SQL is a standard computer language for accessing and manipulating databases.

What is SQL?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language

SQL allows you to access a database

SQL is an ANSI standard computer language

SQL can execute queries against a database

SQL can retrieve data from a database

SQL can insert new records in a database

SQL can delete records from a database

SQL can update records in a database

SQL is easy to learn

SQL is a Standard - BUT....

SQL is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard computer language for
accessing and manipulating database systems. SQL statements are used to retrieve and update
data in a database. SQL works with database programs like MS Access, DB2, Informix, MS SQL
Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc.
Unfortunately, there are many different versions of the SQL language, but to be in compliance
with the ANSI standard, they must support the same major keywords in a similar manner (such
as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, WHERE, and others).
Note: Most of the SQL database programs also have their own proprietary extensions in addition
to the SQL standard!

SQL Database Tables

A database most often contains one or more tables. Each table is identified by a name (e.g.
"Customers" or "Orders"). Tables contain records (rows) with data.

Below is an example of a table called "Persons":

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

The table above contains three records (one for each person) and four columns (LastName,
FirstName, Address, and City).

SQL Queries
With SQL, we can query a database and have a result set returned.
A query like this:
SELECT LastName FROM Persons

Gives a result set like this:

LastName
Hansen
Svendson
Pettersen

Note: Some database systems require a semicolon at the end of the SQL statement. We don't use
the semicolon in our tutorials.

SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML)

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a syntax for executing queries. But the SQL language also
includes a syntax to update, insert, and delete records.
These query and update commands together form the Data Manipulation Language (DML) part
of SQL:

SELECT - extracts data from a database table

UPDATE - updates data in a database table

DELETE - deletes data from a database table

INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database table

SQL Data Definition Language (DDL)

The Data Definition Language (DDL) part of SQL permits database tables to be created or
deleted. We can also define indexes (keys), specify links between tables, and impose constraints
between database tables.
The most important DDL statements in SQL are:

CREATE TABLE - creates a new database table

ALTER TABLE - alters (changes) a database table

DROP TABLE - deletes a database table

CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key)

DROP INDEX - deletes an index

The SQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from a table. The tabular result is stored in a result
table (called the result-set).
Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name

Note: SQL statements are not case sensitive. SELECT is the same as select.

SQL SELECT Example

To select the content of columns named "LastName" and "FirstName", from the database table
called "Persons", use a SELECT statement like this:
SELECT LastName,FirstName FROM Persons

The database table "Persons":

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

The result
LastName

FirstName

Hansen

Ola

Svendson

Tove

Pettersen

Kari

Select All Columns

To select all columns from the "Persons" table, use a * symbol instead of column names, like
this:
SELECT * FROM Persons

Result
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

The Result Set

The result from a SQL query is stored in a result-set. Most database software systems allow
navigation of the result set with programming functions, like: Move-To-First-Record, GetRecord-Content, Move-To-Next-Record, etc.

Programming functions like these are not a part of this tutorial. To learn about accessing data
with function calls, please visit our ADO tutorial.

Semicolon after SQL Statements?

Semicolon is the standard way to separate each SQL statement in database systems that allow
more than one SQL statement to be executed in the same call to the server.
Some SQL tutorials end each SQL statement with a semicolon. Is this necessary? We are using
MS Access and SQL Server 2000 and we do not have to put a semicolon after each SQL
statement, but some database programs force you to use it.

The SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The DISTINCT keyword is used to return only distinct (different) values.
The SELECT statement returns information from table columns. But what if we only want to
select distinct elements?
With SQL, all we need to do is to add a DISTINCT keyword to the SELECT statement:
Syntax
SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)
FROM table_name

Using the DISTINCT keyword

To select ALL values from the column named "Company" we use a SELECT statement like this:
SELECT Company FROM Orders

"Orders" table
Company

OrderNumber

Sega

3412

W3Schools

2312

Trio

4678

W3Schools

6798

Result
Company
Sega
W3Schools
Trio
W3Schools

Note that "W3Schools" is listed twice in the result-set.

To select only DIFFERENT values from the column named "Company" we use a SELECT
DISTINCT statement like this:
SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM Orders

Result:
Company
Sega
W3Schools
Trio

Now "W3Schools" is listed only once in the result-set.

The WHERE clause is used to specify a selection criterion.

The WHERE Clause

To conditionally select data from a table, a WHERE clause can be added to the SELECT
statement.
Syntax

SELECT column FROM table

WHERE column operator value

With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used:

Operat
Description
or
=

Equal

<>

Not equal

>

Greater than

<

Less than

>=

Greater than or equal

<=

Less than or equal

BETWE
Between an inclusive range
EN
LIKE

Search for a pattern

IN

If you know the exact value you want to

return for at least one of the columns

Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=

Using the WHERE Clause

To select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes", we add a WHERE clause to the SELECT
statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE City='Sandnes'

"Persons" table
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Year

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

1951

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

1978

Svendson

Stale

Kaivn 18

Sandnes

1980

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

1960

Result
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Year

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

1951

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

1978

Svendson

Stale

Kaivn 18

Sandnes

1980

Using Quotes
Note that we have used single quotes around the conditional values in the examples.
SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept double
quotes). Numeric values should not be enclosed in quotes.
For text values:
This is correct:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove'
This is wrong:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName=Tove

For numeric values:

This is correct:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year>1965
This is wrong:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year>'1965'

The LIKE Condition

The LIKE condition is used to specify a search for a pattern in a column.
Syntax
SELECT column FROM table

WHERE column LIKE pattern

A "%" sign can be used to define wildcards (missing letters in the pattern) both before and after
the pattern.

Using LIKE
The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that start with an 'O':
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName LIKE 'O%'

The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that end with an 'a':
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName LIKE '%a'

The following SQL statement will return persons with first names that contain the pattern 'la':
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName LIKE '%la%'

The INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new rows into a table.
Syntax
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2,....)

You can also specify the columns for which you want to insert data:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2,...)
VALUES (value1, value2,....)

Insert a New Row

This "Persons" table:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

And this SQL statement:

INSERT INTO Persons
VALUES ('Hetland', 'Camilla', 'Hagabakka 24', 'Sandnes')

Will give this result:

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Hetland

Camilla

Hagabakka 24

Sandnes

Insert Data in Specified Columns

This "Persons" table:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Hetland

Camilla

Hagabakka 24

Sandnes

And This SQL statement:

INSERT INTO Persons (LastName, Address)
VALUES ('Rasmussen', 'Storgt 67')

Will give this result:

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Hetland

Camilla

Hagabakka 24

Sandnes

Rasmussen

Storgt 67

The Update Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to modify the data in a table.
Syntax

UPDATE table_name
SET column_name = new_value
WHERE column_name = some_value

Person:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Nilsen

Fred

Kirkegt 56

Stavanger

Rasmussen

Storgt 67

Update one Column in a Row

We want to add a first name to the person with a last name of "Rasmussen":
UPDATE Person SET FirstName = 'Nina'
WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Nilsen

Fred

Kirkegt 56

Stavanger

Rasmussen

Nina

Storgt 67

Update several Columns in a Row

We want to change the address and add the name of the city:
UPDATE Person
SET Address = 'Stien 12', City = 'Stavanger'
WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Nilsen

Fred

Kirkegt 56

Stavanger

Rasmussen

Nina

Stien 12

Stavanger

The DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete rows in a table.
Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE column_name = some_value

Person:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Nilsen

Fred

Kirkegt 56

Stavanger

Rasmussen

Nina

Stien 12

Stavanger

Delete a Row
"Nina Rasmussen" is going to be deleted:
DELETE FROM Person WHERE LastName = 'Rasmussen'

Result
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Nilsen

Fred

Kirkegt 56

Stavanger

Delete All Rows

It is possible to delete all rows in a table without deleting the table. This means that the table
structure, attributes, and indexes will be intact:

DELETE FROM table_name

or
DELETE * FROM table_name

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result.

Sort the Rows

The ORDER BY clause is used to sort the rows.
Orders:
Company

OrderNumber

Sega

3412

ABC Shop

5678

W3Schools

6798

W3Schools

2312

Example
To display the company names in alphabetical order:
SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders
ORDER BY Company

Result:
Company

OrderNumber

ABC Shop

5678

Sega

3412

W3Schools

6798

W3Schools

2312

Example
To display the company names in alphabetical order AND the OrderNumber in numerical order:
SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders

ORDER BY Company, OrderNumber

Result:
Company

OrderNumber

ABC Shop

5678

Sega

3412

W3Schools

2312

W3Schools

6798

Example
To display the company names in reverse alphabetical order:
SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders
ORDER BY Company DESC

Result:
Company

OrderNumber

W3Schools

6798

W3Schools

2312

Sega

3412

ABC Shop

5678

Example
To display the company names in reverse alphabetical order AND the OrderNumber in numerical
order:
SELECT Company, OrderNumber FROM Orders
ORDER BY Company DESC, OrderNumber ASC

Result:
Company

OrderNumber

W3Schools

2312

W3Schools

6798

Sega

3412

ABC Shop

5678

Notice that there are two equal company names (W3Schools) in the result above. The only time
you will see the second column in ASC order would be when there are duplicated values in the
first sort column, or a handful of nulls.

AND & OR
AND and OR join two or more conditions in a WHERE clause.
The AND operator displays a row if ALL conditions listed are true. The OR operator displays a
row if ANY of the conditions listed are true.

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Svendson

Stephen

Kaivn 18

Sandnes

Example
Use AND to display each person with the first name equal to "Tove", and the last name equal to
"Svendson":
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE FirstName='Tove'
AND LastName='Svendson'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Example
Use OR to display each person with the first name equal to "Tove", or the last name equal to
"Svendson":
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE firstname='Tove'
OR lastname='Svendson'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Svendson

Stephen

Kaivn 18

Sandnes

Example
You can also combine AND and OR (use parentheses to form complex expressions):
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE
(FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Stephen')
AND LastName='Svendson'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Svendson

Stephen

Kaivn 18

Sandnes

IN
The IN operator may be used if you know the exact value you want to return for at least one of
the columns.
SELECT column_name FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (value1,value2,..)

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Nordmann

Anna

Neset 18

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Example 1
To display the persons with LastName equal to "Hansen" or "Pettersen", use the following SQL:
SELECT * FROM Persons
WHERE LastName IN ('Hansen','Pettersen')

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

BETWEEN ... AND

The BETWEEN ... AND operator selects a range of data between two values. These values can
be numbers, text, or dates.
SELECT column_name FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
BETWEEN value1 AND value2

Original Table (used in the examples)

LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Nordmann

Anna

Neset 18

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Example 1
To display the persons alphabetically between (and including) "Hansen" and exclusive
"Pettersen", use the following SQL:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName
BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Nordmann

Anna

Neset 18

Sandnes

IMPORTANT! The BETWEEN...AND operator is treated differently in different databases.

With some databases a person with the LastName of "Hansen" or "Pettersen" will not be listed
(BETWEEN..AND only selects fields that are between and excluding the test values). With some
databases a person with the last name of "Hansen" or "Pettersen" will be listed
(BETWEEN..AND selects fields that are between and including the test values). With other
databases a person with the last name of "Hansen" will be listed, but "Pettersen" will not be
listed (BETWEEN..AND selects fields between the test values, including the first test value and
excluding the last test value). Therefore: Check how your database treats the BETWEEN....AND
operator!

Example 2
To display the persons outside the range used in the previous example, use the NOT operator:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName
NOT BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

With SQL, aliases can be used for column names and table names.

Column Name Alias

The syntax is:
SELECT column AS column_alias FROM table

Table Name Alias

The syntax is:
SELECT column FROM table AS table_alias

Example: Using a Column Alias

This table (Persons):
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

And this SQL:

SELECT LastName AS Family, FirstName AS Name
FROM Persons

Returns this result:

Family

Name

Hansen

Ola

Svendson

Tove

Pettersen

Kari

Example: Using a Table Alias

This table (Persons):
LastName

FirstName

Address

City

Hansen

Ola

Timoteivn 10

Sandnes

Svendson

Tove

Borgvn 23

Sandnes

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Stavanger

And this SQL:

SELECT LastName, FirstName
FROM Persons AS Employees

Returns this result:

Table Employees:
LastName

FirstName

Hansen

Ola

Svendson

Tove

Pettersen

Kari

Joins and Keys

Sometimes we have to select data from two or more tables to make our result complete. We have
to perform a join.
Tables in a database can be related to each other with keys. A primary key is a column with a
unique value for each row. Each primary key value must be unique within the table. The purpose
is to bind data together, across tables, without repeating all of the data in every table.

In the "Employees" table below, the "Employee_ID" column is the primary key, meaning that no
two rows can have the same Employee_ID. The Employee_ID distinguishes two persons even if
they have the same name.
When you look at the example tables below, notice that:

The "Employee_ID" column is the primary key of the "Employees" table

The "Prod_ID" column is the primary key of the "Orders" table

The "Employee_ID" column in the "Orders" table is used to refer to the

persons in the "Employees" table without using their names

Employees:
Employee_ID

Name

01

Hansen, Ola

02

Svendson, Tove

03

Svendson, Stephen

04

Pettersen, Kari

Orders:
Prod_ID

Product

Employee_ID

234

Printer

01

657

Table

03

865

Chair

03

Referring to Two Tables

We can select data from two tables by referring to two tables, like this:
Example

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product

FROM Employees, Orders
WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

Result
Name

Product

Hansen, Ola

Printer

Svendson, Stephen

Table

Svendson, Stephen

Chair

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name
FROM Employees, Orders
WHERE Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID
AND Orders.Product='Printer'

Result
Name
Hansen, Ola

Using Joins
OR we can select data from two tables with the JOIN keyword, like this:
Example INNER JOIN

Syntax
SELECT field1, field2, field3
FROM first_table
INNER JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

Who has ordered a product, and what did they order?

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product
FROM Employees

INNER JOIN Orders

ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The INNER JOIN returns all rows from both tables where there is a match. If there are rows in
Employees that do not have matches in Orders, those rows will not be listed.
Result
Name

Product

Hansen, Ola

Printer

Svendson, Stephen

Table

Svendson, Stephen

Chair

Example LEFT JOIN

Syntax
SELECT field1, field2, field3
FROM first_table
LEFT JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

List all employees, and their orders - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product
FROM Employees
LEFT JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The LEFT JOIN returns all the rows from the first table (Employees), even if there are no
matches in the second table (Orders). If there are rows in Employees that do not have matches in
Orders, those rows also will be listed.
Result
Name

Product

Hansen, Ola

Printer

Svendson, Tove
Svendson, Stephen

Table

Svendson, Stephen

Chair

Pettersen, Kari
Example RIGHT JOIN

Syntax
SELECT field1, field2, field3
FROM first_table
RIGHT JOIN second_table
ON first_table.keyfield = second_table.foreign_keyfield

List all orders, and who has ordered - if any.

SELECT Employees.Name, Orders.Product
FROM Employees
RIGHT JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

The RIGHT JOIN returns all the rows from the second table (Orders), even if there are no
matches in the first table (Employees). If there had been any rows in Orders that did not have
matches in Employees, those rows also would have been listed.
Result
Name

Product

Hansen, Ola

Printer

Svendson, Stephen

Table

Svendson, Stephen

Chair

Example

Who ordered a printer?

SELECT Employees.Name
FROM Employees
INNER JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID
WHERE Orders.Product = 'Printer'

Result
Name
Hansen, Ola

UNION
The UNION command is used to select related information from two tables, much like the JOIN
command. However, when using the UNION command all selected columns need to be of the
same data type.
Note: With UNION, only distinct values are selected.
SQL Statement 1
UNION
SQL Statement 2

Employees_Norway:
E_ID

E_Name

01

Hansen, Ola

02

Svendson, Tove

03

Svendson, Stephen

04

Pettersen, Kari

Employees_USA:
E_ID

E_Name

01

Turner, Sally

02

Kent, Clark

03

Svendson, Stephen

04

Scott, Stephen

Using the UNION Command

Example

List all different employee names in Norway and USA:

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway

UNION
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

Result
E_Name
Hansen, Ola
Svendson, Tove
Svendson, Stephen
Pettersen, Kari
Turner, Sally
Kent, Clark
Scott, Stephen

Note: This command cannot be used to list all employees in Norway and USA. In the example
above we have two employees with equal names, and only one of them is listed. The UNION
command only selects distinct values.

UNION ALL
The UNION ALL command is equal to the UNION command, except that UNION ALL selects
all values.
SQL Statement 1
UNION ALL
SQL Statement 2

Using the UNION ALL Command

Example

List all employees in Norway and USA:

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway
UNION ALL
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

Result
E_Name
Hansen, Ola
Svendson, Tove
Svendson, Stephen
Pettersen, Kari
Turner, Sally
Kent, Clark
Svendson, Stephen
Scott, Stephen

Create a Database
To create a database:
CREATE DATABASE database_name

Create a Table
To create a table in a database:
CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type,
column_name2 data_type,
.......
)

Example

This example demonstrates how you can create a table named "Person", with four columns. The
column names will be "LastName", "FirstName", "Address", and "Age":
CREATE TABLE Person
(
LastName varchar,

FirstName varchar,
Address varchar,
Age int
)

This example demonstrates how you can specify a maximum length for some columns:
CREATE TABLE Person
(
LastName varchar(30),
FirstName varchar,
Address varchar,
Age int(3)
)

The data type specifies what type of data the column can hold. The table below contains the most
common data types in SQL:
Data Type

Description

integer(size)
int(size)
smallint(size)
tinyint(size)

Hold integers only. The maximum number of digits are

specified in parenthesis.

decimal(size,d)
numeric(size,d)

Hold numbers with fractions. The maximum number of

digits are specified in "size". The maximum number of
digits to the right of the decimal is specified in "d".

char(size)

Holds a fixed length string (can contain letters, numbers,

and special characters). The fixed size is specified in
parenthesis.

varchar(size)

Holds a variable length string (can contain letters,

numbers, and special characters). The maximum size is
specified in parenthesis.

date(yyyymmdd)

Holds a date

Create Index
Indices are created in an existing table to locate rows more quickly and efficiently. It is possible
to create an index on one or more columns of a table, and each index is given a name. The users
cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed up queries.

Note: Updating a table containing indexes takes more time than updating a table
without, this is because the indexes also need an update. So, it is a good idea to
create indexes only on columns that are often used for a search.

A Unique Index
Creates a unique index on a table. A unique index means that two rows cannot have the same
index value.
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name (column_name)

The "column_name" specifies the column you want indexed.

A Simple Index
Creates a simple index on a table. When the UNIQUE keyword is omitted, duplicate values are
allowed.
CREATE INDEX index_name
ON table_name (column_name)

The "column_name" specifies the column you want indexed.

Example

This example creates a simple index, named "PersonIndex", on the LastName field of the Person
table:
CREATE INDEX PersonIndex
ON Person (LastName)

If you want to index the values in a column in descending order, you can add the reserved word
DESC after the column name:
CREATE INDEX PersonIndex
ON Person (LastName DESC)

If you want to index more than one column you can list the column names within the
parentheses, separated by commas:
CREATE INDEX PersonIndex
ON Person (LastName, FirstName)

Drop Index
You can delete an existing index in a table with the DROP INDEX statement.

Syntax for Microsoft SQLJet (and Microsoft Access):

DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name

Syntax for MS SQL Server:

DROP INDEX table_name.index_name

Syntax for IBM DB2 and Oracle:

DROP INDEX index_name

Syntax for MySQL:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP INDEX index_name

Delete a Table or Database

To delete a table (the table structure, attributes, and indexes will also be deleted):
DROP TABLE table_name

To delete a database:
DROP DATABASE database_name

Truncate a Table
What if we only want to get rid of the data inside a table, and not the table itself? Use the
TRUNCATE TABLE command (deletes only the data inside the table):
TRUNCATE TABLE table_name

ALTER TABLE
The ALTER TABLE statement is used to add or drop columns in an existing table.
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD column_name datatype
ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP COLUMN column_name

Note: Some database systems don't allow the dropping of a column in a database table (DROP
COLUMN column_name).

Person:
LastName

FirstName

Address

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

Example
To add a column named "City" in the "Person" table:
ALTER TABLE Person ADD City varchar(30)

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Address

Pettersen

Kari

Storgt 20

City

Example
To drop the "Address" column in the "Person" table:
ALTER TABLE Person DROP COLUMN Address

Result:
LastName

FirstName

Pettersen

Kari

SQL has a lot of built-in functions for counting and calculations.

Function Syntax
The syntax for built-in SQL functions is:
SELECT function(column) FROM table

City

Types of Functions
There are several basic types and categories of functions in SQL. The basic types of functions
are:

Aggregate Functions

Scalar functions

Aggregate functions
Aggregate functions operate against a collection of values, but return a single value.
Note: If used among many other expressions in the item list of a SELECT statement, the
SELECT must have a GROUP BY clause!!
"Persons" table (used in most examples)
Name

Age

Hansen, Ola

34

Svendson, Tove

45

Pettersen, Kari

19

Aggregate functions in MS Access

Function

Description

AVG(column)

Returns the average value of a column

COUNT(column)

Returns the number of rows (without a NULL value) of

a column

COUNT(*)

Returns the number of selected rows

FIRST(column)

Returns the value of the first record in a specified field

LAST(column)

Returns the value of the last record in a specified field

MAX(column)

Returns the highest value of a column

MIN(column)

Returns the lowest value of a column

STDEV(column)
STDEVP(column)
SUM(column)

Returns the total sum of a column

VAR(column)
VARP(column)
Aggregate functions in SQL Server
Function

Description

AVG(column)

Returns the average value of a column

BINARY_CHECKSUM
CHECKSUM
CHECKSUM_AGG
COUNT(column)

Returns the number of rows (without a NULL value) of

a column

COUNT(*)

Returns the number of selected rows

COUNT(DISTINCT column)

Returns the number of distinct results

FIRST(column)

Returns the value of the first record in a specified field

(not supported in SQLServer2K)

LAST(column)

Returns the value of the last record in a specified field

(not supported in SQLServer2K)

MAX(column)

Returns the highest value of a column

MIN(column)

Returns the lowest value of a column

STDEV(column)
STDEVP(column)
SUM(column)
VAR(column)

Returns the total sum of a column

VARP(column)

Scalar functions
Scalar functions operate against a single value, and return a single value based on the input
value.
Useful Scalar Functions in MS Access
Function

Description

UCASE(c)

Converts a field to upper case

LCASE(c)

Converts a field to lower case

MID(c,start[,end])

Extract characters from a text field

LEN(c)

Returns the length of a text field

INSTR(c,char)

Returns the numeric position of a named character

within a text field

LEFT(c,number_of_char)

Return the left part of a text field requested

RIGHT(c,number_of_char)

Return the right part of a text field requested

ROUND(c,decimals)

Rounds a numeric field to the number of decimals

specified

MOD(x,y)

Returns the remainder of a division operation

NOW()

Returns the current system date

FORMAT(c,format)

Changes the way a field is displayed

DATEDIFF(d,date1,date2)

Used to perform date calculations

Aggregate functions (like SUM) often need an added GROUP BY functionality.

GROUP BY...
GROUP BY... was added to SQL because aggregate functions (like SUM) return the aggregate of
all column values every time they are called, and without the GROUP BY function it was
impossible to find the sum for each individual group of column values.
The syntax for the GROUP BY function is:
SELECT column,SUM(column) FROM table GROUP BY column

GROUP BY Example
This "Sales" Table:
Company

Amount

W3Schools

5500

IBM

4500

W3Schools

7100

And This SQL:

SELECT Company, SUM(Amount) FROM Sales

Returns this result:

Company

SUM(Amount)

W3Schools

17100

IBM

17100

W3Schools

17100

The above code is invalid because the column returned is not part of an aggregate. A GROUP BY
clause will solve this problem:
SELECT Company,SUM(Amount) FROM Sales
GROUP BY Company

Returns this result:

Company

SUM(Amount)

W3Schools

12600

IBM

4500

HAVING...
HAVING... was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used against
aggregate functions (like SUM), and without HAVING... it would be impossible to test for result
conditions.
The syntax for the HAVING function is:
SELECT column,SUM(column) FROM table
GROUP BY column
HAVING SUM(column) condition value

This "Sales" Table:

Company

Amount

W3Schools

5500

IBM

4500

W3Schools

7100

This SQL:
SELECT Company,SUM(Amount) FROM Sales
GROUP BY Company
HAVING SUM(Amount)>10000

Returns this result

Company

SUM(Amount)

W3Schools

12600

The SELECT INTO Statement

The SELECT INTO statement is most often used to create backup copies of tables or for
archiving records.

Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) INTO newtable [IN externaldatabase]
FROM source

Make a Backup Copy

The following example makes a backup copy of the "Persons" table:
SELECT * INTO Persons_backup
FROM Persons

The IN clause can be used to copy tables into another database:

SELECT Persons.* INTO Persons IN 'Backup.mdb'
FROM Persons

If you only want to copy a few fields, you can do so by listing them after the SELECT statement:
SELECT LastName,FirstName INTO Persons_backup
FROM Persons

You can also add a WHERE clause. The following example creates a "Persons_backup" table
with two columns (FirstName and LastName) by extracting the persons who lives in "Sandnes"
from the "Persons" table:
SELECT LastName,Firstname INTO Persons_backup
FROM Persons
WHERE City='Sandnes'

Selecting data from more than one table is also possible. The following example creates a new
table "Empl_Ord_backup" that contains data from the two tables Employees and Orders:
SELECT Employees.Name,Orders.Product
INTO Empl_Ord_backup
FROM Employees
INNER JOIN Orders
ON Employees.Employee_ID=Orders.Employee_ID

A view is a virtual table based on the result-set of a SELECT statement.

What is a View?
In SQL, a VIEW is a virtual table based on the result-set of a SELECT statement.

A view contains rows and columns, just like a real table. The fields in a view are fields from one
or more real tables in the database. You can add SQL functions, WHERE, and JOIN statements
to a view and present the data as if the data were coming from a single table.
Note: The database design and structure will NOT be affected by the functions, where, or join
statements in a view.
Syntax
CREATE VIEW view_name AS
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

Note: The database does not store the view data! The database engine recreates the data, using
the view's SELECT statement, every time a user queries a view.

Using Views
A view could be used from inside a query, a stored procedure, or from inside another view. By
adding functions, joins, etc., to a view, it allows you to present exactly the data you want to the
user.
The sample database Northwind has some views installed by default. The view "Current Product
List" lists all active products (products that are not discontinued) from the Products table. The
view is created with the following SQL:
CREATE VIEW [Current Product List] AS
SELECT ProductID,ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE Discontinued=No

We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Current Product List]

Another view from the Northwind sample database selects every product in the Products table
that has a unit price that is higher than the average unit price:
CREATE VIEW [Products Above Average Price] AS
SELECT ProductName,UnitPrice
FROM Products
WHERE UnitPrice>(SELECT AVG(UnitPrice) FROM Products)

We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Products Above Average Price]

Another example view from the Northwind database calculates the total sale for each category in
1997. Note that this view selects its data from another view called "Product Sales for 1997":
CREATE VIEW [Category Sales For 1997] AS
SELECT DISTINCT CategoryName,Sum(ProductSales) AS CategorySales
FROM [Product Sales for 1997]
GROUP BY CategoryName

We can query the view above as follows:

SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997]

We can also add a condition to the query. Now we want to see the total sale only for the category
"Beverages":
SELECT * FROM [Category Sales For 1997]
WHERE CategoryName='Beverages'

Modern SQL Servers are built on RDBMS.

DBMS - Database Management System

A Database Management System (DBMS) is a computer program that can access data in a
database.
The DBMS program enables you to extract, modify, or store information in a database.
Different DBMS programs provides different functions for querying data, reporting data, and
modifying data.

RDBMS - Relational Database Management System

A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a Database Management System
(DBMS) where the database is organized and accessed according to the relationships between
data.
RDBMS was invented by IBM in the early 1970's.
RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems like Oracle, SQL Server, IBM
DB2, Sybase, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.

SQL Syntax
Statement

Syntax

AND / OR

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
AND|OR condition

ALTER TABLE (add column)

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name datatype

ALTER TABLE (drop column)

ALTER TABLE table_name

DROP COLUMN column_name

AS (alias for column)

SELECT column_name AS column_alias

FROM table_name

AS (alias for table)

SELECT column_name
FROM table_name AS table_alias

BETWEEN

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
BETWEEN value1 AND value2

CREATE DATABASE

CREATE DATABASE database_name

CREATE INDEX

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column_name)

CREATE TABLE

CREATE TABLE table_name

(
column_name1 data_type,
column_name2 data_type,
.......
)

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column_name)

CREATE VIEW

CREATE VIEW view_name AS

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

DELETE FROM

DELETE FROM table_name

(Note: Deletes the entire table!!)
or
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE condition

DROP DATABASE

DROP DATABASE database_name

DROP INDEX

DROP INDEX table_name.index_name

DROP TABLE

DROP TABLE table_name

GROUP BY

SELECT column_name1,SUM(column_name2)
FROM table_name
GROUP BY column_name1

HAVING

SELECT column_name1,SUM(column_name2)
FROM table_name
GROUP BY column_name1
HAVING SUM(column_name2) condition value

IN

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
IN (value1,value2,..)

INSERT INTO

INSERT INTO table_name

VALUES (value1, value2,....)
or
INSERT INTO table_name
(column_name1, column_name2,...)
VALUES (value1, value2,....)

LIKE

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name
LIKE pattern

ORDER BY

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name [ASC|DESC]

SELECT

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name

SELECT *

SELECT *
FROM table_name

SELECT DISTINCT

SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s)

FROM table_name

SELECT INTO
SELECT *
(used to create backup copies of INTO new_table_name
tables)
FROM original_table_name
or

SELECT column_name(s)
INTO new_table_name
FROM original_table_name
TRUNCATE TABLE
(deletes only the data inside the
table)

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name

UPDATE

UPDATE table_name
SET column_name=new_value
[, column_name=new_value]
WHERE column_name=some_value

WHERE

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition

http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_quickref.asp

SQL Summary
This tutorial has taught you the standard computer language for accessing and manipulating
database systems.
You have learned how to execute queries, retrieve data, insert new records, delete records and
update records in a database with SQL.
SQL is a standard language that works with database programs like MS Access, DB2, Informix,
MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, and other database systems.

Now You Know SQL, What's Next?

The next step is to learn ADO.
ADO is a programming interface to access data in a database from a web site.
ADO uses SQL to query data in a database.