CP-2K15 DBMS LAB # 4

SQL Wildcards & Operators

Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY TAXILA

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 LAB # 04
SQL Wildcards & Operators
Lab Objective:

To understand SQL wild cards and the operators used in SQL.

SQL Wildcards

SQL wildcards can be used when searching for data in a database.

SQL wildcards can substitute for one or more characters when searching for data in a database.

SQL wildcards must be used with the SQL LIKE operator.

With SQL, the following wildcards can be used:

Wildcard Description

% A substitute for zero or more characters

_ A substitute for exactly one character

[charlist] Any single character in charlist

[^charlist] Any single character not in charlist

or

[!charlist]

SQL Wildcard Examples

We have the following "Persons" table:

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
Using the % Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons living in a city that starts with "sa" from the "Persons" table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE City LIKE 'sa%'

The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

Next, we want to select the persons living in a city that contains the pattern "nes" from the
"Persons" table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE City LIKE '%dne%'

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

Using the _ Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons with a first name that starts with any character, followed by
"la" from the "Persons" table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE FirstName LIKE '_ove'

The result-set will look like this:

Using the [charlist] Wildcard

Now we want to select the persons with a last name that starts with "b" or "s" or "p" from the
"Persons" table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE LastName LIKE '[bsp]%'

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Next, we want to select the persons with a last name that do not start with "b" or "s" or "p" from
the "Persons" table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE LastName NOT LIKE '[bsp]%'

The result-set will look like this:

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

SQL IN Syntax

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

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
IN Operator Example
The "Persons" table:

P_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 select the persons with a last name equal to "Hansen" or "Pettersen" from the
table above.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE LastName IN ('Hansen','Pettersen')

The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
SQL BETWEENOperator

The BETWEEN operator is used in a WHERE clause to select a range of data between two
values.

The BETWEEN operator selects a range of data between two values. The values can be numbers,
text, or dates.

SQL BETWEEN Syntax

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

BETWEEN Operator Example

Now we want to select the persons with P_ID betweek 2 and 4" from the persons table.

We use the following SELECT statement:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE P_ID BETWEEN 2 AND 4;

The result-set will look like this:

Note: The BETWEEN operator is treated differently in different databases.

In some databases, persons with the P_ID of 2 and 4 will not be listed, because the BETWEEN
operator only selects fields that are between and excluding the test values).

In other databases, persons with id 2 and 4 will be listed, because the BETWEEN operator
selects fields that are between and including the test values).

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
And in other databases, persons with id 2 will be listed, but id=4 will not be listed (like the
example above), because the BETWEEN operator 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 operator.

Example 2

To display the persons outside the range in the previous example, use NOT BETWEEN:

SELECT * FROM Persons

WHERE LastName
NOT BETWEEN 'Hansen' AND 'Pettersen'

The result-set will look like this:

P_Id LastName FirstName Address City

2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes

3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
Lab Tasks:

1: Consider the following table “Customers”:

Create the above table and do the following.

• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a Country starting with the letter
“s”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a Contact Name ending with the
letter “s”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City containing the pattern
“ndo”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City not containing the pattern
“ndo”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects the two first Customers from table who belong to
“Germany” or “Sweden”.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all Customers with a City of "Paris" or "London"
without using ‘OR’ operator.

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators
2. Consider the following table “Products”

Create the above table and do the following.

• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 10 to 20.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 20 to 30.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a price from 10 to 22 but products
with a CategoryIDof 1,2, or 3 should not be displayed.
• Write an SQL statement that selects all products with a ProductName beginning with
any of the letter not between 'C' and 'M'.

Lab Instructor: Engr. Shahid Ali Bhutta SQL Wildcards & Opperators