CP-2K16 DBMS LAB # 4

SQL Wildcards & Operators

Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY TAXILA

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 LAB # 04
SQL Wildcards & Operators
Lab Objective:

To understand SQL wild cards and the operators used in SQL.

SQL Wildcards

SQL wildcards can be used when searching for data in a database.

SQL wildcards can substitute for one or more characters when searching for data in a database.

SQL wildcards must be used with the LIKE operator.

With SQL, the following wildcards can be used:

Wildcard Description

% A substitute for zero or more characters

_ A substitute for exactly one character

[charlist] Any single character in charlist

[^charlist] Any single character not in charlist

or

[!charlist]

SQL Wildcard Examples

We have the following "Persons" table:

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
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 LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 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 '%dne%'

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 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 '_ove'

The result-set will look like this:

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]%’

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 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 NOT LIKE '[bsp]%'

The result-set will look like this:

SQL 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,...)

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
IN Operator Example

The "Persons" table:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

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')

The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
SQL BETWEENOperator

The BETWEEN operator is used in a WHERE clause to select a range of data between two
values.

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

Now we want to select the persons with P_ID betweek 2 and 4" from the persons table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE P_ID BETWEEN 2 AND 4;

The result-set will look like this:

Note: The BETWEEN operator is treated differently in different databases.

In some databases, persons with the P_ID of 2 and 4 will not be listed, because the BETWEEN
operator only selects fields that are between and excluding the test values).

In other databases, persons with id 2 and 4 will be listed, because the BETWEEN operator
selects fields that are between and including the test values).

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
And in other databases, persons with id 2 will be listed, but id=4 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'

The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

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.

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
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 E_Name

01 Hansen, Ola

02 Svendson, Tove

03 Svendson, Stephen

04 Pettersen, Kari

"Employees_USA":

E_ID E_Name

01 Turner, Sally
02 Kent, Clark

03 Svendson, Stephen

04 Scott, Stephen

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
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

The result-set will look like this:

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

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
Lab Tasks:

1: Consider the following table “Customers”:

Create the above table and do the following.

• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a Country starting with the letter
“s”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a Contact Name ending with the
letter “s”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City containing the pattern
“ndo”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City not containing the pattern
“ndo”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects the two first Customers from table who belong to
“Germany” or “Sweden”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City of "Paris" or "London"
without using ‘OR’ operator.

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
2. Consider the following table “Products”

Create the above table and do the following.

• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 10 to 20.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 20 to 30.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 10 to 22 but products
with a CategoryIDof 1,2, or 3 should not be displayed.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a ProductName beginning with
any of the letter not between 'C' and 'M'.

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators