The SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement

The CREATE DATABASE statement isused to create a new SQL database.

Syntax

CREATE DATABASE databasename;

CREATE DATABASE Example

The following SQL statement creates a database called "testDB":

Example

CREATE DATABASE testDB;

The SQL DROP DATABASE Statement

The DROP DATABASE statement isused to drop an existing SQL database.

Syntax

DROP DATABASE databasename;

Note: Be careful before dropping a database. Deleting a database will result in loss of complete
information stored in the database!

DROP DATABASE Example

The following SQL statement drops the existing database "testDB":

Example

DROP DATABASE testDB;

1
The SQL CREATE TABLE Statement
The CREATE TABLE statement isused to create a new table in a database.

Syntax

CREATE TABLE table_name(

column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
....
);

The column parameters specify the names of the columns of the table.

The data type parameter specifies the type of data the column can hold (e.g. varchar, integer, date,
etc.).

SQL CREATE TABLE Example

The following example creates a table called "Persons" that contains five columns: PersonID,
LastName, FirstName, Address, and City:

Example

CREATE TABLE Persons (

PersonID int,
LastName varchar(255),
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
);

The PersonID columnis of type int and will hold an integer.

The LastName, FirstName, Address, and City columns are of type varchar and will hold characters,
and the maximum length for these fields is 255 characters.

The empty "Persons" table will now look like this:

PersonID LastName FirstName Address City

2
The SQL DROP TABLE Statement
The DROP TABLE statement isused to drop an existing table in a database.

Syntax

DROP TABLE table_name;

SQL DROP TABLE Example

The following SQL statement drops the existing table "Shippers":

Example

DROP TABLE Shippers;

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement

The ALTER TABLE statement isused to add, delete, or modify columns in an existing table.

The ALTER TABLE statement is also used to add and drop various constraints on an existing table.

ALTER TABLE - ADD Column

To add a column in a table, use the following syntax:

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name datatype;

ALTER TABLE - DROP COLUMN

To delete a column in a table, use the following syntax (notice that some database systems don't
allow deleting a column):

ALTER TABLE table_name

DROP COLUMN column_name;

3
ALTER TABLE - ALTER/MODIFY COLUMN
To change the data type of a column in a table, use the following syntax:

Oracle 10G and later:

ALTER TABLE table_name

MODIFY column_name datatype;

SQL ALTER TABLE Example

Look at the "Persons" table:

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 add a column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table.

We use the following SQL statement:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ADD DateOfBirth date;

Notice that the new column, "DateOfBirth", is of type date and is going to hold a date. The data
type specifies what type of data the column can hold. For a complete reference of all the data types
available in MS Access, MySQL, and SQL Server, go to our complete Data Types reference.

The "Persons" tablewillnow look likethis:

ID LastName FirstName Address City DateOfBirth

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Change Data TypeExample

Now we want to change the data type of the column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table.

We use the following SQL statement:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ALTER COLUMN DateOfBirth year;

4
Notice that the "DateOfBirth" column is now of type year and is going to hold a year in a two- or
four-digit format.

DROP COLUMN Example

Next, we want to delete the column named "DateOfBirth" in the "Persons" table.

We use the following SQL statement:

ALTER TABLE Persons

DROP COLUMN DateOfBirth;

The "Persons" table will now look like this:

ID LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

5
SQL constraints are used to specify rules for data in a table.

SQL Create Constraints

Constraints can be specified when the table is created with the CREATE TABLE statement, or after
the table is created with the ALTER TABLE statement.

Syntax

CREATE TABLE table_name(

column1 datatype constraint,
column2 datatype constraint,
column3 datatype constraint,
....
);

SQL Constraints
SQL constraints are used to specify rules for the data in a table.

Constraints are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This ensures the accuracy and
reliability of the data in the table. If there is any violation between the constraint and the data action,
the action is aborted.

Constraints can be column level or table level. Column level constraints apply to a column, and
table level constraints apply to the whole table.

The following constraints are commonly used in SQL:

 NOT NULL – Ensures that a column can not have a NULL value
 UNIQUE – Ensures that all values in a column are different
 PRIMARY KEY - A combination of a NOT NULL and UNIQUE. Uniquely identifies each row in a table
 FOREIGN KEY – Uniquely identifies a row/record in another table
 CHECK – Ensures that all values in a column satisfies a specific condition
 DEFAULT - Sets a default value for a column when no value is specified
 INDEX - Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly

6
SQL NOT NULL Constraint
By default, a column can hold NULL values.

The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values.

This enforces a field to always contain a value, which means that you can not insert a new record,
or update a record without adding a value to this field.

The following SQL ensures that the "ID", "LastName", and "FirstName" columns will NOT accept
NULL values:

Example

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOTNULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOTNULL,
FirstName varchar(255) NOTNULL,
Age int
);

SQL UNIQUE Constraint

The UNIQUE constraint ensures that all values in a column are different.

Both the UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a
column or set of columns.

A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint.

However, you can havemany UNIQUE constraints per table, but only one PRIMARY KEY
constraint per table.

DROP a UNIQUE Constraint

To drop a UNIQUE constraint, use the following SQL:

SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:

ALTER TABLE Persons

DROP CONSTRAINT UC_Person;

7
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.

Primary keys must contain UNIQUE values, and can not contain NULL values.

A table can have only one primarykey, which may consist of single or multiple fields.

SQL PRIMARY KEY on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "ID" column when the "Persons" table is
created:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
LastName varchar(255) NOTNULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int
);

To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY constraint on
multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int,
CONSTRAINT PK_Person PRIMARY KEY (ID,LastName)
);

SQL PRIMARY KEY on ALTER TABLE

To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "ID" column when the table is already created, use
the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ADD PRIMARY KEY (ID);

8
DROP a PRIMARY KEY Constraint
To drop a PRIMARY KEY constraint, use the following SQL:

SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:

ALTER TABLE Persons

DROP CONSTRAINT PK_Person;

SQL FOREIGN KEY on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a FOREIGN KEY on the "PersonID" column when the "Orders" table is
created:

CREATE TABLE Orders (

OrderID int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
OrderNumber int NOT NULL,
PersonID int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(PersonID)
);

SQL FOREIGN KEY on ALTER TABLE

To create a FOREIGN KEY constraint on the "PersonID" column when the "Orders" table is
already created, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Orders

ADD FOREIGN KEY (PersonID) REFERENCES Persons(PersonID);

DROP a FOREIGN KEY Constraint

To drop a FOREIGN KEY constraint, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Orders

DROP CONSTRAINT FK_PersonOrder;

9
SQL CHECK Constraint
The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a column.

If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only certain values for this column.

If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values in certain columns based on
values in other columns in the row.

SQL CHECK on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL creates a CHECK constraint on the "Age" column when the "Persons" table is
created. The CHECK constraint ensures that you can not have any person below 18 years:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOTNULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int CHECK (Age>=18)
);

SQL CHECK on ALTER TABLE

To create a CHECK constraint on the "Age" column when the table is already created, use the
following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ADD CHECK (Age>=18);

DROP a CHECK Constraint

To drop a CHECK constraint, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Persons

DROP CONSTRAINT CHK_PersonAge;

10
SQL DEFAULT Constraint
The DEFAULT constraint is used to provide a default value for a column.

The default value will be added to all new records IF no other value is specified.

SQL DEFAULT on CREATE TABLE

The following SQL sets a DEFAULT value for the "City" column when the "Persons" table is
created:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOTNULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Age int,
City varchar(255) DEFAULT 'Sandnes'
);

SQL DEFAULT on ALTER TABLE

To create a DEFAULT constraint on the "City" column when the table is already created, use the
following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Persons

MODIFY City DEFAULT 'Sandnes';

DROP a DEFAULT Constraint

To drop a DEFAULT constraint, use the following SQL:

ALTER TABLE Persons

ALTER COLUMN City DROP DEFAULT;

11
SQL CREATE INDEX Statement
The CREATE INDEX statement isused to create indexes in tables.

Indexes are used to retrieve data from the database very fast. The users can not see the indexes, they
are just used to speed up searches/queries.

CREATE INDEX Syntax

Creates an index on a table. Duplicate values are allowed:

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column1, column2, ...);

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX Syntax

Creates a unique index on a table. Duplicate values are not allowed:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column1, column2, ...);

CREATE INDEX Example

The SQL statement below creates an index named "idx_lastname" on the "LastName" column in the
"Persons" table:

CREATE INDEX idx_lastname

ON Persons (LastName);

If you want to create an index on a combination of columns, you can list the column names within
the parentheses, separated by commas:

CREATE INDEX idx_pname

ON Persons (LastName, FirstName);

DROP INDEX Statement

The DROP INDEX statement isused to delete an index in a table.

DROP INDEX index_name;

12
The SQL SELECT Statement
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.

The data returned is stored in a result table, called the result-set.

SELECT Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name;

Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from. If you
want to select all the fields available in the table, use the following syntax:

SELECT * FROM table_name;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

SELECT Column Example

The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the
"Customers" table:

Example

SELECT CustomerName, City FROM Customers;

13
SELECT * Example
The following SQL statement selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers;

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

Inside a table, a column often contains many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list
the different (distinct) values.

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

SELECT DISTINCT Syntax

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

14
SELECT Example
The following SQL statement selects all (and duplicate) values from the "Country" column in the
"Customers" table:

Example

SELECT Country FROM Customers;

Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT statement and see the result.

SELECT DISTINCT Examples

The following SQL statement selects only the DISTINCT values from the "Country" column in the
"Customers" table:

Example

SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;

The following SQL statement lists the number of different (distinct) customer countries:

Example

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Country) FROM Customers;

The SQL WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to filter records.

The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified condition.

WHERE Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Note: The WHERE clause is not only used in SELECT statement, it is also used in UPDATE,
DELETE statement, etc.!

15
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

WHERE Clause Example

The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the country "Mexico", in the
"Customers" table:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country='Mexico';

Text Fields vs. Numeric Fields

SQL requires single quotes around text values.

However, numeric fields should not be enclosed in quotes:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerID=1;

16
Operators in The WHERE Clause
The following operators can be used in the WHERE clause:

Operator Description
= Equal
<> Not equal. Note: In some versions of SQL this operator may be written as !=
> Greater than
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal
<= Less than or equal
BETWEEN Between an inclusive range
LIKE Search for a pattern
IN To specify multiple possible values for a column

The SQL AND, OR and NOT Operators

The WHERE clause can be combined with AND, OR, and NOT operators.

The AND and OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition:

 The AND operator displays a record if all the conditions separated by AND is TRUE.
 The OR operator displays a record if any of the conditions separated by OR is TRUE.

The NOT operator displays a record if the condition(s) is NOT TRUE.

AND Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 AND condition2 AND condition3 ...;

OR Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR condition3 ...;

NOT Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
WHERE NOT condition;

17
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

AND Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany"
AND city is "Berlin":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country='Germany' AND City='Berlin';

OR Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where city is "Berlin" OR
"München":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City='Berlin' OR City='München';

NOT Example
The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT
"Germany":

18
Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE NOT Country='Germany';

Combining AND, OR and NOT

You can also combine the AND, OR and NOT operators.

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany"
AND city must be "Berlin" OR "München" (use parenthesis to form complex expressions):

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country='Germany' AND (City='Berlin' OR City='München');

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT "Germany"
and NOT "USA":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE NOT Country='Germany' AND NOT Country='USA';

The SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.

The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in
descending order, use the DESC keyword.

ORDER BY Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;

19
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

ORDER BY Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the
"Country" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

ORDER BY Country;

ORDER BY DESC Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted
DESCENDING by the "Country" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

ORDER BY Country DESC;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the
"Country" and the "CustomerName" column:

20
Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by
the "Country" and descending by the "CustomerName" column:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;

INSERT INTO Syntax

It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways.

The first way specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, ...)

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

If you are adding values for all the columns of the table, you do not need to specify the column
names in the SQL query. However, make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the
columns in the table. The INSERT INTO syntax would be as follows:

INSERT INTO table_name

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

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite

89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets 3B

90 Matti
Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

21
INSERT INTO Example
The following SQL statement inserts a new record in the "Customers" table:

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)

VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway');

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite

89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets 3B

90 Matti
Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

Tom B.
92 Cardinal Skagen 21 Stavanger 4006 Norway
Erichsen

Did you notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field?
The CustomerID column is an auto-increment field and will be generated automatically when a new
record is inserted into the table.

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only insert data in specific columns.

The following SQL statement will insert a new record, but only insert data in the "CustomerName",
"City", and "Country" columns (CustomerID will be updated automatically):

Example

INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)

VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Stavanger', 'Norway');

22
The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite

89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets 3B

90 Matti
Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

92 Cardinal null null Stavanger null Norway

What is a NULL Value?

A field with a NULL value is a field with no value.

If a field in a table is optional, it is possible to insert a new record or update a record without adding
a value to this field. Then, the field will be saved with a NULL value.

Note: It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different from a zero value or a field
that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has been left blank during record
creation!

How to Test for NULL Values?

It is not possible to test for NULL values with comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>.

We will have to use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators instead.

IS NULL Syntax

SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NULL;

IS NOT NULL Syntax

SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;

23
Demo Database
Assume we have the following "Persons" table:

ID LastName FirstName Address City

1 Doe John 542 W. 27th Street New York
2 Bloggs Joe London
3 Roe Jane New York
4 Smith John 110 Bishopsgate London

Suppose that the "Address" column in the "Persons" table is optional. If a record is inserted with no
value for "Address", the "Address" column will be saved with a NULL value.

The IS NULL Operator

The following SQL statement uses the IS NULL operator to list all persons that have no address:

SELECT LastName, FirstName, Address FROM Persons

WHERE Address IS NULL;

The result-set will look like this:

LastName FirstName Address

Bloggs Joe
Roe Jane

Tip: Always use IS NULL to look for NULL values.

The IS NOT NULL Operator

The following SQL statement uses the IS NOT NULL operator to list all persons that do have an
address:

SELECT LastName, FirstName, Address FROM Persons

WHERE Address IS NOT NULL;

The result-set will look like this:

LastName FirstName Address

Doe John 542 W. 27th Street
Smith John 110 Bishopsgate

24
The SQL UPDATE Statement
The UPDATE statement is used to modify the existing records in a table.

UPDATE Syntax

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, ...
WHERE condition;

Note: Be careful when updating records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE
statement. The WHERE clause specifies which record(s) that should be updated. If you omit the
WHERE clause, all records in the table will be updated!

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1
Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

UPDATE Table
The following SQL statement updates the first customer (CustomerID = 1) with a new contact
person and a new city.

Example

UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName = 'Alfred Schmidt', City= 'Frankfurt'
WHERE CustomerID = 1;

25
The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfred
Alfreds Futterkiste Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany
Schmidt
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

UPDATE Multiple Records

It is the WHERE clause that determines how many records that will be updated.

The following SQL statement will update the contactname to "Juan" for all records where country is
"Mexico":

Example

UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan'
WHERE Country='Mexico';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfred
Alfreds Futterkiste Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany
Schmidt
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Juan Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno México
3 Juan Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

26
Update Warning!
Be careful when updating records. If you omit the WHERE clause, ALL records will be updated!

Example

UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Juan Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Juan Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno México
3 Juan Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Juan London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds
5 Juan Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp

The SQL DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete existing records in a table.

DELETE Syntax

DELETE FROM table_name

WHERE condition;

Note: Be careful when deleting records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE
statement. The WHERE clause specifies which record(s) that should be deleted. If you omit the
WHERE clause, all records in the table will be deleted!

27
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

SQL DELETE Example

The following SQL statement deletes the customer "Alfreds Futterkiste" from the "Customers"
table:

Example

DELETE FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste';

The "Customers" table will now look like this:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

Delete All Records

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:
28
DELETE FROM table_name;

or:

DELETE * FROM table_name;

The SQL MIN() and MAX() Functions

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

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

MIN() Syntax

SELECT MIN(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

MAX() Syntax

SELECT MAX(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18
2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19
3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10
4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

MIN() Example
The following SQL statement finds the price of the cheapest product:

Example

SELECT MIN(Price) AS SmallestPrice

FROM Products;
29
MAX() Example
The following SQL statement finds the price of the most expensive product:

Example

SELECT MAX(Price) AS LargestPrice

FROM Products;

The SQL COUNT(), AVG() and SUM() Functions

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

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

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

COUNT() Syntax

SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

AVG() Syntax

SELECT AVG(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

SUM() Syntax

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18
2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19
3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10
4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

30
COUNT() Example
The following SQL statement finds the number of products:

Example

SELECT COUNT(ProductID)
FROM Products;

AVG() Example
The following SQL statement finds the average price of all products:

Example

SELECT AVG(Price)
FROM Products;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "OrderDetails" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderDetailID OrderID ProductID Quantity

1 10248 11 12
2 10248 42 10
3 10248 72 5
4 10249 14 9
5 10249 51 40

SUM() Example
The following SQL statement finds the sum of the "Quantity" fields in the "OrderDetails" table:

Example

SELECT SUM(Quantity)
FROM OrderDetails;

31
The SQL LIKE Operator
The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.

There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

 % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters

 _ - The underscore represents a single character

Note: MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_).

The percent sign and the underscore can also be used in combinations!

LIKE Syntax

SELECT column1, column2, ...

FROM table_name
WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;

Tip: You can also combine any number of conditions using AND or OR operators.

Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:

LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that starts with "a"
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that ends with "a"
WHERE CustomerName LIKE
Finds any values that have "or" in any position
'%or%'
WHERE CustomerName LIKE
Finds any values that have "r" in the second position
'_r%'
WHERE CustomerName LIKE Finds any values that starts with "a" and are at least 3
'a_%_%' characters in length
WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that starts with "a" and ends with "o"

32
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName ending with "a":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "or" in any
position:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "r" in the
second position:

33
Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that starts with "a" and
are at least 3 characters in length:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a_%_%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a ContactName that starts with "a" and
ends with "o":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that does NOT start with
"a":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE CustomerName NOT LIKE 'a%';

SQL Wildcard Characters

A wildcard character is used to substitute any other character(s) in a string.

Wildcard characters are used with the SQL LIKE operator. The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE
clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.

There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

 % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters

 _ - The underscore represents a single character

In MS Access and SQL Server you can also use:

 [charlist] - Defines sets and ranges of characters to match

 [^charlist] or [!charlist] - Defines sets and ranges of characters NOT to match

The wildcards can also be used in combinations!

Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:
34
 LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that starts with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that ends with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%' Finds any values that have "or" in any position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%' Finds any values that have "r" in the second position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE Finds any values that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in
'a_%_%' length

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that starts with "a" and ends with "o"

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México

2 Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Emparedados y helados Constitución 2222 D.F.

Antonio Moreno Antonio México

3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

Christina
5 Berglunds snabbköp Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund

Using the % Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "ber":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE 'ber%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City containing the pattern "es":

35
Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE '%es%';

Using the _ Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with any character, followed
by "erlin":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE '_erlin';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "L", followed by any
character, followed by "n", followed by any character, followed by "on":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE 'L_n_on';

Using the [charlist] Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "b", "s", or "p":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE '[bsp]%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "a", "b", or "c":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE '[a-c]%';

36
Using the [!charlist] Wildcard
The two following SQL statements selects all customers with a City NOT starting with "b", "s", or
"p":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City LIKE '[!bsp]%';

Or:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE City NOT LIKE '[bsp]%';

The SQL IN Operator

The IN operator allows you to specify multiple values in a WHERE clause.

The IN operator is a shorthand for multiple OR conditions.

IN Syntax

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

or:

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (SELECT STATEMENT);

37
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

IN Operator Examples
The following SQL statement selects all customers that are located in "Germany", "France" and
"UK":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country IN ('Germany', 'France', 'UK');

The following SQL statement selects all customers that are NOT located in "Germany", "France" or
"UK":

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country NOT IN ('Germany', 'France', 'UK');

The following SQL statement selects all customers that are from the same countries as the
suppliers:

Example

SELECT * FROM Customers

WHERE Country IN (SELECT Country FROM Suppliers);

38
The SQL BETWEEN Operator
The BETWEEN operator selects values within a given range. The values can be numbers, text, or
dates.

The BETWEEN operator is inclusive: begin and end values are included.

BETWEEN Syntax

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

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18
2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19
3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10
4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 1 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 1 2 36 boxes 21.35

BETWEEN Example
The following SQL statement selects all products with a price BETWEEN 10 and 20:

Example

SELECT * FROM Products

WHERE Price BETWEEN 10 AND 20;

NOT BETWEEN Example

To display the products outside the range of the previous example, use NOT BETWEEN:

Example

SELECT * FROM Products

WHERE Price NOT BETWEEN 10 AND 20;

39
BETWEEN with IN Example
The following SQL statement selects all products with a price BETWEEN 10 and 20. In addition;
do not show products with a CategoryID of 1,2, or 3:

Example

SELECT * FROM Products

WHERE (Price BETWEEN 10 AND 20)
AND NOT CategoryID IN (1,2,3);

BETWEEN Text Values Example

The following SQL statement selects all products with a ProductName BETWEEN 'Carnarvon
Tigers' and 'Mozzarella di Giovanni':

Example

SELECT * FROM Products

WHERE ProductName BETWEEN 'Carnarvon Tigers' AND 'Mozzarella di Giovanni'
ORDER BY ProductName;

NOT BETWEEN Text Values Example

The following SQL statement selects all products with a ProductName NOT BETWEEN
'Carnarvon Tigers' and 'Mozzarella di Giovanni':

Example

SELECT * FROM Products

WHERE ProductName NOT BETWEEN 'Carnarvon Tigers' AND 'Mozzarella di Giovanni'
ORDER BY ProductName;

Sample Table
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10248 90 5 7/4/1996 3
10249 81 6 7/5/1996 1
10250 34 4 7/8/1996 2
10251 84 3 7/9/1996 1
10252 76 4 7/10/1996 2

40
BETWEEN Dates Example
The following SQL statement selects all orders with an OrderDate BETWEEN '04-July-1996' and
'09-July-1996':

Example

SELECT * FROM Orders

WHERE OrderDate BETWEEN #07/04/1996# AND #07/09/1996#;

SQL Aliases
SQL aliases are used to give a table, or a column in a table, a temporary name.

Aliases are often used to make column names more readable.

An alias only exists for the duration of the query.

Alias Column Syntax

SELECT column_name AS alias_name

FROM table_name;

Alias Table Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name AS alias_name;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
120 Hanover
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.

41
And a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10354 58 8 1996-11-14 3
10355 4 6 1996-11-15 1
10356 86 6 1996-11-18 2

Alias for Columns Examples

The following SQL statement creates two aliases, one for the CustomerID column and one for the
CustomerName column:

Example

SELECT CustomerID as ID, CustomerName AS Customer

FROM Customers;

The following SQL statement creates two aliases, one for the CustomerName column and one for
the ContactName column. Note: It requires double quotation marks or square brackets if the alias
name contains spaces:

Example

SELECT CustomerName AS Customer, ContactName AS [Contact Person]

FROM Customers;

The following SQL statement creates an alias named "Address" that combine four columns
(Address, PostalCode, City and Country):

Example

SELECT CustomerName, Address + ', ' + PostalCode + ' ' + City + ', ' + Country AS Address
FROM Customers;

Note: To get the SQL statement above to work in MySQL use the following:

SELECT CustomerName, CONCAT(Address,', ',PostalCode,', ',City,', ',Country) AS Address

FROM Customers;

Alias for Tables Example

The following SQL statement selects all the orders from the customer with CustomerID=4 (Around
the Horn). We use the "Customers" and "Orders" tables, and give them the table aliases of "c" and
"o" respectively (Here we use aliases to make the SQL shorter):

42
Example

SELECT o.OrderID, o.OrderDate, c.CustomerName

FROM Customers AS c, Orders AS o
WHERE c.CustomerName="Around the Horn" AND c.CustomerID=o.CustomerID;

The following SQL statement is the same as above, but without aliases:

Example

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Orders.OrderDate, Customers.CustomerName

FROM Customers, Orders
WHERE Customers.CustomerName="Around the Horn" AND
Customers.CustomerID=Orders.CustomerID;

Aliases can be useful when:

 There are more than one table involved in a query

 Functions are used in the query
 Column names are big or not very readable
 Two or more columns are combined together

43
SQL JOIN
A JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column
between them.

Let's look at a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID OrderDate

10308 2 1996-09-18
10309 37 1996-09-19
10310 77 1996-09-20

Then, look at a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Germany
2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Ana Trujillo Mexico
3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mexico

Notice that the "CustomerID" column in the "Orders" table refers to the "CustomerID" in the
"Customers" table. The relationship between the two tables above is the "CustomerID" column.

Then, we can create the following SQL statement (that contains an INNER JOIN), that selects
records that have matching values in both tables:

Example

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderDate

FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID=Customers.CustomerID;

and it will produce something like this:

OrderID CustomerName OrderDate

10308 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados 9/18/1996
10365 Antonio Moreno Taquería 11/27/1996
10383 Around the Horn 12/16/1996
10355 Around the Horn 11/15/1996
10278 Berglunds snabbköp 8/12/1996

44
Different Types of SQL JOINs
Here are the different types of the JOINs in SQL:

 (INNER) JOIN: Returns records that have matching values in both tables
 LEFT (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records from the left table, and the matched records
from the right table
 RIGHT (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records from the right table, and the matched records
from the left table
 FULL (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records when there is a match in either left or right table

SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

The INNER JOIN keyword selects records that have matching values in both tables.

INNER JOIN Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
INNER JOIN table2 ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3
10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1
10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

And a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos México
3 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno 2312 D.F.

45
SQL INNER JOIN Example
The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer information:

Example

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName

FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID;

Note: The INNER JOIN keyword selects all rows from both tables as long as there is a match
between the columns. If there are records in the "Orders" table that do not have matches in
"Customers", these orders will not be shown!

JOIN Three Tables

The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer and shipper information:

Example

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Shippers.ShipperName

FROM ((Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID)
INNER JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID);

The SQL UNION Operator

The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more SELECT statements.

 Each SELECT statement within UNION must have the same number of columns
 The columns must also have similar data types
 The columns in each SELECT statement must also be in the same order

UNION Syntax

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1

UNION
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;

46
UNION ALL Syntax

The UNION operator selects only distinct values by default. To allow duplicate values, use UNION
ALL:

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1

UNION ALL
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;

Note: The column names in the result-set are usually equal to the column names in the first
SELECT statement in the UNION.

Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos México
3 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno 2312 D.F.

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID SupplierName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

Charlotte 49 Gilbert
1 Exotic Liquid London EC1 4SD UK
Cooper St.
New Orleans Cajun P.O. Box New
2 Shelley Burke 70117 USA
Delights 78934 Orleans
Grandma Kelly's 707 Oxford Ann
3 Regina Murphy 48104 USA
Homestead Rd. Arbor

47
SQL UNION Example
The following SQL statement selects all the different cities (only distinct values) from "Customers"
and "Suppliers":

Example

SELECT City FROM Customers

UNION
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

Note: If some customers or suppliers have the same city, each city will only be listed once, because
UNION selects only distinct values. Use UNION ALL to also select duplicate values!

SQL UNION ALL Example

The following SQL statement selects all cities (duplicate values also) from "Customers" and
"Suppliers":

Example

SELECT City FROM Customers

UNION ALL
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

SQL UNION With WHERE

The following SQL statement selects all the different German cities (only distinct values) from
"Customers" and "Suppliers":

Example

SELECT City, Country FROM Customers

WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

48
SQL UNION ALL With WHERE
The following SQL statement selects all German cities (duplicate values also) from "Customers"
and "Suppliers":

Example

SELECT City, Country FROM Customers

WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION ALL
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

Another UNION Example

The following SQL statement lists all customers and suppliers:

Example

SELECT 'Customer' As Type, ContactName, City, Country

FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT 'Supplier', ContactName, City, Country
FROM Suppliers;

The SQL GROUP BY Statement

The GROUP BY statement is often used with aggregate functions (COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM,
AVG) to group the result-set by one or more columns.

GROUP BY Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
GROUP BY column_name(s)
ORDER BY column_name(s);

49
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

SQL GROUP BY Examples

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country:

Example

SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country

FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country;

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country, sorted high to low:

Example

SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country

FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
ORDER BY COUNT(CustomerID) DESC;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10248 90 5 1996-07-04 3
10249 81 6 1996-07-05 1
10250 34 4 1996-07-08 2
50
And a selection from the "Shippers" table:

ShipperID ShipperName
1 Speedy Express
2 United Package
3 Federal Shipping

GROUP BY With JOIN Example

The following SQL statement lists the number of orders sent by each shipper:

Example

SELECT Shippers.ShipperName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders

LEFT JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID
GROUP BY ShipperName;

The SQL HAVING Clause

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

HAVING Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
GROUP BY column_name(s)
HAVING condition
ORDER BY column_name(s);

51
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo Avda. de la
México
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo Constitución 05021 Mexico
D.F.
helados 2222
Antonio Moreno Antonio México
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquería Moreno D.F.
4 120 Hanover
Around the Horn Thomas Hardy London WA1 1DP UK
Sq.
Berglunds Christina
5 Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden
snabbköp Berglund

SQL HAVING Examples

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country. Only include countries
with more than 5 customers:

Example

SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country

FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
HAVING COUNT(CustomerID) > 5;

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country, sorted high to low
(Only include countries with more than 5 customers):

Example

SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country

FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
HAVING COUNT(CustomerID) > 5
ORDER BY COUNT(CustomerID) DESC;

52
Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table in the Northwind sample database:

OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10248 90 5 1996-07-04 3
10249 81 6 1996-07-05 1
10250 34 4 1996-07-08 2

And a selection from the "Employees" table:

EmployeeID LastName FirstName BirthDate Photo Notes

1 Davolio Nancy 1968-12-08 EmpID1.pic Education includes a BA....
2 Fuller Andrew 1952-02-19 EmpID2.pic Andrew received his BTS....
3 Leverling Janet 1963-08-30 EmpID3.pic Janet has a BS degree....

More HAVING Examples

The following SQL statement lists the employees that have registered more than 10 orders:

Example

SELECT Employees.LastName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders

FROM (Orders
INNER JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID)
GROUP BY LastName
HAVING COUNT(Orders.OrderID) > 10;

The following SQL statement lists if the employees "Davolio" or "Fuller" have registered more than
25 orders:

Example

SELECT Employees.LastName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders

FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
WHERE LastName = 'Davolio' OR LastName = 'Fuller'
GROUP BY LastName
HAVING COUNT(Orders.OrderID) > 25;

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The SQL EXISTS Operator
The EXISTS operator is used to test for the existence of any record in a subquery.

The EXISTS operator returns true if the subquery returns one or more records.

EXISTS Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18
2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19
3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10
4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID SupplierName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

Charlotte
1 Exotic Liquid 49 Gilbert St. London EC1 4SD UK
Cooper
New Orleans Cajun New
2 Shelley Burke P.O. Box 78934 70117 USA
Delights Orleans
Grandma Kelly's Regina Ann
3 707 Oxford Rd. 48104 USA
Homestead Murphy Arbor
9-8 Sekimai
4 Tokyo Traders Yoshi Nagase Tokyo 100 Japan
Musashino-shi

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SQL EXISTS Examples
The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price less than
20:

Example

SELECT SupplierName
FROM Suppliers
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT ProductName FROM Products WHERE SupplierId =
Suppliers.supplierId AND Price < 20);

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the suppliers with a product price equal to 22:

Example

SELECT SupplierName
FROM Suppliers
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT ProductName FROM Products WHERE SupplierId =
Suppliers.supplierId AND Price = 22);

The SQL ANY and ALL Operators

The ANY and ALL operators are used with a WHERE or HAVING clause.

The ANY operator returns true if any of the subquery values meet the condition.

The ALL operator returns true if all of the subquery values meet the condition.

ANY Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator ANY
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);

ALL Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator ALL
(SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE condition);

Note: The operator must be a standard comparison operator (=, <>, !=, >, >=, <, or <=).

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Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:

ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18
2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19
3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10
4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

And a selection from the "OrderDetails" table:

OrderDetailID OrderID ProductID Quantity

1 10248 11 12
2 10248 42 10
3 10248 72 5
4 10249 14 9
5 10249 51 40

SQL ANY Examples

The ANY operator returns TRUE if any of the subquery values meet the condition.

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the productnames if it finds ANY records in
the OrderDetails table that quantity = 10:

Example

SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ANY (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity = 10);

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the productnames if it finds ANY records in
the OrderDetails table that quantity > 99:

Example

SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ANY (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity > 99);

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SQL ALL Example
The ALL operator returns TRUE if all of the subquery values meet the condition.

The following SQL statement returns TRUE and lists the productnames if ALL the records in the
OrderDetails table has quantity = 10:

Example

SELECT ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE ProductID = ALL (SELECT ProductID FROM OrderDetails WHERE Quantity = 10);

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