Structured Query Language

By Animut B.
1 Introduction to SQL
What is SQL?
– When a user wants to get some information
from a database file, he can issue a query.
– A query is a user–request to retrieve data
or information with a certain condition.
– SQL is a query language that allows user to
specify the conditions. (instead of algorithms)
1 Introduction to SQL
Concept of SQL

– The user specifies a certain condition.

– The program will go through all the records
in the database file and select those records
that satisfy the condition.(searching).
– Statistical information of the data.
– The result of the query will then be stored
in form of a table.
1 Introduction to SQL
How to involve SQL in FoxPro
– Before using SQL, the tables should be
opened.
– The SQL command can be entered directly
in the Command Window
 SQL
• Two sublanguages:
• Data Definition Language (DDL)
– Create/alter/delete tables and their attributes
• Data Manipulation Language (DML)
– Query one or more tables – discussed next !
– Insert/delete/modify tuples in tables
 Some of The Most Important SQL
Commands
SQL is NOT case sensitive: SELECT is the same as select
• SELECT - extracts data from a database
• UPDATE - updates data in a database
• DELETE - deletes data from a database
• INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database
• CREATE DATABASE - creates a new database
• ALTER DATABASE - modifies a database
• CREATE TABLE - creates a new table
• ALTER TABLE - modifies a table
• DROP TABLE - deletes a table
• CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key)
• DROP INDEX - deletes an index
The SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement
• The CREATE DATABASE statement is used to
create a database.
• Syntax
– CREATE DATABASE dbname;
Example
• The following SQL statement creates a
database called "my_db":
CREATE DATABASE my_db;
 The SQL CREATE TABLE Statement
• The CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a table in a database.
• Tables are organized into rows and columns; and each table must have a
name.
Syntax
• CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type(size),
column_name2 data_type(size),
column_name3 data_type(size),
....
);
• The column_name parameters specify the names of the columns of the
table.
• The data_type parameter specifies what type of data the column can hold
(e.g. varchar, integer, decimal, date, etc.).
• The size parameter specifies the maximum length of the column of the
table.
Example
• Now we want to create a table called "Persons" that contains five
columns: PersonID, LastName, FirstName, Address, and City.
• We use the following CREATE TABLE statement:
• Example
• CREATE TABLE Persons
(
PersonID int,
LastName varchar(255),
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
);
 SQL Constraints
• SQL constraints are used to specify rules for the data in a table.
• If there is any violation between the constraint and the data action, the
action is aborted by the constraint.
• Constraints can be specified when the table is created (inside the CREATE
TABLE statement) or after the table is created (inside the ALTER TABLE
statement).
• SQL CREATE TABLE + CONSTRAINT Syntax
• CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name2 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name3 data_type(size) constraint_name,
....
);
• In SQL, we have the following constraints:
• NOT NULL - Indicates that a column cannot store NULL value
• UNIQUE - Ensures that each row for a column must have a unique value
• PRIMARY KEY - A combination of a NOT NULL and UNIQUE. Ensures
that a column (or combination of two or more columns) have an unique
identity which helps to find a particular record in a table more easily
and quickly
• FOREIGN KEY - Ensure the referential integrity of the data in one table
to match values in another table
• CHECK - Ensures that the value in a column meets a specific condition
• DEFAULT - Specifies a default value when specified none for this column
 SQL NOT NULL Constraint
• The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values.
• The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always contain a value. This
means that you cannot insert a new record, or update a record without
adding a value to this field.
• The following SQL enforces the "P_Id" column and the "LastName" column to
not accept NULL values:
• Example
• CREATE TABLE PersonsNotNull
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
 SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
• The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.
• Primary keys must contain unique values.
• A primary key column cannot contain NULL values.
• Each table should have a primary key, and each table can have only ONE
primary key.
• SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE
• The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "P_Id" column when the
"Persons" table is created:
• CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
PRIMARY KEY (P_Id)
)
 SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint on CREATE
TABLE
• The following SQL creates a FOREIGN KEY on the
"P_Id" column when the "Orders" table is
created:
• CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int,
PRIMARY KEY (O_Id),
FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
 The SQL SELECT Statement
• The SELECT statement is used to select data
from a database.
• The result is stored in a result table, called the
result-set.
Syntax
– SELECT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name;
And
– SELECT * FROM table_name;
 SELECT Column Example
• The following SQL statement selects the
"CustomerName" and "City" columns from the
"Customers" table:
• SELECT CustomerName,City FROM Customers;
SELECT * Example
• The following SQL statement selects all the
columns from the "Customers" table:
• SELECT * FROM Customers;
 The SQL WHERE Clause
• The WHERE clause is used to extract only those
records that fulfill a specified criterion.
Syntax
• SELECT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value;
Example
• SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Mexico';
 The SQL AND & OR Operators
• The AND operator displays a record if both the first
condition AND the second condition are true.
• The OR operator displays a record if either the first
condition OR the second condition is true.
• Example
1. SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
AND City='Berlin';
2. SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City='Berlin'
OR City='München';
 The SQL ORDER BY Keyword
• The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by one or more
columns.
• The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by
default. To sort the records in a descending order, you can use the
DESC keyword.
Syntax
• SELECT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name,column_name ASC|DESC;
Example SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;
• SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;
 The SQL INSERT INTO Statement
• The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a
table.
Syntax
• It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two forms.
1. The first form does not specify the column names where the data
will be inserted, only their values:
• INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...);
2. The second form specifies both the column names and the values
to be inserted:
• INSERT INTO table_name (column1,column2,column3,...)
VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...);
 Example
• Assume we wish to insert a new row in the
"Customers" table.
• We can use the following SQL statement:
• Example
• INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName,
ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode,
Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal','Tom B. Erichsen','Skagen
21','Stavanger','4006','Norway');
 The SQL UPDATE Statement
• The UPDATE statement is used to update existing
records in a table.
Syntax
• UPDATE table_name
SET column1=value1,column2=value2,...
WHERE some_column=some_value;
Example
• UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Alfred Schmidt', City='Hamburg'
WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste';
 The SQL DELETE Statement
• The DELETE statement is used to delete rows in a table.
Syntax
• DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE some_column=some_value;
• Example
• Assume we wish to delete the customer "Alfreds Futterkiste"
from the "Customers" table.
• We use the following SQL statement:

• DELETE FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste' AND
ContactName='Maria Anders';
 The SQL LIKE Operator
• The LIKE operator is used to search for a specified pattern in a
column.
• SQL LIKE Syntax
• SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE pattern;
• Example
1. SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 's%';
2. SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '%s';
3. SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country LIKE '%land%';
4. SELECT * FROM Customers
 SQL JOIN
• An SQL JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or
more tables, based on a common field between them.
• The most common type of join is: SQL INNER JOIN (simple
join). An SQL INNER JOIN return all rows from multiple
tables where the join condition is met.
Example
• SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName,
Orders.OrderDate
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers
ON Orders.CustomerID=Customers.CustomerID;
• The DROP TABLE Statement
• The DROP TABLE statement is used to delete a table.
– DROP TABLE table_name
• The DROP DATABASE Statement
• The DROP DATABASE statement is used to delete a database.
– DROP DATABASE database_name
• SQL ALTER TABLE Statement
Syntax
• 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
Example
• ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD DateOfBirth date
• ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP COLUMN DateOfBirth