SQL Tutorial

SQL is a database computer language designed for the retrieval and management of data in a
relational database. SQL stands for Structured Query Language. This tutorial will give you
a quick start to SQL. It covers most of the topics required for a basic understanding of SQL
and to get a feel of how it works.

Why to Learn SQL?

SQL is Structured Query Language, which is a computer language for storing, manipulating
and retrieving data stored in a relational database.

SQL is the standard language for Relational Database System. All the Relational Database
Management Systems (RDMS) like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Postgres
and SQL Server use SQL as their standard database language.

Also, they are using different dialects, such as −

 MS SQL Server using T-SQL,

 Oracle using PL/SQL,
 MS Access version of SQL is called JET SQL (native format) etc.

Applications of SQL
As mentioned before, SQL is one of the most widely used query language over the databases.
I'm going to list few of them here:

 Allows users to access data in the relational database management systems.

 Allows users to describe the data.
 Allows users to define the data in a database and manipulate that data.
 Allows to embed within other languages using SQL modules, libraries & pre-
compilers.
 Allows users to create and drop databases and tables.
 Allows users to create view, stored procedure, functions in a database.
 Allows users to set permissions on tables, procedures and views.

Audience
This SQL tutorial is prepared for beginners to help them understand the basic as well as the
advanced concepts related to SQL languages. This tutorial will give you enough
understanding on the various components of SQL along with suitable examples.

Prerequisites
Before you start practicing with various types of examples given in this tutorial, I am
assuming that you are already aware about what a database is, especially the RDBMS and
what is a computer programming language.

SQL - Overview
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SQL is a language to operate databases; it includes database creation, deletion, fetching rows,
modifying rows, etc. SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard
language, but there are many different versions of the SQL language.

What is SQL?
SQL is Structured Query Language, which is a computer language for storing, manipulating
and retrieving data stored in a relational database.

SQL is the standard language for Relational Database System. All the Relational Database
Management Systems (RDMS) like MySQL, MS Access, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, Postgres
and SQL Server use SQL as their standard database language.

Also, they are using different dialects, such as −

 MS SQL Server using T-SQL,

 Oracle using PL/SQL,
 MS Access version of SQL is called JET SQL (native format) etc.

Why SQL?
SQL is widely popular because it offers the following advantages −

 Allows users to access data in the relational database management systems.

 Allows users to describe the data.
 Allows users to define the data in a database and manipulate that data.
 Allows to embed within other languages using SQL modules, libraries & pre-
compilers.
 Allows users to create and drop databases and tables.
 Allows users to create view, stored procedure, functions in a database.
 Allows users to set permissions on tables, procedures and views.

A Brief History of SQL

  1970 − Dr. Edgar F. "Ted" Codd of IBM is known as the father of relational databases.
He described a relational model for databases.
 1974 − Structured Query Language appeared.
 1978 − IBM worked to develop Codd's ideas and released a product named System/R.
 1986 − IBM developed the first prototype of relational database and standardized by
ANSI. The first relational database was released by Relational Software which later
came to be known as Oracle.

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 this process.

These components are −

 Query Dispatcher
 Optimization Engines
 Classic Query Engine
 SQL Query Engine, etc.

A classic query engine handles all the non-SQL queries, but a SQL query engine won't handle
logical files.

Following is a simple diagram showing the 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 the
following groups based on their nature −

DDL - Data Definition Language

Sr.No. Command & Description

CREATE
1
Creates a new table, a view of a table, or other object in the database.
ALTER
2
Modifies an existing database object, such as a table.
DROP
3
Deletes an entire table, a view of a table or other objects in the database.

DML - Data Manipulation Language

Sr.No. Command & Description

1 SELECT
 Retrieves certain records from one or more tables.
INSERT
2
Creates a record.
UPDATE
3
Modifies records.
DELETE
4
Deletes records.

DCL - Data Control Language

Sr.No. Command & Description

GRANT
1
Gives a privilege to user.
REVOKE
2
Takes back privileges granted from user.
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SQL - RDBMS Concepts

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What is RDBMS?
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL,
and for all modern database systems like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and
Microsoft Access.

A Relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system

(DBMS) that is based on the relational model as introduced by E. F. Codd.

What is a table?
The data in an RDBMS is stored in database objects which are called as tables. This table is
basically a collection of related data entries and it consists of numerous columns and rows.

Remember, a table is the most common and simplest form of data storage in a relational
database. The following program is an example of a CUSTOMERS table −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

What is a field?
Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the CUSTOMERS
table consist of ID, NAME, AGE, ADDRESS and SALARY.

A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain specific information about every
record in the table.

What is a Record or a Row?

A record is also called as a row of data is each individual entry that exists in a table. For
example, there are 7 records in the above CUSTOMERS table. Following is a single row of
data or record in the CUSTOMERS table −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

A record is a horizontal entity in a table.

What is a column?
A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific
field in a table.

For example, a column in the CUSTOMERS table is ADDRESS, which represents location
description and would be as shown below −

+-----------+
| ADDRESS |
+-----------+
| Ahmedabad |
| Delhi |
| Kota |
| Mumbai |
| Bhopal |
| MP |
| Indore |
+----+------+

What is a NULL value?

A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank, which means a field
with a NULL value is a field with no value.

It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field
that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is the one that has been left blank during a
record creation.

SQL Constraints
Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on a table. These are used to limit the type
of data that can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the
database.

Constraints can either be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied
only to one column whereas, table level constraints are applied to the entire table.

Following are some of the most commonly used constraints available in SQL −

 NOT NULL Constraint − Ensures that a column cannot have a NULL value.
 DEFAULT Constraint − Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
 UNIQUE Constraint − Ensures that all the values in a column are different.
 PRIMARY Key − Uniquely identifies each row/record in a database table.
 FOREIGN Key − Uniquely identifies a row/record in any another database table.
 CHECK Constraint − The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column
satisfy certain conditions.
 INDEX − Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

Data Integrity
The following categories of data integrity exist with each RDBMS −

 Entity Integrity − There are no duplicate rows in a table.

 Domain Integrity − Enforces valid entries for a given column by restricting the type,
the format, or the range of values.
 Referential integrity − Rows cannot be deleted, which are used by other records.
 User-Defined Integrity − Enforces some specific business rules that do not fall into
entity, domain or referential integrity.

Database Normalization
Database normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are
two reasons of this normalization process −

 Eliminating redundant data, for example, storing the same data in more than one table.
 Ensuring data dependencies make sense.

Both these reasons are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes
and ensures that data is logically stored. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that
help guide you in creating a good database structure.

Normalization guidelines are divided into normal forms; think of a form as the format or the
way a database structure is laid out. The aim of normal forms is to organize the database
structure, so that it complies with the rules of first normal form, then second normal form and
finally the third normal form.

It is your choice to take it further and go to the fourth normal form, fifth normal form and so
on, but in general, the third normal form is more than enough.

 First Normal Form (1NF)

 Second Normal Form (2NF)
 Third Normal Form (3NF)

SQL - RDBMS Databases

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There are many popular RDBMS available to work with. This tutorial gives a brief overview
of some of the most popular RDBMS’s. This would help you to compare their basic features.

MySQL
MySQL is an open source SQL database, which is developed by a Swedish company –
MySQL AB. MySQL is pronounced as "my ess-que-ell," in contrast with SQL, pronounced
"sequel."

MySQL is supporting many different platforms including Microsoft Windows, the major
Linux distributions, UNIX, and Mac OS X.
MySQL has free and paid versions, depending on its usage (non-commercial/commercial) and
features. MySQL comes with a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user and robust SQL database
server.

History

 Development of MySQL by Michael Widenius & David Axmark beginning in 1994.

 First internal release on 23rd May 1995.
 Windows Version was released on the 8th January 1998 for Windows 95 and NT.
 Version 3.23: beta from June 2000, production release January 2001.
 Version 4.0: beta from August 2002, production release March 2003 (unions).
 Version 4.1: beta from June 2004, production release October 2004.
 Version 5.0: beta from March 2005, production release October 2005.
 Sun Microsystems acquired MySQL AB on the 26th February 2008.
 Version 5.1: production release 27th November 2008.

Features

 High Performance.
 High Availability.
 Scalability and Flexibility Run anything.
 Robust Transactional Support.
 Web and Data Warehouse Strengths.
 Strong Data Protection.
 Comprehensive Application Development.
 Management Ease.
 Open Source Freedom and 24 x 7 Support.
 Lowest Total Cost of Ownership.

MS SQL Server
MS SQL Server is a Relational Database Management System developed by Microsoft Inc.
Its primary query languages are −

 T-SQL
 ANSI SQL

History

 1987 - Sybase releases SQL Server for UNIX.

 1988 - Microsoft, Sybase, and Aston-Tate port SQL Server to OS/2.
 1989 - Microsoft, Sybase, and Aston-Tate release SQL Server 1.0 for OS/2.
 1990 - SQL Server 1.1 is released with support for Windows 3.0 clients.
 Aston - Tate drops out of SQL Server development.
 2000 - Microsoft releases SQL Server 2000.
 2001 - Microsoft releases XML for SQL Server Web Release 1 (download).
 2002 - Microsoft releases SQLXML 2.0 (renamed from XML for SQL Server).
  2002 - Microsoft releases SQLXML 3.0.
 2005 - Microsoft releases SQL Server 2005 on November 7th, 2005.

Features

 High Performance
 High Availability
 Database mirroring
 Database snapshots
 CLR integration
 Service Broker
 DDL triggers
 Ranking functions
 Row version-based isolation levels
 XML integration
 TRY...CATCH
 Database Mail

ORACLE
It is a very large multi-user based database management system. Oracle is a relational
database management system developed by 'Oracle Corporation'.

Oracle works to efficiently manage its resources, a database of information among the
multiple clients requesting and sending data in the network.

It is an excellent database server choice for client/server computing. Oracle supports all major
operating systems for both clients and servers, including MSDOS, NetWare, UnixWare, OS/2
and most UNIX flavors.

History

Oracle began in 1977 and celebrating its 32 wonderful years in the industry (from 1977 to
2009).

 1977 - Larry Ellison, Bob Miner and Ed Oates founded Software Development
Laboratories to undertake development work.
 1979 - Version 2.0 of Oracle was released and it became first commercial relational
database and first SQL database. The company changed its name to Relational
Software Inc. (RSI).
 1981 - RSI started developing tools for Oracle.
 1982 - RSI was renamed to Oracle Corporation.
 1983 - Oracle released version 3.0, rewritten in C language and ran on multiple
platforms.
 1984 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control -
multi-version read consistency, etc.
 1985 - Oracle version 4.0 was released. It contained features like concurrency control -
multi-version read consistency, etc.
  2007 - Oracle released Oracle11g. The new version focused on better partitioning,
easy migration, etc.

Features

 Concurrency
 Read Consistency
 Locking Mechanisms
 Quiesce Database
 Portability
 Self-managing database
 SQL*Plus
 ASM
 Scheduler
 Resource Manager
 Data Warehousing
 Materialized views
 Bitmap indexes
 Table compression
 Parallel Execution
 Analytic SQL
 Data mining
 Partitioning

MS ACCESS
This is one of the most popular Microsoft products. Microsoft Access is an entry-level
database management software. MS Access database is not only inexpensive but also a
powerful database for small-scale projects.

MS Access uses the Jet database engine, which utilizes a specific SQL language dialect
(sometimes referred to as Jet SQL).

MS Access comes with the professional edition of MS Office package. MS Access has
easyto-use intuitive graphical interface.

 1992 - Access version 1.0 was released.

 1993 - Access 1.1 released to improve compatibility with inclusion the Access Basic
programming language.
 The most significant transition was from Access 97 to Access 2000.
 2007 - Access 2007, a new database format was introduced ACCDB which supports
complex data types such as multi valued and attachment fields.

Features

 Users can create tables, queries, forms and reports and connect them together with
macros.
  Option of importing and exporting the data to many formats including Excel, Outlook,
ASCII, dBase, Paradox, FoxPro, SQL Server, Oracle, ODBC, etc.
 There is also the Jet Database format (MDB or ACCDB in Access 2007), which can
contain the application and data in one file. This makes it very convenient to distribute
the entire application to another user, who can run it in disconnected environments.
 Microsoft Access offers parameterized queries. These queries and Access tables can
be referenced from other programs like VB6 and .NET through DAO or ADO.
 The desktop editions of Microsoft SQL Server can be used with Access as an
alternative to the Jet Database Engine.
 Microsoft Access is a file server-based database. Unlike the client-server relational
database management systems (RDBMS), Microsoft Access does not implement
database triggers, stored procedures or transaction logging

SQL - Syntax
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SQL is followed by a unique set of rules and guidelines called Syntax. This tutorial gives you
a quick start with SQL by listing all the basic SQL Syntax.
All the SQL statements start with any of the keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE,
DELETE, ALTER, DROP, CREATE, USE, SHOW and all the statements end with a
semicolon (;).

The most important point to be noted here is that SQL is case insensitive, which means
SELECT and select have same meaning in SQL statements. Whereas, MySQL makes
difference in table names. So, if you are working with MySQL, then you need to give table
names as they exist in the database.

Various Syntax in SQL

All the examples given in this tutorial have been tested with a MySQL server.

SQL SELECT Statement

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQL DISTINCT Clause

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQL WHERE Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;

SQL AND/OR Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION-1 {AND|OR} CONDITION-2;

SQL IN Clause
SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);

SQL BETWEEN Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name BETWEEN val-1 AND val-2;

SQL LIKE Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE { PATTERN };
SQL ORDER BY Clause
SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
ORDER BY column_name {ASC|DESC};

SQL GROUP BY Clause

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name;

SQL COUNT Clause

SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;

SQL HAVING Clause

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING (arithematic function condition);

SQL CREATE TABLE Statement

CREATE TABLE table_name(
column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
.....
columnN datatype,
PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);

SQL DROP TABLE Statement

DROP TABLE table_name;

SQL CREATE INDEX Statement

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name ( column1, column2,...columnN);

SQL DROP INDEX Statement

ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP INDEX index_name;

SQL DESC Statement

DESC table_name;

SQL TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement

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

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement (Rename)

ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME TO new_table_name;

SQL INSERT INTO Statement

INSERT INTO table_name( column1, column2....columnN)
VALUES ( value1, value2....valueN);

SQL UPDATE Statement

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2....columnN=valueN
[ WHERE CONDITION ];

SQL DELETE Statement

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE {CONDITION};

SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement

CREATE DATABASE database_name;

SQL DROP DATABASE Statement

DROP DATABASE database_name;

SQL USE Statement

USE database_name;

SQL COMMIT Statement

COMMIT;

SQL ROLLBACK Statement

ROLLBACK;
SQL - Data Types
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SQL Data Type is an attribute that specifies the type of data of any object. Each column,
variable and expression has a related data type in SQL. You can use these data types while
creating your tables. You can choose a data type for a table column based on your
requirement.

SQL Server offers six categories of data types for your use which are listed below −

Exact Numeric Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO
bigint -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 9,223,372,036,854,775,807
int -2,147,483,648 2,147,483,647
smallint -32,768 32,767
tinyint 0 255
bit 0 1
decimal -10^38 +1 10^38 -1
numeric -10^38 +1 10^38 -1
money -922,337,203,685,477.5808 +922,337,203,685,477.5807
smallmoney -214,748.3648 +214,748.3647

Approximate Numeric Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO
float -1.79E + 308 1.79E + 308
real -3.40E + 38 3.40E + 38

Date and Time Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO
datetime Jan 1, 1753 Dec 31, 9999
smalldatetime Jan 1, 1900 Jun 6, 2079
date Stores a date like June 30, 1991
time Stores a time of day like 12:30 P.M.

Note − Here, datetime has 3.33 milliseconds accuracy where as smalldatetime has 1 minute
accuracy.

Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description
char
1
Maximum length of 8,000 characters.( Fixed length non-Unicode characters)
varchar
2
Maximum of 8,000 characters.(Variable-length non-Unicode data).
3 varchar(max)
 Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters, Variable-length non-Unicode data (SQL
Server 2005 only).
text
4
Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647
characters.

Unicode Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description
nchar
1
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.( Fixed length Unicode)
nvarchar
2
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.(Variable length Unicode)
nvarchar(max)
3
Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters (SQL Server 2005 only).( Variable length
Unicode)
ntext
4
Maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. ( Variable length Unicode )

Binary Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description
binary
1
Maximum length of 8,000 bytes(Fixed-length binary data )
varbinary
2
Maximum length of 8,000 bytes.(Variable length binary data)
varbinary(max)
3
Maximum length of 2E + 31 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). ( Variable length Binary
data)
image
4
Maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. ( Variable length Binary Data)

Misc Data Types

Sr.No. DATA TYPE & Description
1 sql_variant
 Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext, and
timestamp.
timestamp
2
Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets updated
uniqueidentifier
3
Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)
xml
4
Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (SQL Server
2005 only).
cursor
5
Reference to a cursor object
table
6
Stores a result set for later processing

SQL - Operators
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What is an Operator in SQL?

An operator is a reserved word or a character used primarily in an SQL statement's WHERE
clause to perform operation(s), such as comparisons and arithmetic operations. These
Operators are used to specify conditions in an SQL statement and to serve as conjunctions for
multiple conditions in a statement.
  Arithmetic operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Operators used to negate conditions

SQL Arithmetic Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

+ (Addition) Adds values on either side of the operator. a + b will give 30
Subtracts right hand operand from left hand
- (Subtraction) a - b will give -10
operand.
Multiplies values on either side of the
* (Multiplication) a * b will give 200
operator.
Divides left hand operand by right hand
/ (Division) b / a will give 2
operand.
Divides left hand operand by right hand
% (Modulus) b % a will give 0
operand and returns remainder.

SQL Comparison Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −

Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if
= (a = b) is not true.
yes then condition becomes true.
Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if
!= (a != b) is true.
values are not equal then condition becomes true.
Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if
<> (a <> b) is true.
values are not equal then condition becomes true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the
> value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes (a > b) is not true.
true.
Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value
< (a < b) is true.
of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true.
Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or
>= equal to the value of right operand, if yes then condition (a >= b) is not true.
becomes true.
Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal
<= to the value of right operand, if yes then condition (a <= b) is true.
becomes true.
!< Checks if the value of left operand is not less than the (a !< b) is false.
 value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes
true.
Checks if the value of left operand is not greater than
!> the value of right operand, if yes then condition (a !> b) is true.
becomes true.

SQL Logical Operators

Here is a list of all the logical operators available in SQL.

Show Examples

Sr.No. Operator & Description

ALL
1
The ALL operator is used to compare a value to all values in another value set.
AND
2
The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement's
WHERE clause.
ANY
3
The ANY operator is used to compare a value to any applicable value in the list as per
the condition.
BETWEEN
4
The BETWEEN operator is used to search for values that are within a set of values,
given the minimum value and the maximum value.
EXISTS
5
The EXISTS operator is used to search for the presence of a row in a specified table
that meets a certain criterion.
IN
6
The IN operator is used to compare a value to a list of literal values that have been
specified.
LIKE
7
The LIKE operator is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard
operators.
NOT
8
The NOT operator reverses the meaning of the logical operator with which it is used.
Eg: NOT EXISTS, NOT BETWEEN, NOT IN, etc. This is a negate operator.
OR
9
The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's
WHERE clause.
 IS NULL
10
The NULL operator is used to compare a value with a NULL value.
UNIQUE
11
The UNIQUE operator searches every row of a specified table for uniqueness (no
duplicates).