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SQL
SQL (Structured Query Language) is used to perform operations on the records stored in the database such as
updating records, deleting records, creating and modifying tables, views, etc.

SQL is just a query language; it is not a database. To perform SQL queries, you need to install any database, for
example, Oracle, MySQL, MongoDB, PostGre SQL, SQL Server, DB2, MariadB etc

What is SQL
o SQL stands for Structured Query Language.

o It is designed for managing data in a relational database management system (RDBMS).

o It is pronounced as S-Q-L or sometime See-Qwell.

o SQL is a database language; it is used for database creation, deletion, fetching rows, and modifying rows,
etc.
o SQL is based on relational algebra and tuple relational calculus.

All DBMS like MySQL, Oracle, MS Access, Sybase, Informix, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server use SQL as
standard database language.

Why SQL is required

SQL is required:

o To create new databases, tables and views

o To insert records in a database

o To update records in a database

o To delete records from a database

o To retrieve data from a database

What SQL does

o With SQL, we can query our database in several ways, using English-like statements.

o With SQL, a user can access data from a relational database management system.

o It allows the user to describe the data.

o It allows the user to define the data in the database and manipulate it when needed.

o It allows the user to create and drop database and table.

o It allows the user to create a view, stored procedure, function in a database.

o It allows the user to set permission on tables, procedures, and views.

SQL Syntax
SQL follows some unique set of rules and guidelines called syntax. Here, we are providing all the basic SQL syntax.
 o SQL is not case sensitive. Generally SQL keywords are written in uppercase.

o SQL statements are dependent on text lines. We can place a single SQL statement on one or multiple text
lines.
o You can perform most of the action in a database with SQL statements.

o SQL depends on relational algebra and tuple relational calculus.

SQL statement
SQL statements are started with any of the SQL commands/keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE,
ALTER, DROP etc. and the statement ends with a semicolon (;).

Example of SQL statement:

SELECT "column_name" FROM "table_name";

Why semicolon is used after SQL statements:

Semicolon is used to separate SQL statements. It is a standard way to separate SQL statements in a database
system in which more than one SQL statements are used in the same call.

In this tutorial, we will use semicolon at the end of each SQL statement.

SQL Commands
These are the some important SQL command:

o SELECT: it extracts data from a database.

o UPDATE: it updates data in database.

o DELETE: it deletes data from database.

o CREATE TABLE: it creates a new table.

o ALTER TABLE: it is used to modify the table.

o DROP TABLE: it deletes a table.

o CREATE DATABASE: it creates a new database.

o ALTER DATABASE: It is used to modify a database.

o INSERT INTO: it inserts new data into a database.

o CREATE INDEX: it is used to create an index (search key).

o DROP INDEX: it deletes an index.

SQL Data Types

Data types are used to represent the nature of the data that can be stored in the database table. For example, in a
particular column of a table, if we want to store a string type of data then we will have to declare a string data type
of this column.

Data types mainly classified into three categories for every database.
 o String Data types

o Numeric Data types

o Date and time Data types

Data Types in MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle Databases

MySQL Data Types

A list of data types used in MySQL database. This is based on MySQL 8.0.

MySQL String Data Types

CHAR(Size) It is used to specify a fixed length string that can contain numbers, letters, and special
characters. Its size can be 0 to 255 characters. Default is 1.

VARCHAR(Size) It is used to specify a variable length string that can contain numbers, letters, and special
characters. Its size can be from 0 to 65535 characters.

BINARY(Size) It is equal to CHAR () but stores binary byte strings. Its size parameter specifies the
column length in the bytes. Default is 1.

VARBINARY(Size) It is equal to VARCHAR () but stores binary byte strings. Its size parameter specifies the
maximum column length in bytes.

TEXT(Size) It holds a string that can contain a maximum length of 255 characters.

TINYTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 255 characters.

MEDIUMTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 16,777,215.

LONGTEXT It holds a string with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295 characters.

ENUM(val1, val2, It is used when a string object having only one value, chosen from a list of possible
val3,...) values. It contains 65535 values in an ENUM list. If you insert a value that is not in the
list, a blank value will be inserted.

SET( val1,val2,val3,. It is used to specify a string that can have 0 or more values, chosen from a list of possible
...) values. You can list up to 64 values at one time in a SET list.

BLOB(size) It is used for BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). It can hold up to 65,535 bytes.
MySQL Numeric Data Types

BIT(Size) It is used for a bit-value type. The number of bits per value is specified in size. Its size can be 1
to 64. The default value is 1.

INT(size) It is used for the integer value. Its signed range varies from -2147483648 to 2147483647 and
unsigned range varies from 0 to 4294967295. The size parameter specifies the max display
width that is 255.

INTEGER(size) It is equal to INT(size).

FLOAT(size, d) It is used to specify a floating point number. Its size parameter specifies the total number of
digits. The number of digits after the decimal point is specified by d parameter.

FLOAT(p) It is used to specify a floating point number. MySQL used p parameter to determine whether to
use FLOAT or DOUBLE. If p is between 0 to24, the data type becomes FLOAT (). If p is from 25
to 53, the data type becomes DOUBLE().

DOUBLE(size, It is a normal size floating point number. Its size parameter specifies the total number of digits.
d) The number of digits after the decimal is specified by d parameter.

DECIMAL(size, It is used to specify a fixed point number. Its size parameter specifies the total number of
d) digits. The number of digits after the decimal parameter is specified by d parameter. The
maximum value for the size is 65, and the default value is 10. The maximum value for d is 30,
and the default value is 0.

DEC(size, d) It is equal to DECIMAL (size, d).

BOOL It is used to specify Boolean values true and false. Zero is considered as false, and nonzero
values are considered as true.

MySQL Date and Time Data Types

DATE It is used to specify date format YYYY-MM-DD. Its supported range is from '1000-01-01' to
'9999-12-31'.

DATETIME(fsp) It is used to specify date and time combination. Its format is YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. Its
supported range is from '1000-01-01 00:00:00' to 9999-12-31 23:59:59'.
 TIMESTAMP(fsp) It is used to specify the timestamp. Its value is stored as the number of seconds since the
Unix epoch('1970-01-01 00:00:00' UTC). Its format is YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. Its supported
range is from '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-09 03:14:07' UTC.

TIME(fsp) It is used to specify the time format. Its format is hh:mm:ss. Its supported range is from '-
838:59:59' to '838:59:59'

YEAR It is used to specify a year in four-digit format. Values allowed in four digit format from 1901
to 2155, and 0000.

SQL Server Data Types

SQL Server String Data Type

char(n) It is a fixed width character string data type. Its size can be up to 8000 characters.

varchar(n) It is a variable width character string data type. Its size can be up to 8000 characters.

varchar(max) It is a variable width character string data types. Its size can be up to 1,073,741,824 characters.

text It is a variable width character string data type. Its size can be up to 2GB of text data.

nchar It is a fixed width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up to 4000 characters.

nvarchar It is a variable width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up to 4000 characters.

ntext It is a variable width Unicode string data type. Its size can be up to 2GB of text data.

binary(n) It is a fixed width Binary string data type. Its size can be up to 8000 bytes.

varbinary It is a variable width Binary string data type. Its size can be up to 8000 bytes.

image It is also a variable width Binary string data type. Its size can be up to 2GB.

SQL Server Numeric Data Types

bit It is an integer that can be 0, 1 or null.

 tinyint It allows whole numbers from 0 to 255.

Smallin It allows whole numbers between -32,768 and 32,767.

t

Int It allows whole numbers between -2,147,483,648 and 2,147,483,647.

bigint It allows whole numbers between -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 and 9,223,372,036,854,775,807.

float(n) It is used to specify floating precision number data from -1.79E+308 to 1.79E+308. The n parameter
indicates whether the field should hold the 4 or 8 bytes. Default value of n is 53.

real It is a floating precision number data from -3.40E+38 to 3.40E+38.

money It is used to specify monetary data from -922,337,233,685,477.5808 to 922,337,203,685,477.5807.

SQL Server Date and Time Data Type

datetime It is used to specify date and time combination. It supports range from January 1, 1753, to
December 31, 9999 with an accuracy of 3.33 milliseconds.

datetime2 It is used to specify date and time combination. It supports range from January 1, 0001 to December
31, 9999 with an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds

date It is used to store date only. It supports range from January 1, 0001 to December 31, 9999

time It stores time only to an accuracy of 100 nanoseconds

timestamp It stores a unique number when a new row gets created or modified. The time stamp value is based
upon an internal clock and does not correspond to real time. Each table may contain only one-time
stamp variable.

SQL Server Other Data Types

Sql_variant It is used for various data types except for text, timestamp, and ntext. It stores up to 8000
bytes of data.

XML It stores XML formatted data. Maximum 2GB.

 cursor It stores a reference to a cursor used for database operations.

table It stores result set for later processing.

uniqueidentifier It stores GUID (Globally unique identifier).

Oracle Data Types

Oracle String data types

CHAR(size) It is used to store character data within the predefined length. It can be stored up to 2000
bytes.

NCHAR(size) It is used to store national character data within the predefined length. It can be stored up
to 2000 bytes.

VARCHAR2(size) It is used to store variable string data within the predefined length. It can be stored up to
4000 byte.

VARCHAR(SIZE) It is the same as VARCHAR2(size). You can also use VARCHAR(size), but it is suggested to
use VARCHAR2(size)

NVARCHAR2(size It is used to store Unicode string data within the predefined length. We have to must specify
) the size of NVARCHAR2 data type. It can be stored up to 4000 bytes.

Oracle Numeric Data Types

NUMBER(p, s) It contains precision p and scale s. The precision p can range from 1 to 38, and the scale s
can range from -84 to 127.

FLOAT(p) It is a subtype of the NUMBER data type. The precision p can range from 1 to 126.

BINARY_FLOAT It is used for binary precision( 32-bit). It requires 5 bytes, including length byte.

BINARY_DOUBLE It is used for double binary precision (64-bit). It requires 9 bytes, including length byte.
Oracle Date and Time Data Types

DATE It is used to store a valid date-time format with a fixed length. Its range varies from January 1,
4712 BC to December 31, 9999 AD.

TIMESTAMP It is used to store the valid date in YYYY-MM-DD with time hh:mm:ss format.

Oracle Large Object Data Types (LOB Types)

BLOB It is used to specify unstructured binary data. Its range goes up to 232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

BFILE It is used to store binary data in an external file. Its range goes up to 232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

CLOB It is used for single-byte character data. Its range goes up to 232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

NCLOB It is used to specify single byte or fixed length multibyte national character set (NCHAR) data. Its
range is up to 232-1 bytes or 4 GB.

RAW(size) It is used to specify variable length raw binary data. Its range is up to 2000 bytes per row. Its
maximum size must be specified.

LONG It is used to specify variable length raw binary data. Its range up to 231-1 bytes or 2 GB, per row.
RAW

SQL Commands
o SQL commands are instructions. It is used to communicate with the database. It is also used to perform
specific tasks, functions, and queries of data.
o SQL can perform various tasks like create a table, add data to tables, drop the table, modify the table, set
permission for users.

Types of SQL Commands

There are five types of SQL commands: DDL, DML, DCL, TCL, and DQL.
 1. Data Definition Language (DDL)
o DDL changes the structure of the table like creating a table, deleting a table, altering a table, etc.

o All the command of DDL are auto-committed that means it permanently save all the changes in the
database.

Here are some commands that come under DDL:

o CREATE

o ALTER

o DROP

o TRUNCATE

a. CREATE It is used to create a new table in the database.

Syntax:

1. CREATE TABLE TABLE_NAME (COLUMN_NAME DATATYPES[,....]);

Example:

1. CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE(Name VARCHAR2(20), Email VARCHAR2(100), DOB DATE);

 b. DROP: It is used to delete both the structure and record stored in the table.

Syntax

1. DROP TABLE ;

Example

1. DROP TABLE EMPLOYEE;

c. ALTER: It is used to alter the structure of the database. This change could be either to modify the
characteristics of an existing attribute or probably to add a new attribute.

Syntax:

To add a new column in the table

1. ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name COLUMN-definition;

To modify existing column in the table:

1. ALTER TABLE MODIFY(COLUMN DEFINITION....);

EXAMPLE

1. ALTER TABLE STU_DETAILS ADD(ADDRESS VARCHAR2(20));

2. ALTER TABLE STU_DETAILS MODIFY (NAME VARCHAR2(20));

d. TRUNCATE: It is used to delete all the rows from the table and free the space containing the table.

Syntax:

1. TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

Example:

1. TRUNCATE TABLE EMPLOYEE;

2. Data Manipulation Language

o DML commands are used to modify the database. It is responsible for all form of changes in the database.

o The command of DML is not auto-committed that means it can't permanently save all the changes in the
database. They can be rollback.

Here are some commands that come under DML:

o INSERT

o UPDATE

o DELETE
 a. INSERT: The INSERT statement is a SQL query. It is used to insert data into the row of a table.

Syntax:

1. INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME

2. (col1, col2, col3,.... col N)
3. VALUES (value1, value2, value3, .... valueN);

Or

1. INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME

2. VALUES (value1, value2, value3, .... valueN);

For example:

1. INSERT INTO javatpoint (Author, Subject) VALUES ("Sonoo", "DBMS");

b. UPDATE: This command is used to update or modify the value of a column in the table.

Syntax:

1. UPDATE table_name SET [column_name1= value1,...column_nameN = valueN] [WHERE CONDITION]

For example:

1. UPDATE students
2. SET User_Name = 'Sonoo'
3. WHERE Student_Id = '3'

c. DELETE: It is used to remove one or more row from a table.

Syntax:

1. DELETE FROM table_name [WHERE condition];

For example:

1. DELETE FROM javatpoint

2. WHERE Author="Sonoo";

3. Data Control Language

DCL commands are used to grant and take back authority from any database user.

Here are some commands that come under DCL:

o Grant

o Revoke
 a. Grant: It is used to give user access privileges to a database.

Example

1. GRANT SELECT, UPDATE ON MY_TABLE TO SOME_USER, ANOTHER_USER;

b. Revoke: It is used to take back permissions from the user.

Example

1. REVOKE SELECT, UPDATE ON MY_TABLE FROM USER1, USER2;

4. Transaction Control Language

TCL commands can only use with DML commands like INSERT, DELETE and UPDATE only.

These operations are automatically committed in the database that's why they cannot be used while creating tables
or dropping them.

Here are some commands that come under TCL:

o COMMIT

o ROLLBACK

o SAVEPOINT

a. Commit: Commit command is used to save all the transactions to the database.

Syntax:

1. COMMIT;

Example:

1. DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS

2. WHERE AGE = 25;
3. COMMIT;

b. Rollback: Rollback command is used to undo transactions that have not already been saved to the database.

Syntax:

1. ROLLBACK;

Example:

1. DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS

2. WHERE AGE = 25;
3. ROLLBACK;

c. SAVEPOINT: It is used to roll the transaction back to a certain point without rolling back the entire transaction.
 Syntax:

1. SAVEPOINT SAVEPOINT_NAME;

5. Data Query Language

DQL is used to fetch the data from the database.

It uses only one command:

o SELECT

a. SELECT: This is the same as the projection operation of relational algebra. It is used to select the attribute
based on the condition described by WHERE clause.

Syntax:

1. SELECT expressions
2. FROM TABLES
3. WHERE conditions;

For example:

1. SELECT emp_name
2. FROM employee
3. WHERE age > 20;

SQL Operator
There are various types of SQL operator:
SQL Arithmetic Operators
Let's assume 'variable a' and 'variable b'. Here, 'a' contains 20 and 'b' contains 10.

Operator Description Example

+ It adds the value of both operands. a+b will give

30

- It is used to subtract the right-hand operand from the left-hand operand. a-b will give
10

* It is used to multiply the value of both operands. a*b will give

200

/ It is used to divide the left-hand operand by the right-hand operand. a/b will give 2

% It is used to divide the left-hand operand by the right-hand operand and a%b will give 0
returns reminder.
SQL Comparison Operators:
Let's assume 'variable a' and 'variable b'. Here, 'a' contains 20 and 'b' contains 10.

Operator Description Example

= It checks if two operands values are equal or not, if the values are queal (a=b) is not
then condition becomes true. true

!= It checks if two operands values are equal or not, if values are not equal, (a!=b) is true
then condition becomes true.

<> It checks if two operands values are equal or not, if values are not equal (a<>b) is true
then condition becomes true.

> It checks if the left operand value is greater than right operand value, if yes (a>b) is not
then condition becomes true. true

< It checks if the left operand value is less than right operand value, if yes (a<b) is true
then condition becomes true.

>= It checks if the left operand value is greater than or equal to the right (a>=b) is not
operand value, if yes then condition becomes true. true

<= It checks if the left operand value is less than or equal to the right operand (a<=b) is true
value, if yes then condition becomes true.

!< It checks if the left operand value is not less than the right operand value, (a!=b) is not
if yes then condition becomes true. true

!> It checks if the left operand value is not greater than the right operand (a!>b) is true
value, if yes then condition becomes true.

SQL Logical Operators

There is the list of logical operator used in SQL:

Operator Description
ALL It compares a value to all values in another value set.

AND It allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement.

ANY It compares the values in the list according to the condition.

BETWEEN It is used to search for values that are within a set of values.

IN It compares a value to that specified list value.

NOT It reverses the meaning of any logical operator.

OR It combines multiple conditions in SQL statements.

EXISTS It is used to search for the presence of a row in a specified table.

LIKE It compares a value to similar values using wildcard operator.