Reporting Aggregated Data

Using the Group Functions

 Lesson Agenda

• Group functions:
– Types and syntax
– Use AVG, SUM, MIN, MAX, COUNT
– Use DISTINCT keyword within group
functions
– NULL values in a group function
• Grouping rows:
– GROUP BY clause
– HAVING clause
• Nesting group functions

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 What Are Group Functions?

Group functions operate on sets of rows to give one result per

group.
EMPLOYEES

Maximum salary in
EMPLOYEES table

5-3
 Types of Group Functions

• AVG
• COUNT
• MAX
• MIN
Group
• STDDEV functions
• SUM
• VARIANCE

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 Group Functions: Syntax

SELECT group_function(column), ...

FROM table
[WHERE condition]
[ORDER BY column];

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 Using the AVG and SUM
Functions
You can use AVG and SUM for numeric
data.
SELECT AVG(salary), MAX(salary),
MIN(salary), SUM(salary)
FROM employees
WHERE job_id LIKE '%REP%';

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 Using the MIN and MAX
Functions
You can use MIN and MAX for numeric, character, and
date data types.

SELECT MIN(hire_date), MAX(hire_date)

FROM employees;

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 Using the COUNT
Function
COUNT(*) returns the number of rows in a
table:
SELECT COUNT(*)
1 FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 50;

COUNT(expr) returns the number of rows with non-null

values for expr:
SELECT COUNT(commission_pct)
2 FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 80;

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 Using the DISTINCT
Keyword
• COUNT(DISTINCT expr) returns the number of
distinct non-null values of expr.
• To display the number of distinct department values in the
EMPLOYEES table:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT department_id)

FROM employees;

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 Group Functions and Null Values

Group functions ignore null values in the column:

SELECT AVG(commission_pct)
1 FROM employees;

The NVL function forces group functions to include null

values:
SELECT AVG(NVL(commission_pct, 0))
2 FROM employees;

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 Lesson Agenda

• Group functions:
– Types and syntax
– Use AVG, SUM, MIN, MAX, COUNT
– Use DISTINCT keyword within group
functions
– NULL values in a group function
• Grouping rows:
– GROUP BY clause
– HAVING clause
• Nesting group functions

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 Creating Groups of Data

EMPLOYEES
Average salary in
4400
EMPLOYEES table
9500
for each
department
3500

6400

10033

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 Creating Groups of Data:
GROUP BY Clause
SELECT Syntax
column, group_function(column)
FROM table
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY group_by_expression]
[ORDER BY column];
You can divide rows in a table into smaller groups by using the
GROUP BY clause.

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 Using the GROUP BY
Clause
All columns in the SELECT list that are not in group
functions must be in the GROUP BY clause.

SELECT department_id, AVG(salary)

FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id ;

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 Using the GROUP BY
Clause
The GROUP BY column does not have to be in the SELECT
list.
SELECT AVG(salary)
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id ;

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 Grouping by More than One Column

EMPLOYEES Add the salaries in the EMPLOYEES

table for each job, grouped by
department.

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 Using the GROUP BY
Clause on Multiple
Columns
SELECT department_id, job_id, SUM(salary)
FROM employees
WHERE department_id > 40
GROUP BY department_id, job_id
ORDER BY department_id;

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 Illegal Queries
Using Group Functions
Any column or expression in the SELECT list that is not
an aggregate function must be in the GROUP BY clause:

SELECT department_id, COUNT(last_name)

FROM employees;
A GROUP BY clause must be added
to count the last names for each
department_id.

SELECT department_id, job_id, COUNT(last_name)

FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id;

Either add job_id in the GROUP BY

or remove the job_id column from
the SELECT list.

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 Illegal Queries
Using Group Functions
• You cannot use the WHERE clause to restrict groups.
• You use the HAVING clause to restrict groups.
• You cannot use group functions in the WHERE clause.
SELECT department_id, AVG(salary)
FROM employees
WHERE AVG(salary) > 8000
GROUP BY department_id;

Cannot use the

WHERE clause
to restrict
groups

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 Restricting Group Results

EMPLOYEES

The maximum salary per

department when it is
greater than $10,000

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 Restricting Group Results
with the HAVING Clause
When you use the HAVING clause, the Oracle server
restricts groups as follows:
1. Rows are grouped.
2. The group function is applied.
3. Groups matching the HAVING clause are displayed.

SELECT column, group_function

FROM table
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY group_by_expression]
[HAVING group_condition]
[ORDER BY column];

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 Using the HAVING
Clause

SELECT department_id, MAX(salary)

FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id
HAVINGMAX(salary)>10000 ;

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 Using the HAVING
Clause

SELECT job_id, SUM(salary) PAYROLL

FROM employees
WHERE job_id NOT LIKE '%REP%'
GROUP BY job_id
HAVING SUM(salary) > 13000
ORDER BY SUM(salary);

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 Lesson Agenda

• Group functions:
– Types and syntax
– Use AVG, SUM, MIN, MAX, COUNT
– Use DISTINCT keyword within group
functions
– NULL values in a group function
• Grouping rows:
– GROUP BY clause
– HAVING clause
• Nesting group functions

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 Nesting Group Functions

Display the maximum average salary:

SELECT MAX(AVG(salary))
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id;

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 Quiz

Identify the guidelines for group functions and the GROUP BY

clause.
1. You cannot use a column alias in the GROUP BY clause.
2. The GROUP BY column must be in the SELECT clause.
3. By using a WHERE clause, you can exclude rows
before dividing them into groups.
4. The GROUP BY clause groups rows and ensures order
of the result set.
5. If you include a group function in a SELECT clause,
you cannot select individual results as well.

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 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Use the group functions COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, and AVG
• Write queries that use the GROUP BY clause
• Write queries that use the HAVING clause

SELECT column, group_function

FROM table
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY group_by_expression]
[HAVING group_condition]
[ORDER BY column];

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 Practice 5: Overview

This practice covers the following topics:

• Writing queries that use the group functions
• Grouping by rows to achieve more than one result
• Restricting groups by using the HAVING clause

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