Database system Department of computer science of IT

LAB # 04

Implementation of
SQL Functions
(Aggregate/Scalar functions)

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Lab Objective:
The aim of this lab is to understand the different functions used in the SQL.

SQL Aggregate Functions

SQL aggregate functions return a single value, calculated from values in a column.

Useful aggregate functions:

 AVG() - Returns the average value

 COUNT() - Returns the number of rows
 MAX() - Returns the largest value
 MIN() - Returns the smallest value
 SUM() - Returns the sum

SQL Scalar functions

SQL scalar functions return a single value, based on the input value.

Useful scalar functions:

 UCASE() - Converts a field to upper case

 LCASE() - Converts a field to lower case
 LEN() - Returns the length of a text field
 GETDATE() - Returns the current system date and time

Tip: The aggregate functions and the scalar functions will be explained in details in the next
chapters.

1- The AVG() Function

The AVG() function returns the average value of a numeric column.

SQL AVG() Syntax

SELECT AVG(column_name) FROM table_name

Example

We have the following "Orders" table:

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O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find the average value of the "OrderPrice" fields.

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) AS OrderAverage FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

OrderAverage

950

Now we want to find the customers that have an OrderPrice value higher than the
average OrderPrice value.

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT Customer FROM Orders

WHERE OrderPrice>(SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) FROM Orders)

The result-set will look like this:

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Customer

Hansen

Nilsen

Jensen

2- SQL COUNT() Function

The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criteria.

Its syntax is:

The COUNT(column_name) function returns the number of values (NULL values will
not be counted) of the specified column:

SELECT COUNT(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL COUNT(*) Syntax

The COUNT(*) function returns the number of records in a table:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name

SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Syntax

The COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) function returns the number of distinct values

of the specified column:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) FROM table_name

Note: COUNT(DISTINCT) works with ORACLE and Microsoft SQL Server, but not
with Microsoft Access.

Example
We have the following "Orders" table:

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O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to count the number of orders from "Customer Nilsen".

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT COUNT(Customer) AS CustomerNilsen FROM Orders

WHERE Customer='Nilsen'

The result of the SQL statement above will be 2, because the customer Nilsen has made
2 orders in total:

CustomerNilsen

SQL COUNT(*) Example

If we omit the WHERE clause, like this:

SELECT COUNT(*) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

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NumberOfOrders

which is the total number of rows in the table.

SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Example

Now we want to count the number of unique customers in the "Orders"

table. We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Customer) AS NumberOfCustomers FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

NumberOfCustomers

which is the number of unique customers (Hansen, Nilsen, and Jensen) in the
"Orders" table

3- SQL MAX() Function

The MAX() function returns the largest value of the selected column.

SQL MAX() Syntax

SELECT MAX(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL MAX() Example

We have the following "Orders" table:

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O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find the largest value of the "OrderPrice" column.

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT MAX(OrderPrice) AS LargestOrderPrice FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

LargestOrderPrice

2000

The MIN() Function

The MIN() function returns the smallest value of the selected column.

SQL MIN() Syntax

SELECT MIN(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL MIN() Example

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We have the following "Orders" table:

O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find the smallest value of the "OrderPrice"

column. We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT MIN(OrderPrice) AS SmallestOrderPrice FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

SmallestOrderPrice

100

SQL SUM() Function

The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.

SQL SUM() Syntax

SELECT SUM(column_name) FROM table_name

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SQL SUM() Example

We have the following "Orders" table:

O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find the sum of all "OrderPrice" fields".

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT SUM(OrderPrice) AS OrderTotal FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

OrderTotal

5700

SQL GROUP BY Statement

Aggregate functions often need an added GROUP BY statement.

The GROUP BY statement is used in conjunction with the aggregate functions to group
the result-set by one or more columns.

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SQL GROUP BY Syntax

SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
GROUP BY column_name

SQL GROUP BY Example

We have the following "Orders" table:

O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find the total sum (total order) of each customer.

We will have to use the GROUP BY statement to group the customers.

We use the following SQL statement:

SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

GROUP BY Customer

The result-set will look like this:

Customer SUM(OrderPrice)

Hansen 2000

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Nilsen 1700

Jensen 2000

Nice! Isn't it? :)

Let's see what happens if we omit the GROUP BY statement:

SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

The result-set will look like this:

Customer SUM(OrderPrice)

Hansen 5700

Nilsen 5700

Hansen 5700

Hansen 5700

Jensen 5700

Nilsen 5700

The result-set above is not what we wanted.

Explanation of why the above SELECT statement cannot be used: The SELECT statement
above has two columns specified (Customer and SUM(OrderPrice). The "SUM(OrderPrice)"
returns a single value (that is the total sum of the "OrderPrice" column), while "Customer"
returns 6 values (one value for each row in the "Orders" table). This will therefore not give us
the correct result. However, you have seen that the GROUP BY statement solves this problem.

GROUP BY More Than One Column

We can also use the GROUP BY statement on more than one column, like this:

SELECT Customer,OrderDate,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

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GROUP BY Customer,OrderDate

The HAVING Clause

The HAVING clause was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used
with aggregate functions.

SQL HAVING 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

SQL HAVING Example

We have the following "Orders" table:

O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer

1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen

2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen

3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen

4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen

5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen

6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen

Now we want to find if any of the customers have a total order of less than 2000.

We use the following SQL statement:

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SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

GROUP BY Customer
HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)<2000

The result-set will look like this:

Customer SUM(OrderPrice)

Nilsen 1700

Now we want to find if the customers "Hansen" or "Jensen" have a total order of more
than 1500.

We add an ordinary WHERE clause to the SQL statement:

SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders

WHERE Customer='Hansen' OR Customer='Jensen'
GROUP BY Customer
HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)>1500

The result-set will look like this:

Customer SUM(OrderPrice)

Hansen 2000

Jensen 2000

SQL UCASE() Function

The UCASE() Function

The UCASE() function converts the value of a field to uppercase.

SQL UCASE() Syntax

SELECT UCASE(column_name) FROM table_name

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Syntax for SQL Server

SELECT UPPER(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL UCASE() Example

We have the following "Persons" table:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above,
and convert the "LastName" column to uppercase.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT UCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons

The result-set will look like this:

LastName FirstName

HANSEN Ola

SVENDSON Tove

PETTERSEN Kari

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SQL LCASE() Function

The LCASE() function converts the value of a field to lowercase.

SQL LCASE() Syntax

SELECT LCASE(column_name) FROM table_name

Syntax for SQL Server

SELECT LOWER(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL LCASE() Example

We have the following "Persons" table:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above,
and convert the "LastName" column to lowercase.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT LCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons

The result-set will look like this:

LastName FirstName

hansen Ola

svendson Tove

pettersen Kari

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SQL LEN() Function

The LEN() function returns the length of the value in a text field.

SQL LEN() Syntax

SELECT LEN(column_name) FROM table_name

SQL LEN() Example

We have the following "Persons" table:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Now we want to select the length of the values in the "Address" column

above. We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT LEN(Address) as LengthOfAddress FROM Persons

The result-set will look like this:

LengthOfAddress

12

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SQL GETDATE() Function

The GETDATE() Function

The GETDATE() function returns the current system date and time.

SQL GETDATE() Syntax

SELECT GETDATE();

TASKS:

Name Reg_No Courses Course_Code Offered_By

Ali 01 DIP 1001 Mr. A

Basit 02 DBMS 1002 Mr. X
Akram 03 OS 1003 Mr. Y
Asad 04 DBMS 1002 Mr. X
Zeeshan 05 DIP 1001 Mr. A
Muneer 06 OS Mr. Y
Shafqat 07 NM 1004 Mr. H
Ahsan 08 OS 1003 Mr. Y
Ikram 09 DIP Mr. A
Hassan 10 DSP

For the above table perform the following tasks:-

TASK 1:
 rd th th
Calculate the number of records for the 3 , 4 and 5 column.

Find distinct number of records for the Course Code=1002 as Total.

Find number of students registered for the course DIP as Total Courses.

TASK 2:

Convert the text valued fields in the above table to the lower case and upper case alphabets.

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TASK 3:

Using GROUP BY statement, group the courses for the above table.

TASK 4:

Select maximum of the Reg no and smallest valued course code for the above given table.

TASK 5:

Find the length of each record for the first column in the above table as MAXIMUM LENGTH.

TASK 6:
nd
Find the average value for the 2 column.
TASK 7:

Find if the customers "Hansen" or "Nilsen" have a total order of less than 2100 for the
following table:

O_Id OrderPrice Customer

1 1000 Hansen
2 1600 Nilsen
3 700 Hansen
4 300 Hansen
5 2000 Jensen
6 100 Nilsen

Also find if any customer have order of more than 1800.

TASK 8:

Find the total sum (total order) of each customer.

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