following parenthesis when defining the routine or invoking it later. For this reason, avoid using the names of existing SQL functions for your own stored routines.
The IGNORE_SPACE SQL mode applies to built-in functions, not to stored routines. It is always permissible to have spaces after a stored routine name, regardless of whether IGNORE_SPACE is enabled. The parameter list enclosed within parentheses must always be present. If there are no parameters, an empty parameter list of () should be used. Parameter names are not case sensitive. Each parameter is an IN parameter by default. To specify otherwise for a parameter, use the keyword OUT or INOUT before the parameter name.
Note
Specifying a parameter as IN, OUT, or INOUT is valid only for a PROCEDURE. For a FUNCTION, parameters are always regarded as IN parameters. An IN parameter passes a value into a procedure. The procedure might modify the value, but the modification is not visible to the caller when the procedure returns. An OUT parameter passes a value from the procedure back to the caller. Its initial value is NULL within the procedure, and its value is visible to the caller when the procedure returns. An INOUT parameter is initialized by the caller, can be modified by the procedure, and any change made by the procedure is visible to the caller when the procedure returns. For each OUT or INOUT parameter, pass a user-defined variable in the CALL statement that invokes the procedure so that you can obtain its value when the procedure returns. If you are calling the procedure from within another stored procedure or function, you can also pass a routine parameter or local routine variable as an IN or INOUT parameter. The following example shows a simple stored procedure that uses an OUT parameter:
mysql> delimiter // mysql> CREATE PROCEDURE simpleproc (OUT param1 INT) -> BEGIN -> SELECT COUNT(*) INTO param1 FROM t; -> END// Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) mysql> delimiter ; mysql> CALL simpleproc(@a); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT @a; +------+ | @a | +------+ | 3 | +------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
The example uses the mysql client delimiter command to change the statement delimiter from ; to // while the procedure is being defined. This enables the ; delimiter used in the procedure body to be passed through to the server rather than being interpreted by mysql itself. See Section 17.1, Defining Stored Programs. The RETURNS clause may be specified only for a FUNCTION, for which it is mandatory. It indicates the return type of the function, and the function body must contain a RETURN value statement. If the RETURN statement returns a value of a different type, the value is coerced to the proper type. For example, if a function specifies an ENUM or SET value in the RETURNS clause, but the RETURN statement returns an integer, the value returned from the function is the string for the corresponding ENUM member of set of SET members. The following example function takes a parameter, performs an operation using an SQL function, and returns the result. In this case, it is unnecessary to use delimiter because the function definition contains no internal ; statement delimiters:
mysql> CREATE FUNCTION hello (s CHAR(20)) mysql> RETURNS CHAR(50) DETERMINISTIC -> RETURN CONCAT('Hello, ',s,'!'); Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT hello('world'); +----------------+ | hello('world') | +----------------+ | Hello, world! | +----------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Parameter types and function return types can be declared to use any valid data type, except that the COLLATE attribute cannot be used. The routine_body consists of a valid SQL routine statement. This can be a simple statement such as SELECT or INSERT, or a compound statement written using BEGIN and END. Compound statements can contain declarations, loops, and other control structure statements. The syntax for these statements is described in Section 12.7, MySQL Compound-Statement Syntax. MySQL permits routines to contain DDL statements, such as CREATE and DROP. MySQL also permits stored procedures (but not stored functions) to contain SQL transaction statements such as COMMIT. Stored functions may not contain statements that perform explicit or implicit commit or rollback. Support for these statements is not required by the SQL standard, which states that each DBMS vendor may decide whether to permit them. Statements that return a result set can be used within a stored procedure but not within a stored function. This prohibition includes SELECT statements that do not have an INTO var_list clause and other statements such as SHOW, EXPLAIN, and CHECK TABLE. For statements that can be
determined at function definition time to return a result set, a Not allowed to return a result set from a function error occurs (ER_SP_NO_RETSET). For statements that can be determined only at runtime to return a result set, a PROCEDURE %s can't return a result set in the given context error occurs (ER_SP_BADSELECT).
Note
Before MySQL 5.0.10, stored functions created with CREATE FUNCTION must not contain references to tables, with limited exceptions. They may include some SET statements that contain table references, for example SET a:= (SELECT MAX(id) FROM t), and SELECT statements that fetch values directly into variables, for example SELECT i INTO var1 FROM t.
USE statements within stored routines are not permitted. When a routine is invoked, an implicit USE db_name is performed (and undone when the routine terminates). This causes the routine to
have the given default database while it executes. References to objects in databases other than the routine default database should be qualified with the appropriate database name. For additional information about statements that are not permitted in stored routines, see Section E.1, Restrictions on Stored Routines and Triggers. For information about invoking stored procedures from within programs written in a language that has a MySQL interface, see Section 12.2.1, CALL Syntax. MySQL stores the sql_mode system variable setting that is in effect at the time a routine is created, and always executes the routine with this setting in force, regardless of the server SQL mode in effect when the routine is invoked. The switch from the SQL mode of the invoker to that of the routine occurs after evaluation of arguments and assignment of the resulting values to routine parameters. If you define a routine in strict SQL mode but invoke it in nonstrict mode, assignment of arguments to routine parameters does not take place in strict mode. If you require that expressions passed to a routine be assigned in strict SQL mode, you should invoke the routine with strict mode in effect. The COMMENT characteristic is a MySQL extension, and may be used to describe the stored routine. This information is displayed by the SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE and SHOW CREATE FUNCTION statements. The LANGUAGE characteristic indicates the language in which the routine is written. The server ignores this characteristic; only SQL routines are supported. A routine is considered deterministic if it always produces the same result for the same input parameters, and not deterministic otherwise. If neither DETERMINISTIC nor NOT DETERMINISTIC is given in the routine definition, the default is NOT DETERMINISTIC. To declare that a function is deterministic, you must specify DETERMINISTIC explicitly.
Assessment of the nature of a routine is based on the honesty of the creator: MySQL does not check that a routine declared DETERMINISTIC is free of statements that produce nondeterministic results. However, misdeclaring a routine might affect results or affect performance. Declaring a nondeterministic routine as DETERMINISTIC might lead to unexpected results by causing the optimizer to make incorrect execution plan choices. Declaring a deterministic routine as NONDETERMINISTIC might diminish performance by causing available optimizations not to be used. Prior to MySQL 5.0.44, the DETERMINISTIC characteristic is accepted, but not used by the optimizer. If binary logging is enabled, the DETERMINISTIC characteristic affects which routine definitions MySQL accepts. See Section 17.6, Binary Logging of Stored Programs. A routine that contains the NOW() function (or its synonyms) or RAND() is nondeterministic, but it might still be replication-safe. For NOW(), the binary log includes the timestamp and replicates correctly. RAND() also replicates correctly as long as it is called only a single time during the execution of a routine. (You can consider the routine execution timestamp and random number seed as implicit inputs that are identical on the master and slave.) Several characteristics provide information about the nature of data use by the routine. In MySQL, these characteristics are advisory only. The server does not use them to constrain what kinds of statements a routine will be permitted to execute.
CONTAINS SQL
indicates that the routine does not contain statements that read or write data. This is the default if none of these characteristics is given explicitly. Examples of such statements are SET @x = 1 or DO RELEASE_LOCK('abc'), which execute but neither read nor write data. NO SQL indicates that the routine contains no SQL statements. READS SQL DATA indicates that the routine contains statements that read data (for example, SELECT), but not statements that write data. MODIFIES SQL DATA indicates that the routine contains statements that may write data (for example, INSERT or DELETE).
The SQL SECURITY characteristic can be DEFINER or INVOKER to specify the security context; that is, whether the routine executes using the privileges of the account named in the routine DEFINER clause or the user who invokes it. This account must have permission to access the database with which the routine is associated. The default value is DEFINER. As of MySQL 5.0.3, the user who invokes the routine must have the EXECUTE privilege for it, as must the DEFINER account if the routine executes in definer security context. The DEFINER clause specifies the MySQL account to be used when checking access privileges at routine execution time for routines that have the SQL SECURITY DEFINER characteristic. The DEFINER clause was added in MySQL 5.0.20. If a user value is given for the DEFINER clause, it should be a MySQL account specified as 'user_name'@'host_name' (the same format used in the GRANT statement), CURRENT_USER, or CURRENT_USER(). The default DEFINER value is the user who executes the CREATE PROCEDURE
or CREATE FUNCTION or statement. This is the same as specifying DEFINER = CURRENT_USER explicitly. If you specify the DEFINER clause, these rules determine the legal DEFINER user values:
If you do not have the SUPER privilege, the only legal user value is your own account, either specified literally or by using CURRENT_USER. You cannot set the definer to some other account. If you have the SUPER privilege, you can specify any syntactically legal account name. If the account does not actually exist, a warning is generated. Although it is possible to create a routine with a nonexistent DEFINER account, an error occurs at routine execution time if the SQL SECURITY value is DEFINER but the definer account does not exist.
For more information about stored routine security, see Section 17.5, Access Control for Stored Programs and Views. Within a stored routine that is defined with the SQL SECURITY DEFINER characteristic, CURRENT_USER returns the routine's DEFINER value. For information about user auditing within stored routines, see Section 5.5.8, Auditing MySQL Account Activity. Consider the following procedure, which displays a count of the number of MySQL accounts listed in the mysql.user table:
CREATE DEFINER = 'admin'@'localhost' PROCEDURE account_count() BEGIN SELECT 'Number of accounts:', COUNT(*) FROM mysql.user; END;
The procedure is assigned a DEFINER account of 'admin'@'localhost' no matter which user defines it. It executes with the privileges of that account no matter which user invokes it (because the default security characteristic is DEFINER). The procedure succeeds or fails depending on whether invoker has the EXECUTE privilege for it and 'admin'@'localhost' has the SELECT privilege for the mysql.user table. Now suppose that the procedure is defined with the SQL SECURITY INVOKER characteristic:
CREATE DEFINER = 'admin'@'localhost' PROCEDURE account_count() SQL SECURITY INVOKER BEGIN SELECT 'Number of accounts:', COUNT(*) FROM mysql.user; END;
The procedure still has a DEFINER of 'admin'@'localhost', but in this case, it executes with the privileges of the invoking user. Thus, the procedure succeeds or fails depending on whether the invoker has the EXECUTE privilege for it and the SELECT privilege for the mysql.user table.
As of MySQL 5.0.18, the handles the data type of a routine parameter, local routine variable created with DECLARE, or function return value as follows:

Assignments are checked for data type mismatches and overflow. Conversion and overflow problems result in warnings, or errors in strict SQL mode. Only scalar values can be assigned. For example, a statement such as SET x = (SELECT 1, 2) is invalid. For character data types, if there is a CHARACTER SET attribute in the declaration, the specified character set and its default collation are used. If there is no such attribute, as of MySQL 5.0.25, the database character set and collation that are in effect at the time the server loads the routine into the routine cache are used. (These are given by the values of the character_set_database and collation_database system variables.) If the database character set or collation change while the routine is in the cache, routine execution is unaffected by the change until the next time the server reloads the routine into the cache. The COLLATE attribute is not supported. (This includes use of BINARY, which in this context specifies the binary collation of the character set.)
Before MySQL 5.0.18, parameters, return values, and local variables are treated as items in expressions, and are subject to automatic (silent) conversion and truncation. Stored functions ignore the sql_mode setting.
CREATE TRIGGER Syntax CREATE [DEFINER = { user | CURRENT_USER }] TRIGGER trigger_name trigger_time trigger_event ON tbl_name FOR EACH ROW trigger_body
This statement creates a new trigger. A trigger is a named database object that is associated with a table, and that activates when a particular event occurs for the table. The trigger becomes associated with the table named tbl_name, which must refer to a permanent table. You cannot associate a trigger with a TEMPORARY table or a view. CREATE TRIGGER was added in MySQL 5.0.2. In MySQL 5.0 CREATE TRIGGER requires the SUPER privilege. The DEFINER clause determines the security context to be used when checking access privileges at trigger activation time. It was added in MySQL 5.0.17. See later in this section for more information.
trigger_time
is the trigger action time. It can be BEFORE or AFTER to indicate that the trigger activates before or after each row to be modified.
trigger_event
indicates the kind of statement that activates the trigger. The trigger_event can be one of the following:
INSERT:
The trigger is activated whenever a new row is inserted into the table; for example, through INSERT, LOAD DATA, and REPLACE statements. UPDATE: The trigger is activated whenever a row is modified; for example, through UPDATE statements. DELETE: The trigger is activated whenever a row is deleted from the table; for example, through DELETE and REPLACE statements. However, DROP TABLE and TRUNCATE TABLE statements on the table do not activate this trigger, because they do not use DELETE. See Section 12.1.21, TRUNCATE TABLE Syntax.
It is important to understand that the trigger_event does not represent a literal type of SQL statement that activates the trigger so much as it represents a type of table operation. For example, an INSERT trigger is activated by not only INSERT statements but also LOAD DATA statements because both statements insert rows into a table. A potentially confusing example of this is the INSERT INTO ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ... syntax: a BEFORE INSERT trigger will activate for every row, followed by either an AFTER INSERT trigger or both the BEFORE UPDATE and AFTER UPDATE triggers, depending on whether there was a duplicate key for the row. There cannot be two triggers for a given table that have the same trigger action time and event. For example, you cannot have two BEFORE UPDATE triggers for a table. But you can have a BEFORE UPDATE and a BEFORE INSERT trigger, or a BEFORE UPDATE and an AFTER UPDATE trigger.
trigger_body
is the statement to execute when the trigger activates. If you want to execute multiple statements, use the BEGIN ... END compound statement construct. This also enables you to use the same statements that are permissible within stored routines. See Section 12.7.1, BEGIN ... END Compound Statement Syntax. Some statements are not permitted in triggers; see Section E.1, Restrictions on Stored Routines and Triggers. You can refer to columns in the subject table (the table associated with the trigger) by using the aliases OLD and NEW. OLD.col_name refers to a column of an existing row before it is updated or deleted. NEW.col_name refers to the column of a new row to be inserted or an existing row after it is updated. MySQL stores the sql_mode system variable setting that is in effect at the time a trigger is created, and always executes the trigger with this setting in force, regardless of the current server SQL mode.
Note
Currently, cascaded foreign key actions do not activate triggers. The DEFINER clause specifies the MySQL account to be used when checking access privileges at trigger activation time. If a user value is given, it should be a MySQL account specified as 'user_name'@'host_name' (the same format used in the GRANT statement), CURRENT_USER, or
CURRENT_USER().
The default DEFINER value is the user who executes the CREATE TRIGGER statement. This is the same as specifying DEFINER = CURRENT_USER explicitly. If you specify the DEFINER clause, these rules determine the legal DEFINER user values:
If you do not have the SUPER privilege, the only legal user value is your own account, either specified literally or by using CURRENT_USER. You cannot set the definer to some other account. If you have the SUPER privilege, you can specify any syntactically legal account name. If the account does not actually exist, a warning is generated. Although it is possible to create a trigger with a nonexistent DEFINER account, it is not a good idea for such triggers to be activated until the account actually does exist. Otherwise, the behavior with respect to privilege checking is undefined.
Note: Because MySQL currently requires the SUPER privilege for the use of CREATE TRIGGER, only the second of the preceding rules applies. (MySQL 5.1.6 implements the TRIGGER privilege and requires that privilege for trigger creation, so at that point both rules come into play and SUPER is required only for specifying a DEFINER value other than your own account.) From MySQL 5.0.17 on, MySQL takes the DEFINER user into account when checking trigger privileges as follows:

At CREATE TRIGGER time, the user who issues the statement must have the SUPER privilege. At trigger activation time, privileges are checked against the DEFINER user. This user must have these privileges: o The SUPER privilege. o The SELECT privilege for the subject table if references to table columns occur using OLD.col_name or NEW.col_name in the trigger definition. o The UPDATE privilege for the subject table if table columns are targets of SET NEW.col_name = value assignments in the trigger definition. o Whatever other privileges normally are required for the statements executed by the trigger.
Before MySQL 5.0.17, DEFINER is not available and MySQL checks trigger privileges like this:

At CREATE TRIGGER time, the user who issues the statement must have the SUPER privilege. At trigger activation time, privileges are checked against the user whose actions cause the trigger to be activated. This user must have whatever privileges normally are required for the statements executed by the trigger.
For more information about trigger security, see Section 17.5, Access Control for Stored Programs and Views.
Within a trigger, the CURRENT_USER() function returns the account used to check privileges at trigger activation time. Consistent with the privilege-checking rules just given, CURRENT_USER() returns the DEFINER user from MySQL 5.0.17 on. Before 5.0.17, CURRENT_USER() returns the user whose actions caused the trigger to be activated. For information about user auditing within triggers, see Section 5.5.8, Auditing MySQL Account Activity. If you use LOCK TABLES to lock a table that has triggers, the tables used within the trigger are also locked, as described in Section 12.3.5.2, LOCK TABLES and Triggers.
Note
Before MySQL 5.0.10, triggers cannot contain direct references to tables by name. Beginning with MySQL 5.0.10, you can write triggers such as the one named testref shown in this example:
CREATE TABLE test1(a1 INT); CREATE TABLE test2(a2 INT); CREATE TABLE test3(a3 INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY); CREATE TABLE test4( a4 INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, b4 INT DEFAULT 0 ); delimiter | CREATE TRIGGER testref BEFORE INSERT ON test1 FOR EACH ROW BEGIN INSERT INTO test2 SET a2 = NEW.a1; DELETE FROM test3 WHERE a3 = NEW.a1; UPDATE test4 SET b4 = b4 + 1 WHERE a4 = NEW.a1; END; | delimiter ; INSERT INTO test3 (a3) VALUES (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL), (NULL); INSERT INTO test4 (a4) VALUES (0), (0), (0), (0), (0), (0), (0), (0), (0), (0);
Suppose that you insert the following values into table test1 as shown here:
mysql> INSERT INTO test1 VALUES -> (1), (3), (1), (7), (1), (8), (4), (4); Query OK, 8 rows affected (0.01 sec) Records: 8 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0
As a result, the data in the four tables will be as follows:

mysql> SELECT * FROM test1;
+------+ | a1 | +------+ | 1 | | 3 | | 1 | | 7 | | 1 | | 8 | | 4 | | 4 | +------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT * FROM test2; +------+ | a2 | +------+ | 1 | | 3 | | 1 | | 7 | | 1 | | 8 | | 4 | | 4 | +------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT * FROM test3; +----+ | a3 | +----+ | 2 | | 5 | | 6 | | 9 | | 10 | +----+ 5 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> SELECT * FROM test4; +----+------+ | a4 | b4 | +----+------+ | 1 | 3 | | 2 | 0 | | 3 | 1 | | 4 | 2 | | 5 | 0 | | 6 | 0 | | 7 | 1 | | 8 | 1 | | 9 | 0 | | 10 | 0 | +----+------+ 10 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Introduction To SQL

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Introduction To SQL

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Introduction to SQL

What Can SQL do?

SQL is a Standard - BUT....

Using SQL in Your Web Site

Keep in Mind That...

SQL is not case sensitive

Semicolon after SQL Statements?

SQL DML and DDL

The SQL SELECT Statement

Note: SQL is not case sensitive. SELECT is the same as select.

An SQL SELECT Example

The result-set will look like this:

LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen

FirstName Ola Tove Kari

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

SELECT DISTINCT Example

The result-set will look like this:

The WHERE Clause

WHERE Clause Example

The result-set will look like this:

Quotes Around Text Fields

For numeric values:

Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause

< >= <=

Less than Greater than or equal Less than or equal

Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=

The AND & OR Operators

AND Operator Example

Combining AND & OR

The ORDER BY Keyword

The result-set will look like this:

ORDER BY DESC Example

The result-set will look like this:

The INSERT INTO Statement

VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)

SQL INSERT INTO Example

The "Persons" table will now look like this:

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

The "Persons" table will now look like this:

The UPDATE Statement

SQL UPDATE Example

The "Persons" table:

The "Persons" table will now look like this:

SQL UPDATE Warning

UPDATE Persons SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes'

The "Persons" table would have looked like this:

The DELETE Statement

SQL DELETE Example

Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem

Kari Johan Jakob

Storgt 20 Bakken 2 Nissestien 67

Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes

The "Persons" table will now look like this:

Delete All Rows

The TOP Clause

SQL SELECT TOP Equivalent in MySQL and Oracle

SQL TOP Example

The result-set will look like this:

SQL TOP PERCENT Example

The result-set will look like this:

The LIKE Operator

LIKE Operator Example