MySQL Cheatsheet: Beginner to

Advanced

A Comprehensive Guide to MySQL Queries and Concepts

Author: Eftekher Ali Efte

LinkedIn: Eftekher Ali Efte

July 11, 2025

Contents
1 Introduction to MySQL 3
1.1 What is MySQL? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Key Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Database and Table Management 3

2.1 Creating a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Creating a Table with Primary Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 Altering a Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.4 Renaming a Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.5 Dropping a Table or Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Data Manipulation 4
3.1 Inserting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 Selecting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Updating Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.4 Deleting Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4 Joins 5
4.1 Creating a Related Table with Foreign Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2 Inner Join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.3 Left Join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.4 Right Join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.5 Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5 Aggregation Functions 6
5.1 Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.2 Sum, Average, Min, Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.3 Group By . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5.4 Having . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

6 Advanced Topics 7
6.1 Subqueries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.2 Case Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.3 Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.4 Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.5 Stored Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.6 Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6.7 Transactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

7 Constraints 9
7.1 Primary Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.2 Foreign Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.3 Unique Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.4 Check Constraint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

8 Query Optimization 10
8.1 Explain Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1
MySQL Cheatsheet 2

8.2 Using Indexes in Queries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

8.3 Limiting Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

9 Window Functions 11
9.1 Row Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9.2 Rank and Dense Rank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
9.3 Partition By . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 3

1 Introduction to MySQL
1.1 What is MySQL?
MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) that
uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to manage and manipulate data. This cheat-
sheet covers MySQL commands from basic to advanced, including examples, inputs,
and outputs.

1.2 Key Concepts

• Tables: Store data in rows and columns.
• Primary Key: Uniquely identifies each row.
• Foreign Key: Links tables to enforce referential integrity.
• Joins: Combine data from multiple tables.
• Aggregation Functions: Summarize data (e.g., COUNT, SUM).

2 Database and Table Management

2.1 Creating a Database
CREATE DATABASE school ;
USE school ;
Listing 1: Create a Database

Output: Database ‘school‘ created and selected.

2.2 Creating a Table with Primary Key

CREATE TABLE students (
student_id INT PRIMARY KEY ,
name VARCHAR (50) ,
age INT ,
grade VARCHAR (2)
);
Listing 2: Create Table with Primary Key

Output: Table ‘students‘ created with ‘studenti d‘astheprimarykey.

2.3 Altering a Table

ALTER TABLE students ADD email VARCHAR (100) ;
Listing 3: Add a Column

Output: Column ‘email‘ added to ‘students‘ table.

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MySQL Cheatsheet 4

2.4 Renaming a Table

RENAME TABLE students TO pupils ;
Listing 4: Rename Table

Output: Table ‘students‘ renamed to ‘pupils‘.

2.5 Dropping a Table or Database

DROP TABLE pupils ;
DROP DATABASE school ;
Listing 5: Drop Table and Database

Output: Table ‘pupils‘ and database ‘school‘ deleted.

3 Data Manipulation
3.1 Inserting Data
INSERT INTO students ( student_id , name , age , grade , email )
VALUES (1 , ’ John Doe ’ , 15 , ’A ’ , ’ john . doe@email . com ’) ;
Listing 6: Insert Single Row

Output: One row inserted into ‘students‘.

INSERT INTO students ( student_id , name , age , grade , email )
VALUES
(2 , ’ Jane Smith ’ , 16 , ’B ’ , ’ jane . smith@email . com ’) ,
(3 , ’ Alice Brown ’ , 15 , ’A ’ , ’ alice . brown@email . com ’) ;
Listing 7: Insert Multiple Rows

Output: Two rows inserted.

3.2 Selecting Data

SELECT * FROM students ;
Listing 8: Select All Columns

studenti d name age grade email

1 John Doe 15 A [email protected]
Output:
2 Jane Smith 16 B [email protected]
3 Alice Brown 15 A [email protected]
SELECT name , grade FROM students WHERE age = 15;
Listing 9: Select Specific Columns with WHERE

name grade
Output: John Doe A
Alice Brown A

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 5

3.3 Updating Data

UPDATE students SET grade = ’A + ’ WHERE age = 15;
Listing 10: Update Rows

Output: Rows with ‘age = 15‘ updated to ‘grade = ’A+’‘.

3.4 Deleting Data

DELETE FROM students WHERE student_id = 2;
Listing 11: Delete Rows

Output: Row with ‘studenti d = 2‘deleted.

4 Joins
4.1 Creating a Related Table with Foreign Key
CREATE TABLE courses (
course_id INT PRIMARY KEY ,
course_name VARCHAR (50) ,
student_id INT ,
FOREIGN KEY ( student_id ) REFERENCES students ( student_id )
);
INSERT INTO courses VALUES
(101 , ’ Math ’ , 1) ,
(102 , ’ Science ’ , 1) ,
(103 , ’ History ’ , 3) ;
Listing 12: Create Table with Foreign Key

Output: Table ‘courses‘ created, three rows inserted.

4.2 Inner Join

SELECT students . name , courses . course_name
FROM students
INNER JOIN courses ON students . student_id = courses . student_id ;
Listing 13: Inner Join

name coursen ame

John Doe Math
Output:
John Doe Science
Alice Brown History

4.3 Left Join

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 6

SELECT students . name , courses . course_name

FROM students
LEFT JOIN courses ON students . student_id = courses . student_id ;
Listing 14: Left Join

name coursen ame

John Doe Math
Output: John Doe Science
Jane Smith NULL
Alice Brown History

4.4 Right Join

SELECT students . name , courses . course_name
FROM students
RIGHT JOIN courses ON students . student_id = courses . student_id ;
Listing 15: Right Join

name coursen ame

John Doe Math
Output:
John Doe Science
Alice Brown History

4.5 Union
SELECT name FROM students WHERE age = 15
UNION
SELECT name FROM students WHERE grade = ’B ’;
Listing 16: Union

name
John Doe
Output:
Alice Brown
Jane Smith

5 Aggregation Functions
5.1 Count
SELECT COUNT (*) AS total_students FROM students ;
Listing 17: Count Rows

totals tudents
Output:
3

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 7

5.2 Sum, Average, Min, Max

SELECT
SUM ( age ) AS total_age ,
AVG ( age ) AS avg_age ,
MIN ( age ) AS min_age ,
MAX ( age ) AS max_age
FROM students ;
Listing 18: Aggregation Functions

totala ge avga ge mina ge maxa ge

Output:
46 15.33 15 16

5.3 Group By
SELECT grade , COUNT (*) AS count
FROM students
GROUP BY grade ;
Listing 19: Group By with Aggregation

grade count
Output: A+ 2
B 1

5.4 Having
SELECT grade , COUNT (*) AS count
FROM students
GROUP BY grade
HAVING count > 1;
Listing 20: Having Clause

grade count
Output:
A+ 2

6 Advanced Topics
6.1 Subqueries
SELECT name
FROM students
WHERE student_id IN (
SELECT student_id
FROM courses
WHERE course_name = ’ Math ’
);
Listing 21: Subquery

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MySQL Cheatsheet 8

name
Output:
John Doe

6.2 Case Statements

SELECT name ,
CASE
WHEN age >= 16 THEN ’ Senior ’
ELSE ’ Junior ’
END AS student_level
FROM students ;
Listing 22: Case Statement

name studentl evel

John Doe Junior
Output:
Jane Smith Senior
Alice Brown Junior

6.3 Indexes
CREATE INDEX idx_name ON students ( name ) ;
Listing 23: Create Index

Output: Index ‘idxn ame‘createdon‘name‘column.

6.4 Views
CREATE VIEW student_courses AS
SELECT students . name , courses . course_name
FROM students
INNER JOIN courses ON students . student_id = courses . student_id ;
Listing 24: Create View

Output: View ‘studentc ourses‘created.

6.5 Stored Procedures

DELIMITER //
CREATE PROCEDURE GetStudentCount ()
BEGIN
SELECT COUNT (*) AS total_students FROM students ;
END //
DELIMITER ;
CALL GetStudentCount () ;
Listing 25: Stored Procedure

totals tudents
Output:
3

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 9

6.6 Triggers
DELIMITER //
CREATE TRIGGER be fo r e _ s t u d e n t _ i n s e r t
BEFORE INSERT ON students
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
IF NEW . age < 0 THEN
SIGNAL SQLSTATE ’ 45000 ’
SET MESSAGE_TEXT = ’ Age cannot be negative ’;
END IF ;
END //
DELIMITER ;
Listing 26: Create Trigger

Output: Trigger ‘befores tudenti nsert‘createdtopreventnegativeages.

6.7 Transactions
START TRANSACTION ;
INSERT INTO students ( student_id , name , age , grade )
VALUES (4 , ’ Bob Wilson ’ , 14 , ’C ’) ;
UPDATE students SET grade = ’B ’ WHERE student_id = 4;
COMMIT ;
Listing 27: Transaction

Output: Row inserted and updated within a transaction.

7 Constraints
7.1 Primary Key
Ensures each row is uniquely identifiable.
CREATE TABLE employees (
emp_id INT PRIMARY KEY ,
name VARCHAR (50)
);
Listing 28: Primary Key Constraint

Output: Table ‘employees‘ created with ‘empi d‘asprimarykey.

7.2 Foreign Key

Enforces referential integrity between tables.
CREATE TABLE enrollments (
enrollment_id INT PRIMARY KEY ,
student_id INT ,

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MySQL Cheatsheet 10

course_id INT ,
FOREIGN KEY ( student_id ) REFERENCES students ( student_id ) ,
FOREIGN KEY ( course_id ) REFERENCES courses ( course_id )
);
Listing 29: Foreign Key Constraint

Output: Table ‘enrollments‘ created with foreign keys.

7.3 Unique Constraint

Ensures all values in a column are unique.
ALTER TABLE students ADD CONSTRAINT unique_email UNIQUE ( email ) ;
Listing 30: Unique Constraint

Output: Unique constraint added to ‘email‘ column.

7.4 Check Constraint

Enforces a condition on column values.
ALTER TABLE students ADD CONSTRAINT check_age CHECK ( age >= 0) ;
Listing 31: Check Constraint

Output: Check constraint added to ensure ‘age‘ is non-negative.

8 Query Optimization
8.1 Explain Plan
EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM students WHERE age = 15;
Listing 32: Explain Plan

Output: Displays query execution plan for optimization analysis.

8.2 Using Indexes in Queries

SELECT name FROM students WHERE name = ’ John Doe ’;
Listing 33: Using Index

Output: Query uses ‘idxn ame‘indexf orf asterexecution.

8.3 Limiting Results

SELECT * FROM students ORDER BY age LIMIT 2;
Listing 34: Limit Clause

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte

MySQL Cheatsheet 11

studenti d name age grade email

Output: 1 John Doe 15 A+ [email protected]
3 Alice Brown 15 A+ [email protected]

9 Window Functions
9.1 Row Number
SELECT name , age ,
ROW_NUMBER () OVER ( ORDER BY age ) AS row_num
FROM students ;
Listing 35: Row Number

name age rown um

John Doe 15 1
Output:
Alice Brown 15 2
Jane Smith 16 3

9.2 Rank and Dense Rank

SELECT name , age ,
RANK () OVER ( ORDER BY age ) AS rank ,
DENSE_RANK () OVER ( ORDER BY age ) AS dense_rank
FROM students ;
Listing 36: Rank and Dense Rank

name age rank denser ank

John Doe 15 1 1
Output:
Alice Brown 15 1 1
Jane Smith 16 3 2

9.3 Partition By
SELECT name , grade , age ,
AVG ( age ) OVER ( PARTITION BY grade ) AS avg_age_by_grade
FROM students ;
Listing 37: Partition By

name grade age avga geb yg rade

John Doe A+ 15 15
Output:
Alice Brown A+ 15 15
Jane Smith B 16 16

Created by Eftekher Ali Efte