List of SQL Commands

Background

SQL, Structured Query Language, is a programming language designed to manage data stored in
relational databases. SQL operates through simple, declarative statements. This keeps data accurate
and secure, and it helps maintain the integrity of databases, regardless of size.

Note the following basic SQL Data Types

Datatype Description
A FIXED length string (can contain letters, numbers,
and special characters). The size parameter specifies
CHAR(size) the column length in characters – can be from 0 to
255. Default is 1

A VARIABLE length string (can contain letters,

numbers, and special characters). The size
VARCHAR(size) parameter specifies the maximum column length in
characters – can be from 0 to 65535

Zero is considered as false, nonzero values are

BOOLEAN considered as true. BOOLEAN equal to BOOL

A medium integer. Signed range is from -

2147483648 to 2147483647. Unsigned range is from
0 to 4294967295. The size parameter specifies the
INTEGER(size) maximum display width (which is 255).
INTEGER(size) equal to INT(size)
A floating point number. The total number of digits
is specified in size. The number of digits after the
FLOAT(size, d) decimal point is specified in the d parameter.

A date. Format : YYYY-MM-DD. The supported range

DATE is from ‘1000-01-01’ to ‘9999-12-31’
etc

Here’s an appendix of commonly used commands.

Commands :

A. DDL (Data Definition Language)

1) CREATE DATABASE
CREATE DATABASE database_name ;
Example :
CREATE DATABASE Employees ;

2) CREATE TABLE

CREATE TABLE table_name (

Column_1 datatype,
 Column_2 datatype,

Column_3 datatype

);

CREATE TABLE creates a new table in the database. It allows you to specify the name of the table
and the name of each column in the table.

Example :

CREATE TABLE Employee (

Empid INT,

Name CHAR(25),

City CHAR(25),

Phone_no VARCHAR(20)

);

3) ALTER TABLE

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name datatype ;

Example :

ALTER TABLE Employee

ADD Address VARCHAR(20) ;

ALTER TABLE table_name

CHANGE (old_column_name)(new_column_name) ;

Example :

ALTER TABLE Employee

CHANGE (Phone_no)(Contact_no) ;

ALTER TABLE table_name

DROP COLUMN column_name;

Example :

ALTER TABLE Employee

DROP COLUMN age ;

ALTER TABLE lets you modify table columns in a database.

 4) DROP TABLE/DATABASE

DROP TABLE table_name ;

Example :

DROP TABLE Employee ;

DROP DATABASE database_name ;

Example :

DROP DATABASE Employees ;

5) RENAME TABLE

RENAME TABLE old_name TO new_name ;

Example :

RENAME TABLE Employee TO Emp;

B. DML (Data Manipulation Language)

6) SELECT
Simple SELECT

SELECT column_name (s)

FROM table_name ;

Example :

SELECT City

FROM Employee ;

SELECT DISTINCT

SELECT DISTINCT column_name

FROM table_name ;

SELECT DISTINCT specifies that the statement is going to be a query that returns unique values
in the specified column(s).

Example :

SELECT DISTINCT Age

FROM Employee ;

SUM
SELECT SUM(column_name)

FROM table_name ;

Example :

SELECT SUM(Amount)

FROM Salary ;

SUM() is a function that takes the name of a column as an argument and returns the sum of all
the values in that column.

WHERE

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

WHERE column_name operator value ;

WHERE is a clause that indicates you want to filter the result set to include only rows where the
following condition is true.

Example 1 :

SELECT Name

FROM Employee

WHERE Empid = 1 ;

Example 2 :

SELECT City, Phone_no

FROM Employee

WHERE Name = « John » ;

Example 3 :

SELECT Product

FROM Stock

WHERE Price > 500 ;

IS NULL / IS NOT NULL

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

WHERE column_name IS NULL ;

IS NULL and IS NOT NULL are operators used with the WHERE clause to test for empty values.
LIKE

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

WHERE column_name LIKE pattern ;

LIKE is a special operator used with the WHERE clause to search for a specific pattern in a
column.

LIMIT

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

LIMIT number ;

LIMIT is a clause that lets you specify the maximum number of rows the result set will have.

MAX()

SELECT MAX(column_name)

FROM table_name ;

MAX() is a function that takes the name of a column as an argument and returns the largest
value in that column.

Example :

SELECT MAX(Amount)

FROM Salary ;

MIN()

SELECT MIN(column_name)

FROM table_name ;

MIN() is a function that takes the name of a column as an argument and returns the smallest
value in that column.

OR

SELECT column_name (s)

FROM table_name
WHERE column_name = value_1

OR column_name = value_2 ;

OR is an operator that filters the result set to only include rows where either condition is true.

Example 1 :

SELECT Country

FROM Africa

WHERE ID = 1 OR ID = 2 OR ID = 5 ;

Example 2 :

SELECT Name, Age

FROM Employee

WHERE City = « Bastos » OR ID = 2 ;

ORDER BY

SELECT column_name (s)

FROM table_name

ORDER BY column_name ASC | DESC ;

OR

SELECT column_name (s)

FROM table_name

WHER column_name operator value

ORDER BY column_name ASC | DESC ;

ORDER BY is a clause that indicates you want to sort the result set by a particular column either
alphabetically or numerically.

Example 1 :

SELECT LastName

FROM Student

ORDER BY FirstName ASC ;

Example 2 :

SELECT LastName

FROM Student

ORDER BY FirstName DESC ;

Example 3 :

SELECT ID, FName

FROM Employee

WHERE Department = «Engineer »

ORDER BY LName ASC ;

OUTER JOIN

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_1

LEFT JOIN table_2

ON table_1.column_name = table_2.column_name ;

An outer join will combine rows from different tables even if the join condition is not met. Every
row in the left table is returned in the result set, and if the join condition is not met, then NULL
values are used to fill in the columns from the right table.

INNER JOIN

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_1

JOIN table_2

ON table_1.column_name = table_2.column_name ;

An inner join will combine rows from different tables if the join condition is true.

Example :

SELECT LastName

FROM Student

JOIN Department

ON Student.StudID = Department.StudID ;

ROUND()

SELECT ROUND(column_name, integer)

FROM table_name ;

ROUND() is a function that takes a column name and an integer as arguments. It rounds the
values in the column to the number of decimal places specified by the integer.
AND

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

WHERE column_1 = value_1

AND column_2 = value_2 ;

AND is an operator that combines two conditions. Both conditions must be true for the row to
be included in the result set.

Example :

SELECT LastName

FROM Student

WHERE ClassID = « CSC0795 »

AND Gender = « Female »;

AS

SELECT column_name AS ‘Alias’

FROM table_name ;

AS is a keyword in SQL that allows you to rename a column or table using an alias.

AVG()

SELECT AVG(column_name)

FROM table_name ;

AVG() is an aggregate function that returns the average value for a numeric column.

BETWEEN

SELECT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

WHERE column_name BETWEEN value_1 AND value_2 ;

The BETWEEN operator is used to filter the result set within a certain range. The values can be
numbers, text or dates.

Example :
SELECT Product

FROM Stock

WHERE Price BETWEEN 500 AND 1500 ;

CASE

SELECT column_name,

CASE

WHEN condition THEN ‘Result_1’

WHEN condition THEN ‘Result_2’

ELSE ‘Result_3’

END

FROM table_name ;

CASE statements are used to create different outputs (usually in the SELECT statement). It is
SQL’s way of handling if-then logic.

COUNT()

SELECT COUNT(column_name)

FROM table_name ;

COUNT() is a function that takes the name of a column as an argument and counts the number
of rows where the column is not NULL.

SELECT statements are used to fetch data from a database. Every query will begin with SELECT.

7) INSERT

INSERT INTO table_name (column_1, column_2, column_3)

VALUES (value_1, ‘value_2’, value_3) ;

OR

INSERT INTO table_name (‘column_name1’ datatype, 'column_name2’ datatype, ..

,'column_name_n’ datatype)

VALUES (‘value1’, ‘value2’, .. ,’value n) ;

INSERT statements are used to add a new row to a table.

Example 1 :

INSERT INTO User (FirstName, LastName, UserID, Dept, EmpNo, PCType)

VALUES ("Jim", "Jones", "Jjones","Finance", 9, "DellDimR450");

Example 2 :

INSERT INTO Employee (‘Empid’ int, ‘Name’ varchar(20), ‘City’ varchar (20))

VALUES ('1’, ‘ABC’, ‘PUNE’) ;

8) UPDATE

UPDATE table_name

SET some_column = some_value

OR

UPDATE table_name

SET some_column = some_value

WHERE some_column = some_value ;

UPDATE statements allow you to edit rows in a table.

Example 1 :

UPDATE Employee

SET Salary = 20 000

WHERE Name = « Johnson »

Example 2 :

UPDATE Employee

SET Department= « Marketing »

WHERE Empid = 9 ;

Example 3 :

UPDATE PayRoll

SET Salary = Salary * 1.1 ;

9) DELETE

DELETE FROM table_name

WHERE some_column = some_value ;

DELETE statements are used to remove rows from a table.

Example :

DELETE FROM Employee

WHERE Empid = 001 ;