Want to learn Advanced SQL Click this link

SQL Tutorial

SQL is a database computer language designed for the retrieval and management of data in relational database. SQL stands for Structured Query Language.

SQL Overview

SQL tutorial gives unique learning on Structured Query Language and it helps to make practice on SQL commands which provides immediate results. SQL is a language of database, it includes database creation, deletion, fetching rows and modifying rows etc.

SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard but there are many different versions of the SQL language.

What is SQL?

SQL is structured Query Language which is a computer language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data stored in relational database.

SQL is the standard language for Relation Database System. All relational database management systems like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, postgres and SQL Server uses SQL as standard database language.

Also they are using different dialects, Such as:

MS SQL Server using T-SQL,
Oracle using PL/SQL,
MS Access version of SQL is called JET SQL (native format )etc

Why SQL?

Allow users to access data in relational database management systems.
Allow users to describe the data.
Allow users to define the data in database and manipulate that data.
Allow to embed within other languages using SQL modules, libraries & pre-compilers.
Allow users to create and drop databases and tables.
Allow users to create view, stored procedure, functions in a database.
Allow users to set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

History:

1970 -- Dr. E.F. "Ted" of IBM is known as the father of relational databases. He described a relational model for databases.
1974 -- Structured Query Language appeared.
1978 -- IBM worked to develop Codd's ideas and released a product named System/R.
1986 -- IBM developed the first prototype of relational database and standardized by ANSI. The first relational database was released by Relational Software and its later becoming Oracle.

SQL Process:

When you are executing an SQL command for any RDBMS, the system determines the best way to carry out your request and SQL engine figures out how to interpret the task.

There are various components included in the process. These components are Query Dispatcher, Optimization engines, Classic Query Engine and SQL query engine etc. Classic query engine handles all non-SQL queries but SQL query engine won't handle logical files.

Following is a simple digram showing SQL Architecture:

SQL Commands:

The standard SQL commands to interact with relational databases are CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and DROP. These commands can be classified into groups based on their nature:

DDL - Data Definition Language:

Command	Description
CREATE	Creates a new table, a view of a table, or other object in database
ALTER	Modifies an existing database object, such as a table.
DROP	Deletes an entire table, a view of a table or other object in the database.

DML - Data Manipulation Language:

Command	Description
INSERT	Creates a record
UPDATE	Modifies records
DELETE	Deletes records

DCL - Data Control Language:

Command	Description
GRANT	Gives a privilege to user
REVOKE	Takes back privileges granted from user

DQL - Data Query Language:

Command	Description
SELECT	Retrieves certain records from one or more tables

SQL - RDBMS Concepts

What is RDBMS?

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.

A Relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd.

What is table ?

The data in RDBMS is stored in database objects called tables. The table is a collection of related data entries and it consists of columns and rows.

Remember, a table is the most common and simplest form of data storage in a relational database. Following is the example of a CUSTOMERS table:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

What is field?

Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the CUSTOMERS table consist of ID, NAME, AGE, ADDRESS and SALARY.

A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain specific information about every record in the table.

What is record, or row?

A record, also called a row of data, is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example there are 7 records in the above CUSTOMERS table. Following is a single row of data or record in the CUSTOMERS table:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

A record is a horizontal entity in a table.

What is column?

A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.

For example, a column in the CUSTOMERS table is ADDRESS which represents location description and would consist of the following:

+-----------+
| ADDRESS   |
+-----------+
| Ahmedabad |
| Delhi     |
| Kota      |
| Mumbai    |
| Bhopal    |
| MP        |
| Indore    |
+----+------+

What is NULL value?

A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank which means A field with a NULL value is a field with no value.

It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has been left blank during record creation.

SQL Constraints:

Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on table. These are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database.

Contraints could be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied only to one column where as table level constraints are applied to the whole table.

Following are commonly used constraints available in SQL:

NOT NULL Constraint: Ensures that a column cannot have NULL value.
DEFAULT Constraint : Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Constraint: Ensures that all values in a column are different.
PRIMARY Key: Uniquely identified each rows/records in a database table.
FOREIGN Key: Uniquely identified a rows/records in any another database table.
CHECK Constraint: The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain conditions.
INDEX: Use to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

Data Integrity:

The following categories of the data integrity exist with each RDBMS:

Entity Integrity : There are no duplicate rows in a table.
Domain Integrity : Enforces valid entries for a given column by restricting the type, the format, or the range of values.
Referential integrity : Rows cannot be deleted, which are used by other records.
User-Defined Integrity : Enforces some specific business rules that do not fall into entity, domain, or referential integrity.

Database Normalization

Database normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are two reasons of the normalization process:

Eliminating redundant data, for example, storing the same data in more than one tables.
Ensuring data dependencies make sense.

Both of these are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensure that data is logically stored. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that help guide you in creating a good database structure.

Normalization guidelines are divided into normal forms; think of form as the format or the way a database structure is laid out. The aim of normal forms is to organize the database structure so that it complies with the rules of first normal form, then second normal form, and finally third normal form.

It's your choice to take it further and go to fourth normal form, fifth normal form, and so on, but generally speaking, third normal form is enough.

First Normal Form (1NF)
Second Normal Form (2NF)
Third Normal Form (3NF)

SQL - RDBMS Databases

There are many popular RDBMS available to work with. This tutorial gives a brief overview of few most popular RDBMS. This would help you to compare their basic features:

MySQL

MySQL is open source SQL database, which is developed by Swedish company MySQL AB. MySQL is pronounced "my ess-que-ell," in contrast with SQL, pronounced "sequel."

MySQL is supporting many different platforms including Microsoft Windows, the major Linux distributions, UNIX, and Mac OS X.

MySQL has free and paid versions, depending on its usage (non-commercial/commercial) and features. MySQL comes with a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user, and robust SQL database server.

History:
- Development of MySQL by Michael Widenius & David Axmark beginning in 1994.
- First internal release on 23 May 1995.
- Windows version was released on 8 January 1998 for Windows 95 and NT.
- Version 3.23: beta from June 2000, production release January 2001.
- Version 4.0: beta from August 2002, production release March 2003 (unions).
- Version 4.01: beta from August 2003, Jyoti adopts MySQL for database tracking.
- Version 4.1: beta from June 2004, production release October 2004.
- Version 5.0: beta from March 2005, production release October 2005.
- Sun Microsystems acquired MySQL AB on 26 February 2008.
- Version 5.1: production release 27 November 2008.
Features:
- High Performance.
- High Availability.
- Scalability and Flexibility Run anything.
- Robust Transactional Support.
- Web and Data Warehouse Strengths.
- Strong Data Protection.
- Comprehensive Application Development.
- Management Ease.
- Open Source Freedom and 24 x 7 Support.
- Lowest Total Cost of Ownership.
MS SQL Server

MS SQL Server is a Relational Database Management System developed by Microsoft Inc. Its primary query languages are:
- T-SQL.
- ANSI SQL.
History:
- 1987 - Sybase releases SQL Server for UNIX.
- 1988 - Microsoft, Sybase, and Aston-Tate port SQL Server to OS/2.
- 1989 - Microsoft, Sybase, and Aston-Tate release SQL Server 1.0 for OS/2.
- 1990 - SQL Server 1.1 is released with support for Windows 3.0 clients.
- Aston-Tate drops out of SQL Server development.
- 2000 - Microsoft releases SQL Server 2000.
- 2001 - Microsoft releases XML for SQL Server Web Release 1 (download).
- 2002 - Microsoft releases SQLXML 2.0 (renamed from XML for SQL Server).
- 2002 - Microsoft releases SQLXML 3.0.
- 2005 - Microsoft releases SQL Server 2005 on November 7th, 2005.
Features:
- High Performance.
- High Availability.
- Database mirroring.
- Database snapshots.
- CLR integration.
- Service Broker.
- DDL triggers.
- Ranking functions.
- Row version-based isolation levels.
- XML integration.
- TRY...CATCH.
- Database Mail.
ORACLE

It is very large and multi-user database management system. Oracle is a relational database management system developed by 'Oracle Corporation'.

Oracle works to efficiently manage its resource, a database of information, among the multiple clients requesting and sending data in the network.

It is an excellent database server choice for client/server computing. Oracle supports all major operating systems for both clients and servers, including MSDOS, NetWare, UnixWare, OS/2 and most UNIX flavors.

History:

Oracle began in 1977 and celebrating its 32 wonderful years in the industry (from 1977 to 2009).
- 1977 - Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development Laboratories to undertake development work.
- 1979 - Version 2.0 of Oracle was released and it became first commercial relational database and first SQL database. The company changed its name to Relational Software Inc. (RSI).
- 1981 - RSI started developing tools for Oracle.
- 1982 - RSI was renamed to Oracle Corporation.
- 1983 - Oracle released version 3.0, rewritten in C language and ran on multiple platforms.
- 1984 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control - multi-version read consistency etc.
- 1985 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control - multi-version read consistency etc.
- 2007 - Oracle has released Oracle11g. The new version focused on better partitioning, easy migration etc.
Features:
- Concurrency
- Concurrency
- Read Consistency
- Locking Mechanisms
- Quiesce Database
- Portability
- Self managing database
- SQL*Plus
- ASM
- Scheduler
- Resource Manager
- Data Warehousing
- Materialized views
- Bitmap indexes
- Table compression
- Parallel Execution
- Analytic SQL
- Data mining
- Partitioning
MS- ACCESS

This is one of the most popular Microsoft products. Microsoft Access is entry-level database management software. MS Access database is not only an inexpensive but also powerful database for small-scale projects.

MS Access uses the Jet database engine which utilizes a specific SQL language dialect (sometimes referred to as Jet SQL).

MS Access comes with the professional edition of MS Office package. MS Access has easy to use intuitive graphical interface.
- 1992 - Access version 1.0 was released.
- 1993 - Access 1.1 release to improve compatibility with include the Access Basic programming language.
- The most significant transition was from the Access 97 to the Access 2000
- 2007 - Access 2007, a new database format was introduced ACCDB which supports complex data types such as multi valued and attachment fields.
Features:

Users can create tables, queries, forms and reports, and connect them together with macros.
The import and export of data to many formats including Excel, Outlook, ASCII, dBase, Paradox, FoxPro, SQL Server, Oracle, ODBC, etc.
There is also the Jet Database format (MDB or ACCDB in Access 2007) which can contain the application and data in one file. This makes it very convenient to distribute the entire application to another user, who can run it in disconnected environments.
Microsoft Access offers parameterized queries. These queries and Access tables can be referenced from other programs like VB6 and .NET through DAO or ADO.
The desktop editions of Microsoft SQL Server can be used with Access as an alternative to the Jet Database Engine.

Microsoft Access is a file server-based database. Unlike client-server relational database management systems (RDBMS), Microsoft Access does not implement database triggers, stored procedures, or transaction logging.

SQL - Syntax

SQL is followed by unique set of rules and guidelines called Syntax. This tutorial gives you a quick start with SQL by listing all the basic SQL Syntax:

All the SQL statements start with any of the keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER, DROP, CREATE, USE, SHOW and all the statements end with a semicolon (;).

Important point to be noted is that SQL is case insensitive which means SELECT and select have same meaning in SQL statements but MySQL make difference in table names. So if you are working with MySQL then you need to give table names as they exist in the database.

SQL SELECT Statement:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name;

SQL DISTINCT Clause:

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name;

SQL WHERE Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION;

SQL AND/OR Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION-1 {AND|OR} CONDITION-2;

SQL IN Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  column_name IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);

SQL BETWEEN Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  column_name BETWEEN val-1 AND val-2;

SQL Like Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  column_name LIKE { PATTERN };

SQL ORDER BY Clause:

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION
ORDER BY column_name {ASC|DESC};

SQL GROUP BY Clause:

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name;

SQL COUNT Clause:

SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION;

SQL HAVING Clause:

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM   table_name
WHERE  CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING (arithematic function condition);

SQL CREATE TABLE Statement:

CREATE TABLE table_name(
column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
.....
columnN datatype,
PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);

SQL DROP TABLE Statement:

DROP TABLE table_name;

SQL CREATE INDEX Statement :

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name ( column1, column2,...columnN);

SQL DROP INDEX Statement :

ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP INDEX index_name;

SQL DESC Statement :

DESC table_name;

SQL TRUNCATE TABLE Statement:

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement:

ALTER TABLE table_name {ADD|DROP|MODIFY} column_name {data_ype};

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement (Rename) :

ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME TO new_table_name;

SQL INSERT INTO Statement:

INSERT INTO table_name( column1, column2....columnN)
VALUES ( value1, value2....valueN);

SQL UPDATE Statement:

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2....columnN=valueN
[ WHERE  CONDITION ];

SQL DELETE Statement:

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE  {CONDITION};

SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement:

CREATE DATABASE database_name;

SQL DROP DATABASE Statement:

DROP DATABASE database_name;

SQL USE Statement:

USE DATABASE database_name;

SQL COMMIT Statement:

COMMIT;

SQL ROLLBACK Statement:

ROLLBACK;

SQL - Data Types

SQL data type is an attribute that specifies type of data of any object. Each column, variable and expression has related data type in SQL.

You would use these data types while creating your tables. You would choose a particular data type for a table column based on your requirement.

SQL Server offers six categories of data types for your use:

Exact Numeric Data Types:

DATA TYPE	FROM	TO
bigint	-9,223,372,036,854,775,808	9,223,372,036,854,775,807
int	-2,147,483,648	2,147,483,647
smallint	-32,768	32,767
tinyint	0	255
bit	0	1
decimal	-10^38 +1	10^38 .1
numeric	-10^38 +1	10^38 .1
money	-922,337,203,685,477.5808	+922,337,203,685,477.5807
smallmoney	-214,748.3648	+214,748.3647

Approximate Numeric Data Types:

DATA TYPE	FROM	TO
float	-1.79E + 308	1.79E + 308
real	-3.40E + 38	3.40E + 38

Date and Time Data Types:

DATA TYPE	FROM	TO
datetime	Jan 1, 1753	Dec 31, 9999
smalldatetime	Jan 1, 1900	Jun 6, 2079
date	Stores a date like June 30, 1991
time	Stores a time of day like 12:30 P.M.

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

Character Strings Data Types:

DATA TYPE	FROM	TO
char	char	Maximum length of 8,000 characters.( Fixed length non-Unicode characters)
varchar	varchar	Maximum of 8,000 characters.(Variable-length non-Unicode data).
varchar(max)	varchar(max)	Maximum length of 231characters, Variable-length non-Unicode data (SQL Server 2005 only).
text	text	Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647 characters.

Unicode Character Strings Data Types:

DATA TYPE	Description
nchar	Maximum length of 4,000 characters.( Fixed length Unicode)
nvarchar	Maximum length of 4,000 characters.(Variable length Unicode)
nvarchar(max)	Maximum length of 231characters (SQL Server 2005 only).( Variable length Unicode)
ntext	Maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. ( Variable length Unicode )

Binary Data Types:

DATA TYPE	Description
binary	Maximum length of 8,000 bytes(Fixed-length binary data )
varbinary	Maximum length of 8,000 bytes.(Variable length binary data)
varbinary(max)	Maximum length of 231 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). ( Variable length Binary data)
image	Maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. ( Variable length Binary Data)

Misc Data Types:

DATA TYPE	Description
sql_variant	Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext, and timestamp.
timestamp	Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets updated
uniqueidentifier	Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)
xml	Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (SQL Server 2005 only).
cursor	Reference to a cursor object
table	Stores a result set for later processing

SQL - Operator

What is an Operator in SQL?

An operator is a reserved word or a character used primarily in an SQL statement's WHERE clause to perform operation(s), such as comparisons and arithmetic operations.

Operators are used to specify conditions in an SQL statement and to serve as conjunctions for multiple conditions in a statement.

Arithmetic operators
Comparison operators
Logical operators
Operators used to negate conditions

SQL Arithmetic Operators:

Assume variable a holds 10 and variable b holds 20 then:

Show Examples

Operator	Description	Example
+	Addition - Adds values on either side of the operator	a + b will give 30
-	Subtraction - Subtracts right hand operand from left hand operand	a - b will give -10
*	Multiplication - Multiplies values on either side of the operator	a * b will give 200
/	Division - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand	b / a will give 2
%	Modulus - Divides left hand operand by right hand operand and returns remainder	b % a will give 0

SQL Comparison Operators:

Assume variable a holds 10 and variable b holds 20 then:

Show Examples

Operator	Description	Example
=	Checks if the value of two operands are equal or not, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a = b) is not true.
!=	Checks if the value of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then condition becomes true.	(a != b) is true.
<>	Checks if the value of two operands are equal or not, if values are not equal then condition becomes true.	(a <> b) is true.
>	Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a > b) is not true.
<	Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a < b) is true.
>=	Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a >= b) is not true.
<=	Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a <= b) is true.
!<	Checks if the value of left operand is not less than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a !< b) is false.
!>	Checks if the value of left operand is not greater than the value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.	(a !> b) is true.

SQL Logical Operators:

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

Show Examples

Operator	Description
ALL	The ALL operator is used to compare a value to all values in another value set.
AND	The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.
ANY	The ANY operator is used to compare a value to any applicable value in the list according to the condition.
BETWEEN	The BETWEEN operator is used to search for values that are within a set of values, given the minimum value and the maximum value.
EXISTS	The EXISTS operator is used to search for the presence of a row in a specified table that meets certain criteria.
IN	The IN operator is used to compare a value to a list of literal values that have been specified.
LIKE	The LIKE operator is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard operators.
NOT	The NOT operator reverses the meaning of the logical operator with which it is used. Eg. NOT EXISTS, NOT BETWEEN, NOT IN etc. This is negate operator.
OR	The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.
IS NULL	The NULL operator is used to compare a value with a NULL value.
UNIQUE	The UNIQUE operator searches every row of a specified table for uniqueness (no duplicates).

SQL - Expressions

An expression is a combination of one or more values, operators, and SQL functions that evaluate to a value.

SQL EXPRESSIONs are like formulas and they are written in query language. You can also use them to query the database for specific set of data.

Syntax:

Consider the basic syntax of the SELECT statement as follows:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name 
WHERE [CONDITION|EXPRESSION];

There are different types of SQL expression, which are mentioned below:

SQL - Boolean Expressions:

SQL Boolean Expressions fetch the data on the basis of matching single value. Following is the syntax:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name 
WHERE SINGLE VALUE MATCHTING EXPRESSION;

Consider CUSTOMERS table has following records:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Here is simple examples showing usage of SQL Boolean Expressions:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE SALARY = 10000;
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
| ID | NAME  | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY   |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
|  7 | Muffy |  24 | Indore  | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

SQL - Numeric Expression:

This expression is used to perform any mathematical operation in any query. Following is the syntax:

SELECT numerical_expression as  OPERATION_NAME
[FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION] ;

Here numerical_expression is used for mathematical expression or any formula. Following is a simple examples showing usage of SQL Numeric Expressions:

SQL> SELECT (15 + 6) AS ADDITION
+----------+
| ADDITION |
+----------+
|       21 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

There are several built-in functions like avg(), sum(), count() etc.to perform what is known as aggregate data calculations against a table or a specific table column.

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) AS "RECORDS" FROM CUSTOMERS; 
+---------+
| RECORDS |
+---------+
|       7 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

SQL - Date Expressions:

Date Expressions return current system date and time values:

SQL>  SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
+---------------------+
| Current_Timestamp   |
+---------------------+
| 2009-11-12 06:40:23 |
+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Another date expression is as follows:

SQL>  SELECT  GETDATE();;
+-------------------------+
| GETDATE                 |
+-------------------------+
| 2009-10-22 12:07:18.140 |
+-------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 se

SQL - DROP or DELETE Database

The SQL DROP DATABASE statement is used to drop any existing database in SQL schema.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of DROP DATABASE statement is as follows:

DROP DATABASE DatabaseName;

Always database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example:

If you want to delete an existing database <testDB>, then DROP DATABASE statement would be as follows:

SQL> DROP DATABASE testDB;

NOTE: Be careful before using this operation because by deleting an existing database would result in loss of complete information stored in the database.

Make sure you has admin previledge before dropping any database. Once a database is dropped, you can check it in the list of databases as follows:

SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD             |
| ONLY4PROGRAMMERS   |
| mysql              |
| orig               |
| test               |
+--------------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SQL - CREATE Database

The SQL CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create new SQL database.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of CREATE DATABASE statement is as follows:

CREATE DATABASE DatabaseName;

Always database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example:

If you want to create new database <testDB>, then CREATE DATABASE statement would be as follows:

SQL> CREATE DATABASE testDB;

Make sure you has admin previledge before creating any database. Once a database is created, you can check it in the list of databases as follows:

SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD             |
| ONLY4PROGRAMMERS || mysql              |
| orig               |
| test               |
| testDB             |
+--------------------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SQL - DROP or DELETE Database

The SQL DROP DATABASE statement is used to drop any existing database in SQL schema.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of DROP DATABASE statement is as follows:

DROP DATABASE DatabaseName;

Always database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example:

If you want to delete an existing database <testDB>, then DROP DATABASE statement would be as follows:

SQL> DROP DATABASE testDB;

NOTE: Be careful before using this operation because by deleting an existing database would result in loss of complete information stored in the database.

Make sure you has admin previledge before dropping any database. Once a database is dropped, you can check it in the list of databases as follows:

SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD             |
| ONLY4PROGRAMMERS   |
| mysql              |
| orig               |
| test               |
+--------------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

SQL - SELECT Database, USE Statement

When you have multiple databases in your SQL Schema, then before starting your operation, you would need to select a database where all the operations would be performed.

The SQL USE statement is used to select any existing database in SQL schema.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of USE statement is as follows:

USE DatabaseName;

Always database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example:

You can check available databases as follows:

SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database           |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD             |
| ONLY4PROGRAMMERS   |
| mysql              |
| orig               |
| test               |
+--------------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now if you want to work with AMROOD database then you can execute following SQL command and start working with AMROOD database:

SQL> USE AMROOD;

SQL - CREATE Table

Creating a basic table involves naming the table and defining its columns and each column's data type.

The SQL CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a new table.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of CREATE TABLE statement is as follows:

CREATE TABLE table_name(
   column1 datatype,
   column2 datatype,
   column3 datatype,
   .....
   columnN datatype,
   PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);

CREATE TABLE is the keyword telling the database system what you want to do.in this case, you want to create a new table. The unique name or identifier for the table follows the CREATE TABLE statement.

Then in brackets comes the list defining each column in the table and what sort of data type it is. The syntax becomes clearer with an example below.

Example:

Following is an example which creates a CUSTOMERS table with ID as primary key and NOT NULL are the constraints showing that these fileds can not be NULL while creating records in this table:

SQL> CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
   ID   INT              NOT NULL,
   NAME VARCHAR (20)     NOT NULL,
   AGE  INT              NOT NULL,
   ADDRESS  CHAR (25) ,
   SALARY   DECIMAL (18, 2),       
   PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

You can verify if your table has been created successfully by looking at the message displayed by the SQL server otherwise you can use DESC command as follows:

SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field   | Type          | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| ID      | int(11)       | NO   | PRI |         |       |
| NAME    | varchar(20)   | NO   |     |         |       |
| AGE     | int(11)       | NO   |     |         |       |
| ADDRESS | char(25)      | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| SALARY  | decimal(18,2) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now you have CUSTOMERS table available in your database which you can use to store required information related to customers.

SQL - DROP or DELETE Table

The SQL DROP TABLE statement is used to remove a table definition and all data, indexes, triggers, constraints, and permission specifications for that table.

NOTE: You have to be careful while using this command because once a table is deleted then all the information available in the table would also be lost forever.

Syntax:

Basic syntax of DROP TABLE statement is as follows:

DROP TABLE table_name;

Example:

Let us first verify CUSTOMERS table, and then we would delete it from the database:

SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field   | Type          | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| ID      | int(11)       | NO   | PRI |         |       |
| NAME    | varchar(20)   | NO   |     |         |       |
| AGE     | int(11)       | NO   |     |         |       |
| ADDRESS | char(25)      | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
| SALARY  | decimal(18,2) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

This means CUSTOMERS table is available in the database, so let us drop it as follows:

SQL> DROP TABLE CUSTOMERS;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

Now if you would try DESC command then you would get error as follows:

SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'TEST.CUSTOMERS' doesn't exist

Here TEST is database name which we are using for our examples.

SQL - INSERT Query

The SQL INSERT INTO Statement is used to add new rows of data to a table in the database.

Syntax:

There are two basic syntax of INSERT INTO statement is as follows:

INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME (column1, column2, column3,...columnN)]  
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...valueN);

Here column1, column2,...columnN are the names of the columns in the table into which you want to insert data.

You may not need to specify the column(s) name in the SQL query if you are adding values for all the columns of the table. But make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table. The SQL INSERT INTO syntax would be as follows:

INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...valueN);

Example:

Following statements would create six records in CUSTOMERS table:

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (1, 'Ramesh', 32, 'Ahmedabad', 2000.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (2, 'Khilan', 25, 'Delhi', 1500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (3, 'kaushik', 23, 'Kota', 2000.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (4, 'Chaitali', 25, 'Mumbai', 6500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (5, 'Hardik', 27, 'Bhopal', 8500.00 );


INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (6, 'Komal', 22, 'MP', 4500.00 );

You can create a record in CUSTOMERS table using second syntax as follows:

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS 
VALUES (7, 'Muffy', 24, 'Indore', 10000.00 );

All the above statement would product following records in CUSTOMERS table:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Populate one table using another table:

You can populate data into a table through select statement over another table provided another table has a set of fields which are required to populate first table. Here is the syntax:

INSERT INTO first_table_name [(column1, column2, ... columnN)] 
   SELECT column1, column2, ...columnN 
   FROM second_table_name
   [WHERE condition];

SQL - SELECT Query

SQL SELECT Statement is used to fetch the data from a database table which returns data in the form of result table. These result tables are called result-sets.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of SELECT statement is as follows:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN FROM table_name;

Here column1, column2...are the fields of a table whose values you want to fetch. If you want to fetch all the fields available in the field then you can use following syntax:

SELECT * FROM table_name;

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would fetch ID, Name and Salary fields of the customers available in CUSTOMERS table:

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | SALARY   |
+----+----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+

If you want to fetch all the fields of CUSTOMERS table then use the following query:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

SQL - WHERE Clause

The SQL WHERE clause is used to specify a condition while fetching the data from single table or joining with multiple table.

If the given condition is satisfied then only it returns specific value from the table. You would use WHERE clause to filter the records and fetching only necessary records.

The WHERE clause not only used in SELECT statement, but it is also used in UPDATE, DELETE statement etc. which we would examine in subsequent chapters.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of SELECT statement with WHERE clause is as follows:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would fetch ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table where salary is greater than 2000:

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | SALARY   |
+----+----------+----------+
|  4 | Chaitali |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+

Following is an example which would fetch ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table for a customer with name Hardik. Here it is important to note that all the strings should be given inside single quotes ('') where as numeric values should be given without any quote as in above example:

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE NAME = 'Hardik';

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | SALARY   |
+----+----------+----------+
|  5 | Hardik   |  8500.00 |
+----+----------+----------+

SQL - AND and OR Conjunctive Operators

The SQL AND and OR operators are used to combile multiple conditions to narrow data in an SQL statement. These two operators are called conjunctive operators.

These operators provide a means to make multiple comparisons with different operators in the same SQL statement.

The AND Operator:

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

Syntax:

The basic syntax of AND operator with WHERE clause is as follows:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] AND [condition2]...AND [conditionN];

You can combine N number of conditions using AND operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL statement, whether it be a transaction or query, all conditions separated by the AND must be TRUE.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would fetch ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table where salary is greater than 2000 AND age is less tan 25 years:

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 AND age < 25;

This would produce following result:

+----+-------+----------+
| ID | NAME  | SALARY   |
+----+-------+----------+
|  6 | Komal |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+----------+

The OR Operator:

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

Syntax:

The basic syntax of OR operator with WHERE clause is as follows:

SELECT column1, column2, columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] OR [condition2]...OR [conditionN]

You can combine N number of conditions using OR operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL statement, whether it be a transaction or query, only any ONE of the conditions separated by the OR must be TRUE.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would fetch ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table where salary is greater than 2000 OR age is less tan 25 years:

SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY 
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 OR age < 25;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | SALARY   |
+----+----------+----------+
|  3 | kaushik  |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+

SQL - UPDATE Query

The SQL UPDATE Query is used to modify the existing records in a table.

You can use WHERE clause with UPDATE query to update selected rows otherwise all the rows would be effected.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of UPDATE query with WHERE clause is as follows:

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2...., columnN = valueN
WHERE [condition];

You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would update ADDRESS for a customer whose ID is 6:

SQL> UPDATE CUSTOMERS
SET ADDRESS = 'Pune'
WHERE ID = 6;

Now CUSTOMERS table would have following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | Pune      |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

If you want to modify all ADDRESS and SALARY column values in CUSTOMERS table, you do not need to use WHERE clause and UPDATE query would be as follows:

SQL> UPDATE CUSTOMERS
SET ADDRESS = 'Pune', SALARY = 1000.00;

Now CUSTOMERS table would have following records:

+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY  |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Pune    | 1000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+

SQL - DELETE Query

The SQL DELETE Query is used to delete the existing records from a table.

You can use WHERE clause with DELETE query to delete selected rows, otherwise all the records would be deleted.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of DELETE query with WHERE clause is as follows:

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE [condition];

You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would DELETE a customer whose ID is 6:

SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE ID = 6;

Now CUSTOMERS table would have following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

If you want to DELETE all the records from CUSTOMERS table, you do not need to use WHERE clause and DELETE query would be as follows:

SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS;

Now CUSTOMERS table would not have any record.

SQL - LIKE Clause

The SQL LIKE clause is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard operators. There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

The percent sign (%)
The underscore (_)

The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters. The underscore represents a single number or character. The symbols can be used in combinations.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of % and _ is as follows:

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX%'

or 

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '%XXXX%'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX_'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX_'

You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators. Here XXXX could be any numberic or string value.

Example:

Here are number of examples showing WHERE part having different LIKE clause with '%' and '_' operators:

Statement	Description
WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%'	Finds any values that start with 200
WHERE SALARY LIKE '%200%'	Finds any values that have 200 in any position
WHERE SALARY LIKE '_00%'	Finds any values that have 00 in the second and third positions
WHERE SALARY LIKE '2_%_%'	Finds any values that start with 2 and are at least 3 characters in length
WHERE SALARY LIKE '%2'	Finds any values that end with 2
WHERE SALARY LIKE '_2%3'	Finds any values that have a 2 in the second position and end with a 3
WHERE SALARY LIKE '2___3'	Finds any values in a five-digit number that start with 2 and end with 3

Let us take a real example, consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would display all the records from CUSTOMERS table where SALARY starts with 200:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%';

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

SQL - TOP, LIMIT or ROWNUM Clause

The SQL TOP clause is used to fetch a TOP N number or X percent records from a table.

Note: All the databases do not support TOP clause. For example MySQL supports LIMIT clause to fetch limited number of records and Oracle uses ROWNUM to fetch limited number of records.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of TOP clause with SELECT statement would be as follows:

SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example on SQL server which would fetch top 3 records from CUSTOMERS table:

SQL> SELECT TOP 3 * FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce following result:

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME    | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY  |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
|  1 | Ramesh  |  32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan  |  25 | Delhi     | 1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik |  23 | Kota      | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+

If you are using MySQL server then, here is equivalent example:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
LIMIT 3;

This would produce following result:

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME    | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY  |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
|  1 | Ramesh  |  32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan  |  25 | Delhi     | 1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik |  23 | Kota      | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+

If you are using Oracle server then, here is equivalent example:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

This would produce following result:

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME    | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY  |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
|  1 | Ramesh  |  32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan  |  25 | Delhi     | 1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik |  23 | Kota      | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+

SQL - ORDER BY Clause

The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more columns. Some database sorts query results in ascending order by default.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of ORDER BY clause is as follows:

SELECT column-list 
FROM table_name 
[WHERE condition] 
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];

You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure whatever column you are using to sort, that column should be in column-list.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would sort the result in ascending order by NAME and SALARY:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY NAME, SALARY;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would sort the result in descending order by NAME:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY NAME DESC;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

SQL - Group By

The SQL GROUP BY clause is used in collaboration with the SELECT statement to arrange identical data into groups.

The GROUP BY clause follows the WHERE clause in a SELECT statement and precedes the ORDER BY clause.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of GROUP BY clause is given below. The GROUP BY clause must follow the conditions in the WHERE clause and must precede the ORDER BY clause if one is used.

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
WHERE [ conditions ]
GROUP BY column1, column2
ORDER BY column1, column2

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

If you want to know the total amount of salary on each customer, then GROUP BY query would be as follows:

SQL> SELECT NAME, SUM(SALARY) FROM CUSTOMERS
     GROUP BY NAME;

This would produce following result:

+----------+-------------+
| NAME     | SUM(SALARY) |
+----------+-------------+
| Chaitali |     6500.00 |
| Hardik   |     8500.00 |
| kaushik  |     2000.00 |
| Khilan   |     1500.00 |
| Komal    |     4500.00 |
| Muffy    |    10000.00 |
| Ramesh   |     2000.00 |
+----------+-------------+

Now let us has following table where CUSTOMERS table has following records with duplicate names:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Ramesh   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | kaushik  |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Now again, if you want to know the total amount of salary on each customer, then GROUP BY query would be as follows:

SQL> SELECT NAME, SUM(SALARY) FROM CUSTOMERS
     GROUP BY NAME;

This would produce following result:

+---------+-------------+
| NAME    | SUM(SALARY) |
+---------+-------------+
| Hardik  |     8500.00 |
| kaushik |     8500.00 |
| Komal   |     4500.00 |
| Muffy   |    10000.00 |
| Ramesh  |     3500.00 |
+---------+-------------+

SQL - Distinct Keyword

The SQL DISTINCT keyword is used in conjunction with SELECT statement to eliminate all the duplicate records and fetching only unique records.

There may be a situation when you have multiple duplicate records in a table. While fetching such records, it makes more sense to fetch only unique records instead of fetching duplicate records.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of DISTINCT keyword to eliminate duplicate records is as follows:

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2,.....columnN 
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

First let us see how the following SELECT query returns duplicate salary records:

SQL> SELECT SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY SALARY;

This would produce following result where salary 2000 is coming twice which is a duplicate record from the original table.

+----------+
| SALARY   |
+----------+
|  1500.00 |
|  2000.00 |
|  2000.00 |
|  4500.00 |
|  6500.00 |
|  8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+

Now let us use DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT query and see the result:

SQL> SELECT DISTINCT SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY SALARY;

This would produce following result where we do not have any duplicate entry:

+----------+
| SALARY   |
+----------+
|  1500.00 |
|  2000.00 |
|  4500.00 |
|  6500.00 |
|  8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+

SQL - SORTING Results

The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or more columns. Some database sorts query results in ascending order by default.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of ORDER BY clause which would be used to sort result in ascending or descending order is as follows:

SELECT column-list 
FROM table_name 
[WHERE condition] 
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];

You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure whatever column you are using to sort, that column should be in column-list.

Example:

Consider CUSTOMERS table is having following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would sort the result in ascending order by NAME and SALARY:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY NAME, SALARY;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example which would sort the result in descending order by NAME:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
     ORDER BY NAME DESC;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

To fetch the rows with own preferred order, the SELECT query would as follows:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
    ORDER BY (CASE ADDRESS
    WHEN 'DELHI' 	 THEN 1
    WHEN 'BHOPAL' 	 THEN 2
    WHEN 'KOTA' 	 THEN 3
    WHEN 'AHMADABAD' THEN 4
    WHEN 'MP' 	THEN 5
    ELSE 100 END) ASC, ADDRESS DESC;

This would produce following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

This will sort customers by ADDRESS in your ownoOrder of preference first and in a natural order for the remaining addresses. Also remaining Addresses will be sorted in the reverse alpha order.

Basic SQL

SQL Tutorial

SQL Overview

What is SQL?

Why SQL?

History:

SQL Process:

SQL Commands:

DDL - Data Definition Language:

DML - Data Manipulation Language:

DCL - Data Control Language:

DQL - Data Query Language:

SQL - RDBMS Concepts

What is RDBMS?

What is table ?

What is field?

What is record, or row?

What is column?

What is NULL value?

SQL Constraints:

Data Integrity:

Database Normalization

SQL - RDBMS Databases

MySQL

History:

Features:

MS SQL Server

History:

Features:

ORACLE

History:

Features:

MS- ACCESS

Features:

SQL - Syntax

SQL SELECT Statement:

SQL DISTINCT Clause:

SQL WHERE Clause:

SQL AND/OR Clause:

SQL IN Clause:

SQL BETWEEN Clause:

SQL Like Clause:

SQL ORDER BY Clause:

SQL GROUP BY Clause:

SQL COUNT Clause:

SQL HAVING Clause:

SQL CREATE TABLE Statement:

SQL DROP TABLE Statement:

SQL CREATE INDEX Statement :

SQL DROP INDEX Statement :

SQL DESC Statement :

SQL TRUNCATE TABLE Statement:

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement:

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement (Rename) :

SQL INSERT INTO Statement:

SQL UPDATE Statement:

SQL DELETE Statement:

SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement:

SQL DROP DATABASE Statement:

SQL USE Statement:

SQL COMMIT Statement:

SQL ROLLBACK Statement:

SQL - Data Types

Exact Numeric Data Types:

Approximate Numeric Data Types:

Date and Time Data Types:

Character Strings Data Types:

Unicode Character Strings Data Types:

Binary Data Types:

Misc Data Types:

SQL - Operator

What is an Operator in SQL?

SQL Arithmetic Operators:

SQL Comparison Operators:

SQL Logical Operators:

SQL - Expressions

Syntax:

SQL - Boolean Expressions:

SQL - Numeric Expression:

SQL - Date Expressions: