Introduction to Structured Query

Language (SQL)

CCE104L
 Objectives

• Explore basic commands and functions of SQL

• How to use SQL for data administration (to create
tables, indexes, and views)
• How to use SQL for data manipulation (to add,
modify, delete, and retrieve data)
• How to use SQL to query a database to extract useful
information

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 Introduction to SQL

• SQL functions fit into two broad categories:

• Data definition language
• SQL includes commands to:
• Create database objects, such as tables, indexes, and views
• Define access rights to those database objects
• Data manipulation language
• Includes commands to insert, update, delete, and retrieve
data within database tables

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Introduction to SQL (continued)

• SQL is relatively easy to learn

• Basic command set has vocabulary of less than 100
words
• Nonprocedural language
• American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
prescribes a standard SQL
• Several SQL dialects exist
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Introduction to SQL (continued)

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Introduction to SQL (continued)

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Introduction to SQL (continued)

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 Data Definition Commands

• Examine simple database model and database tables

that will form basis for many SQL examples
• Understand data environment

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The Database Model

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 Creating the Database

• Following two tasks must be completed:

• Create database structure
• Create tables that will hold end-user data
• First task:
• RDBMS creates physical files that will hold database
• Tends to differ substantially from one RDBMS to another

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 The
• Authentication Database Schema
• Process through which DBMS verifies that only registered users are
able to access database
• Log on to RDBMS using user ID and password created by database
administrator
• Schema
• Group of database objects—such as tables and indexes—that are
related to each other

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 Data Types

• Data type selection is usually dictated by nature of

data and by intended use
• Pay close attention to expected use of attributes for
sorting and data retrieval purposes

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Data Types (continued)

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 Creating Table Structures

• Use one line per column (attribute) definition

• Use spaces to line up attribute characteristics and
constraints
• Table and attribute names are capitalized
• NOT NULL specification
• UNIQUE specification

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 Creating Table Structures
(continued)
• Primary key attributes contain both a NOT NULL
and a UNIQUE specification
• RDBMS will automatically enforce referential
integrity for foreign keys
• Command sequence ends with semicolon

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 SQL Constraints

• NOT NULL constraint

• Ensures that column does not accept nulls
• UNIQUE constraint
• Ensures that all values in column are unique
• DEFAULT constraint
• Assigns value to attribute when a new row is added to table
• CHECK constraint
• Validates data when attribute value is entered
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 SQL Indexes

• When primary key is declared, DBMS automatically

creates unique index
• Often need additional indexes
• Using CREATE INDEX command, SQL indexes can
be created on basis of any selected attribute
• Composite index
• Index based on two or more attributes
• Often used to prevent data duplication

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 Data Manipulation Commands

• Adding table rows

• Saving table changes
• Listing table rows
• Updating table rows
• Restoring table contents
• Deleting table rows
• Inserting table rows with a select subquery
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 Adding Table Rows

• INSERT
• Used to enter data into table
• Syntax:
• INSERT INTO columnname
VALUES (value1, value2, … , valuen);

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 Adding Table Rows (continued)

• When entering values, notice that:

• Row contents are entered between parentheses
• Character and date values are entered between
apostrophes
• Numerical entries are not enclosed in apostrophes
• Attribute entries are separated by commas
• A value is required for each column
• Use NULL for unknown values
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 Saving Table Changes
• Changes made to table contents are not physically
saved on disk until, one of the following occurs:
• Database is closed
• Program is closed
• COMMIT command is used
• Syntax:
• COMMIT [WORK];
• Will permanently save any changes made to any table
in the database
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 Listing Table Rows
• SELECT
• Used to list contents of table
• Syntax:
• SELECT columnlist
FROM tablename;

• Columnlist represents one or more attributes, separated by

commas
• Asterisk can be used as wildcard character to list all attributes

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 Updating Table Rows

• UPDATE
• Modify data in a table
• Syntax:
• UPDATE tablename
SET columnname = expression [, columname = expression]
[WHERE conditionlist];

• If more than one attribute is to be updated in row,

separate corrections with commas

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 Restoring Table Contents
• ROLLBACK
• Used to restore database to its previous condition
• Only applicable if COMMIT command has not been
used to permanently store changes in database
• Syntax:
• ROLLBACK;
• COMMIT and ROLLBACK only work with data
manipulation commands that are used to add,
modify, or delete table rows 24
 Deleting Table Rows

• DELETE
• Deletes a table row
• Syntax:
• DELETE FROM tablename
[WHERE conditionlist ];

• WHERE condition is optional

• If WHERE condition is not specified, all rows from
specified table will be deleted
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 Inserting Table Rows with a
• INSERT Select Subquery
• Inserts multiple rows from another table (source)
• Uses SELECT subquery
• Query that is embedded (or nested) inside another query
• Executed first
• Syntax:
• INSERT INTO tablename SELECT columnlist FROM tablename;

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 Selecting Rows with
Conditional Restrictions
• Select partial table contents by placing restrictions on
rows to be included in output
• Add conditional restrictions to SELECT statement, using
WHERE clause
• Syntax:
• SELECT columnlist
FROM tablelist
[ WHERE conditionlist ] ;

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 Selecting Rows with
Conditional Restrictions (continued)

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 Selecting Rows with
Conditional Restrictions (continued)

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 Arithmetic Operators:
The Rule of Precedence
• Perform operations within parentheses
• Perform power operations
• Perform multiplications and divisions
• Perform additions and subtractions

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 Arithmetic Operators:
The Rule of Precedence (continued)

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 Special Operators

• BETWEEN
• Used to check whether attribute value is within a range
• IS NULL
• Used to check whether attribute value is null
• LIKE
• Used to check whether attribute value matches given string
pattern

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 Special Operators (continued)

• IN
• Used to check whether attribute value matches any value
within a value list
• EXISTS
• Used to check if subquery returns any rows

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 Advanced Data Definition
Commands
• All changes in table structure are made by using
ALTER command
• Followed by keyword that produces specific change
• Following three options are available:
• ADD
• MODIFY
• DROP

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 Changing a Column’s Data Type

• ALTER can be used to change data type

• Some RDBMSs (such as Oracle) do not permit
changes to data types unless column to be changed is
empty

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 Changing a Column’s Data
Characteristics
• Use ALTER to change data characteristics
• If column to be changed already contains data,
changes in column’s characteristics are permitted if
those changes do not alter the data type

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 Adding a Column

• Use ALTER to add column

• Do not include the NOT NULL clause for new column

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 Dropping a Column

• Use ALTER to drop column

• Some RDBMSs impose restrictions on the deletion of an
attribute

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Advanced Data Updates

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 Copying Parts of Tables

• SQL permits copying contents of selected table

columns so that the data need not be reentered
manually into newly created table(s)
• First create the PART table structure
• Next add rows to new PART table using PRODUCT
table rows

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 Adding Primary and Foreign Key
Designations
• When table is copied, integrity rules do not copy, so
primary and foreign keys need to be manually
defined on new table
• User ALTER TABLE command
• Syntax:
• ALTER TABLE tablename ADD
PRIMARY KEY(fieldname);
• For foreign key, use FOREIGN KEY in place of PRIMARY
KEY

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Deleting a Table from the Database

• DROP
• Deletes table from database
• Syntax:
• DROP TABLE tablename;

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 Advanced Select Queries

• SQL provides useful functions that can:

• Count
• Find minimum and maximum values
• Calculate averages
• SQL allows user to limit queries to only those entries
having no duplicates or entries whose duplicates may
be grouped

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Aggregate Functions

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Aggregate Functions (continued)

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Aggregate Functions (continued)

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Aggregate Functions (continued)

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Aggregate Functions (continued)

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Grouping Data

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Grouping Data (continued)

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Grouping Data (continued)

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 Virtual Tables: Creating a View

• View is virtual table based on SELECT query

• Can contain columns, computed columns, aliases, and
aggregate functions from one or more tables
• Base tables are tables on which view is based
• Create view by using CREATE VIEW command

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Virtual Tables: Creating a View (continued)

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 Joining Database Tables

• Ability to combine (join) tables on common

attributes is most important distinction between
relational database and other databases
• Join is performed when data are retrieved from more
than one table at a time
• Join is generally composed of an equality comparison
between foreign key and primary key of related
tables

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 Joining Tables with an Alias

• Alias can be used to identify source table

• Any legal table name can be used as alias
• Add alias after table name in FROM clause
• FROM tablename alias

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 Summary

• SQL commands can be divided into two overall

categories:
• Data definition language commands
• Data manipulation language commands
• The ANSI standard data types are supported by all
RDBMS vendors in different ways
• Basic data definition commands allow you to create
tables, indexes, and views
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 Summary (continued)

• DML commands allow you to add, modify, and

delete rows from tables
• The basic DML commands are SELECT,
INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, COMMIT, and
ROLLBACK
• INSERT command is used to add new rows to
tables
• SELECT statement is main data retrieval
command in SQL
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 Summary (continued)

• Many SQL constraints can be used with columns

• The column list represents one or more column
names separated by commas
• WHERE clause can be used with SELECT,
UPDATE, and DELETE statements to restrict rows
affected by the DDL command

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 Summary (continued)

• Aggregate functions
• Special functions that perform arithmetic computations
over a set of rows
• ORDER BY clause
• Used to sort output of SELECT statement
• Can sort by one or more columns and use either an
ascending or descending order
• Join output of multiple tables with SELECT
statement
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 Summary (continued)

• Natural join uses join condition to match only rows

with equal values in specified columns
• Right outer join and left outer join used to select
rows that have no matching values in other related
table

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