Database Management

Systems
Structured Query Language (SQL) Basics
Year II
2024/25
Structured Query Language (SQL)
SQL is a standard language for accessing and
manipulating databases.
SQL is structured Query Language which is a
computer language for storing, manipulating and
retrieving data stored in relational database.
All relational database management systems like
MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix,
PostgreSQL and SQL Server use SQL as standard
database language.
Note:
 Most of the SQL database programs also have their
own proprietary extensions in addition to the SQL
standard!
SQL…
Although SQL is an ANSI/ISO standard, there
are different versions of the SQL language.
Different dialects/versions, such as:
MS SQL Server using T-SQL,
Oracle using PL/SQL,
MS Access version of SQL is called JET SQL
(native format)
etc
All versions/dialects support the major
commands such as SELECT, UPDATE,
DELETE, INSERT, WHERE, etc.
Why SQL?
It allows users to:
 Access data in relational database management
systems.
 Describe the data.
 Define the data in database and manipulate that
data.
 Embed within other languages using SQL
modules, libraries & pre-compilers.
 Create and drop databases and tables.
 Create view, stored procedure, functions in a
database.
 Set permissions on tables, procedures and views
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.
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:
 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.
SQL Commands
DML - Data Manipulation Language:
 INSERT – Creates a record
 UPDATE – Modifies records
 DELETE – Deletes records
DCL - Data Control Language:
 GRANT – Gives a privilege to user
 REVOKE – Takes back privileges granted from
user
DQL - Data Query Language:
 SELECT – Retrieves certain records from one or
more tables
Read about:
SQL Data types
SQL operators (arithmetic, comparison, …)
SQL Constraints
Index
SQL Syntax
SQL statements consists of keywords that are
easy to understand.
SQL keywords are not case sensitive, i.e. create is
the same as CREATE.
Semicolon (;) is the standard way to mark the end
of each SQL statement.
 Some DBMSs may not require the semicolon.
Note:
 We will use uppercase for all keywords.
 We will use semicolon at the end of each SQL
statement.
Eg. CREATE DATABASE db_name;
Using the Console (Xampp/Wamp)
Use MySQL Console to send commands to
the DBMS.
If you are using xampp access the console
through the command prompt (cmd).
cd c:\xampp\mysql\bin
login as root user: mysql –u root –p
password: null
For Wamp simply click on the Wamp icon,
locate mysql in the list and then mysql
console, the password is also null.
SQL – Create database
The SQL CREATE DATABASE statement is used to
create a new database.
Syntax:
Basic syntax of CREATE DATABASE statement is as
follows:
CREATE DATABASE
DatabaseName;
Always database name should be unique within a RDBMS.
Example:
If you want to create a new database “night21”, then
CREATE DATABASE statement would be as follows:

CREATE DATABASE night21;

SHOW DATABASES
Once a database is created, you can check it
in the list of databases as follows:
SHOW DATABASES;

The
night21
db
created.
DROP or DELETE Database
 The SQL DROP DATABASE statement is used to drop/delete
any existing database in the DBMS.
Syntax:
 Basic syntax of DROP DATABASE statement is as follows

DROP DATABASE DatabaseName;

Eg:
DROP DATABASE night21;

 NOTE:
 Be careful before using this operation, because by
deleting an existing database would result in
complete loss of information stored in the database.
SELECT Database
The SQL USE statement is used to select an
existing database in the DBMS.
Syntax:
Basic syntax of USE statement is as follows:
USE DatabaseName;

Eg. USE night21;

Note:
 After database selection, then you can perform
many operations on the selected database, such as
creating a table, inserting records, selecting, etc.
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…
Example: Student (regno, fname, lname, cw,
exam)
Sql statement for creating the above table:
CREATE TABLE Student(
regno VARCHAR(17),
fname VARCHAR(20),
lname VARCHAR(20),
cw INT,
exam INT,
c_code VARCHAR(7),
PRIMARY KEY(regno)
);
CREATE Table…
You can verify if your table has been created
successfully by looking at the message
displayed by the SQL server otherwise you
can use SHOW TABLES / DESC commands.
ALTER TABLE Statement:
 The ALTER TABLE statement is used to modify characteristics of
an existing table.

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

 To add a column in a table, use the following syntax:

ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD column_name datatype;

 To delete a column in a table, use the following syntax (notice

that some database systems don't allow deleting a column):
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN column_name;
Alter table cont …
To change the data type of a column in a table,
use the following syntax:
My SQL / SQL Server / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE table_name
ALTER COLUMN column_name datatype;

Oracle:
ALTER TABLE table_name
MODIFY column_name datatype;
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;

Eg. DROP TABLE Student;

SQL INSERT
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.
SQL INSERT…
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);
SQL INSERT…
Example Adding records into the Student table:

INSERT INTO Student (regno, fname, lname, cw,

exam, c_code)
VALUES (‘21/2/314/D/220’, ‘Roman’, ‘Kibalama’,
32, 41, ‘IT201’);
Or
INSERT INTO Student
VALUES (‘21/2/314/D/220’, ‘Roman’, ‘Kibalama’,
32, 41, ‘IT201’);
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.
General 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];
Cont …
Example:
To update Roman’s cw mark from 32 to 35:
UPDATE Student
SET cw=35
WHERE regno=‘21/2/314/D/220’;
Note: The condition must be set, otherwise
all cw marks will be updated to the newly set
value.
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.
General Syntax:
 The basic syntax of DELETE query with
WHERE clause is as follows:
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE [condition];
Cont …
Example:
To delete Roman’s details from the student
table;
DELETE FROM Student
WHERE regno=‘21/2/314/D/220’;
Note: You must specify the record/records
to be deleted using the WHERE clause
otherwise all records will be deleted from
the table.
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.
General 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;

Cont …
Extracting records while showing all columns
from the Student table:
SELECT * FROM Student;
Cont …
If you want to list only the regno, cw, exam
and c_code:
SELECT regno, cw, exam, c_code FROM
Student;
WHERE Clause
 The SQL WHERE clause is used to specify a condition while
fetching the data from single table or joining with multiple
tables.
 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 statements as presented in
the earlier slides.

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

SELECT column1, column2, columnN

FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]
CONT …
Selecting with set conditions:

SELECT * FROM Student

WHERE cw>30;

SELECT * FROM Student

WHERE cw<30;

SELECT * FROM Student

WHERE cw=30;

Run each statement to see result.

ORDER BY clause
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the
result-set by a specified column. It sorts the
records in ascending order by default.
If you want to sort the records in a
descending order, you can use the DESC
keyword.
Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name(s) ASC|DESC
Cont …
Examples:
SELECT * FROM Student
ORDER BY cw;

Using the DESC key word

SELECT * FROM Student
ORDER BY cw DESC;
HAVING Clause
The HAVING clause was added to SQL because
the WHERE keyword could not be used with
aggregate functions.
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name,
aggregate_function(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING aggregate_function(column_name)
operator value
AND and OR Conjunctive Operators
 The SQL AND and OR operators are used to combine 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.
General 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
AND Cont …
Example:
SELECT * FROM Student
WHERE cw>20 AND exam=41;

Note: Try our with multiple other conditions.

The OR Operator:
The OR operator is used to combine multiple
conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.
General 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.
OR Cont …
Example:

SELECT * FROM Student

WHERE cw>30 OR exam=41;
Note: Try our with multiple other conditions.
SQL - JOIN
The JOIN keyword is used in an SQL statement to
query data from two or more tables, based on a
relationship between certain columns in these
tables.
Tables in a database are often related to each other
with keys.
A primary key is a column (or a combination of
columns) with a unique value for each row. Each
primary key value must be unique within the table.
The purpose is to bind data together, across tables,
without repeating all of the data in every table.
Look at the “Student & CourseUnit" tables:
Student & CourseUnit tables
Student

courseunit
Cont …
Note:
regno is the primary key to the student table
c_code is the primary key in the CourseUnit
table
The relationship between the two tables is
enforced by the c_code which is a foreign key
in the student table.
The Different SQL JOINs
Before we continue with Examples, we will list
the types of JOIN you can use, and the
differences between them.
 INNER JOIN: Return rows when there is at least
one match in both tables
 LEFT JOIN: Return all rows from the left table,
even if there are no matches in the right table
 RIGHT JOIN: Return all rows from the right table,
even if there are no matches in the left table
 FULL JOIN: Return rows when there is a match in
one of the tables
INNER JOIN
The INNER JOIN keyword return rows when
there is at least one match in both tables.
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1
INNER JOIN table_name2
ON
table_name1.column_name=table_name2.col
umn_name
Note: INNER JOIN is the same as JOIN.
Cont …
Inner join (student & courseunit)
LEFT JOIN
The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all rows from
the left table (table_name1), even if there are
no matches in the right table (table_name2).
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1
LEFT JOIN table_name2
ON
table_name1.column_name=table_name2.c
olumn_name
Note: In some databases LEFT JOIN is called
LEFT OUTER JOIN.
Cont …
Left Join Example
RIGHT JOIN
The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all the rows from
the right table (table_name2), even if there are no
matches in the left table (table_name1).
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1
RIGHT JOIN table_name2
ON
table_name1.column_name=table_name2.colu
mn_name
Note: In some databases RIGHT JOIN is called
RIGHT OUTER JOIN.
Cont …
Right Join Example:
FULL JOIN
The FULL JOIN keyword return rows when there is a
match in one of the tables.
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name1
FULL JOIN table_name2
ON
table_name1.column_name=table_name2.column_na
me
The FULL JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the left
table (Student), and all the rows from the right table
(courseunit). If there are rows in “Student" that do not
have matches in “courseunit", or if there are rows in
“courseunit" that do not have matches in “Student", those
rows will be listed as well.
SQL UNION Operator
 The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more
SELECT statements.
 Note 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.
General 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.
General Syntax:
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1
UNION ALL
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2
Note: 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.