Objectives
Retrieve data from a database using SQL
commands
Use compound conditions
Use computed columns
Use the SQL LIKE operator
Use the SQL IN operator
Sort data using the ORDER BY clause
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Objectives
Sort data using multiple keys and in ascending and
descending order
Use SQL aggregate functions
Use subqueries
Group data using the GROUP BY clause
Select individual groups of data using the HAVING
clause
Retrieve columns with null values
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Constructing Simple Queries
Important feature of DBMS is ability to answer a
wide variety of questions about the data
A query is a question represented in a way that
the DBMS can understand
Use the SELECT command to query a database
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Constructing Simple Queries
SELECT-FROM-WHERE is the basic form of the
command
SELECT clause is the list of columns to include in
query results
FROM clause is the name of the table with the
data being queried
WHERE clause is optional, listing any conditions
to apply to the data
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Retrieving Certain Columns and Rows
A command can retrieve specified columns and all
rows
List the number, name and balance of all
customers
No WHERE clause is needed, because all
customers are requested
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Retrieving All Columns and Rows
Use an asterisk (*) to indicate all columns in the
SELECT clause
Results will list all columns in the order in the
description when the table was created
List columns in SELECT clause to present
columns in a different order
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using a WHERE Clause
WHERE clause is used to retrieve rows that
satisfy some condition
What is the name of customer number 148?
A simple conditionform: column name,
comparison operator, and then either a column
name or a value
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using a WHERE Clause
Character values in SQL are case sensitive
“Grove” is different than “grove”
Simple conditions can compare columns
WHERE BALANCE > CREDIT_LIMIT
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using Compound Conditions
Compound conditionsconnect two or more
simple conditions with AND, OR, and NOT
operators
AND operator shows results that all simple
conditions are true
OR operator shows results that any simple
condition is true
NOT operator reverses the truth of the original
condition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the BETWEEN Operator
Not an essential feature in SQL
Same results can be obtained without it
Does make certain SELECT commands simpler to
construct
BETWEEN operator is inclusive
When using BETWEEN 2000 and 5000, values of
2000 or 5000 would be true
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using Computed Columns
Computed columndoes not exist in the database
but is computed using data in existing columns
Computations can involve arithmetic operators
+ for addition
-for subtraction
* for multiplication
/ for division
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the LIKE Operator
Used to retrieve data where there may not be an
exact match using wildcards
LIKE %Central% will retrieve data with those
characters
“3829 Central” or “Centralia”
Underscore (_) represents any single character
“T_M” for TIM or TOM or T3M
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the IN Operator
IN operator allows for concise phrasing of certain
conditions
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Sorting
ORDER BY clause to list data in a specific order
Column on which data is to be sorted is the sort
key
Use ORDER BY clause followed by sort key
Rows are sorted in ascending order unless
another order is specified
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Additional Sorting Options
Possible to sort data by more than one key
Major sort keyand minor sort key
List sort keys in order of importance in the
ORDER BY clause
For descending order sort, use DESC
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using Functions
Aggregate functionscalculate sums, averages,
counts, minimum and maximum values to groups
of rows
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the COUNT Function
Counts the number of rows in a table
Use of an asterisk allowed to represent any
column
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the SUM Function
Used to calculate totals of columns
Column to be summed must be specified and
must be numeric
AVG, MAX, and MIN functions are similar,
resulting in different statistics
Null values are ignored and not used in these
calculations
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using the DISTINCT Operator
Used to ensure uniqueness in the data results
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Nesting Queries
Some queries will take two or more steps to obtain
desired results
A subqueryis an inner query placed inside
another query
Outer query can use results of the subquery to
find its results
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Grouping
Groupingcreates groups of rows that share
common characteristics
Calculations in the SELECT command are
performed for entire groups
Data can be GROUPED BYa particular column,
such as REP_NUM and then the statistics are
calculated
One line of output is produced for each group
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Using a HAVING Clause
The HAVING clause is used to restrict groups that
will be included
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Nulls
Sometimes a condition involves a column that can
be null
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Summary
Create queries that retrieve data from single tables
using SELECT commands
Comparison operators: =, >,=>,<,=<, or <>, or !=
Compound conditions using AND,OR, and NOT
Use the BETWEEN operator
Use the LIKE operator
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition
Summary
Use the IN operator
Use and ORDER BY clause to sort data
Process aggregate functions with COUNT,
SUM,AVG,MAX, and MIN
Use the DISTINCT operator and subqueries
Use GROUP BY, HAVING and IS NULL
A Guide to SQL, Seventh Edition