CMPT 354

Database Systems I

SQL Queries

Martin Ester
Simon Fraser University
Spring 2023

105
Introduction
We now introduce SQL, the standard query
language for relational DBS.
As in RA, an SQL query takes one or more input
relations and returns one output relation.
Any RA query can also be formulated in SQL,
but in a more user-friendly manner.
In addition, SQL contains certain features of
great practical importance that go beyond the
expressiveness of RA, e.g. sorting and
aggregation functions.

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 Example Instances
R1 S1
sid bid day sid sname rating age
22 101 10/10/96 22 dustin 7 45.0
58 103 11/12/96 31 lubber 8 55.5
58 rusty 10 35.0
We will use these
S2
instances of the
Sailors and sid sname rating age
Reserves tables in 28 yuppy 9 35.0
our examples. 31 lubber 8 55.5
44 guppy 5 35.0
58 rusty 10 35.0
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Basic SQL Query
SELECT [DISTINCT] target-list
FROM relation-list
WHERE qualification ;
relation-list: list of relation names
(possibly with a tuple-variable after each name).
target-list: list of attributes of relations in relation-list
qualification : comparisons ( Attr op const or
Attr1 op Attr2 , where op is one of<, >, = , £, ³, ¹)
combined using AND, OR and NOT.
DISTINCT is an optional keyword indicating that the
answer should not contain duplicates. Default is that
duplicates are not eliminated!
108
Conceptual Evaluation Strategy
Semantics of an SQL query defined in terms of
the following conceptual evaluation strategy:
Compute the Cartesian product of relation-list.
Selection of the tuples satisfying qualifications.
Projection onto the attributes that are in target-list.
If DISTINCT is specified, eliminate duplicate rows.
This strategy is not an efficient way to process a
query! An optimizer will find more efficient
strategies to compute the same answers.
It is often helpful to write an SQL query in the
same order (FROM, WHERE, SELECT).

109
Example Conceptual Evaluation
SELECT S.sname
FROM Sailors S, Reserves R
WHERE S.sid=R.sid AND R.bid=103;

(sid) sname rating age (sid) bid day

22 dustin 7 45.0 22 101 10/10/96
22 dustin 7 45.0 58 103 11/12/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 22 101 10/10/96
31 lubber 8 55.5 58 103 11/12/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 22 101 10/10/96
58 rusty 10 35.0 58 103 11/12/96

110
Projection
Expressed through the SELECT clause.
Can specify any subset of the set of all
attributes.
SELECTsname, age
FROM Sailors;
* selects all attributes.
SELECT*
FROM Sailors;

Can rename attributes, using AS.

111
Projection

For numeric attributes, can also apply

arithmetic operators +, * etc.
Can create derived attributes and name them,
using AS or = :

SELECT age AS age0, age1=age-5, 2*S.age AS age2

FROM Sailors;

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Projection

The result of a projection can contain

duplicates (why?).
To eliminate duplicates from the output,
specify DISTINCT in the SELECT clause.

SELECTDISTINCT age
FROM Sailors;

113
Selection
Expressed through the WHERE clause.
Selection conditions can compare constants
and attributes of relations mentioned in the
FROM clause.
Comparison operators: =, <>, <, >, <=, >=
For numeric attributes, can also apply
arithmetic operators +, * etc.
Simple conditions can be combined using the
logical operators AND, OR and NOT.
Default precedences: NOT, AND, OR.
Use parentheses to change precedences.
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Selection
SELECT *
FROM Sailors
WHERE sname = Watson ;

SELECT *
FROM Sailors
WHERE rating >= age;

115
Selection

SELECT *
FROM Sailors
WHERE (rating = 5 OR rating = 6) AND age <= 20;

116
String Comparisons
LIKE is used for approximate conditions (pattern
matching) on string-valued attributes:
string LIKE pattern
Satisfied if pattern contained in string attribute.
NOT LIKE satisfied if pattern not contained in
string attribute.
_ in pattern stands for any one character and
% stands for 0 or more arbitrary characters.
SELECT *
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.sname LIKE B_%B ;

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Null Values
Special attribute value NULL can be interpreted
as:
Value unknown (e.g., a rating has not yet been
assigned),
Value inapplicable (e.g., no spouse s name),
Value withheld (e.g., the phone number).
The presence of NULL complicates many issues:
Special operators needed to check if value is null.
Is rating>8 true or false when rating is equal to null?
What about AND, OR and NOT connectives?
Meaning of constructs must be defined carefully. E.g.,
how to deal with tuples that evaluate neither to TRUE
nor to FALSE in a selection?
118
Null Values
NULL is not a constant that can be explicitly used
as an argument of some expression.
NULL values need to be taken into account when
evaluating conditions in the WHERE clause.
Rules for NULL values:
An arithmetic operator with (at least) one NULL
argument always returns NULL.
The comparison of a NULL value to any second value
returns a result of UNKNOWN.
A selection returns only those tuples that make
the condition in the WHERE clause TRUE, those
with UNKNOWN or FALSE result do not qualify.
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Truth Value Unknown
Three-valued logic: TRUE, UNKNOWN, FALSE.
Can think of TRUE = 1, UNKNOWN = ½,
FALSE = 0.
AND of two truth values: their minimum.
OR of two truth values: their maximum.
NOT of a truth value: 1 – the truth value.
Examples:
TRUE AND UNKNOWN =
FALSE AND UNKNOWN =
FALSE OR UNKNOWN =
NOT UNKNOWN =
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Truth Value Unknown
SELECT *
FROM Sailors
WHERE rating < 5 OR rating >= 5;

❖ Does not return all sailors, but only those with

non-NULL rating.

121
Ordering the Output
Can order the output of a query with respect
to any attribute or list of attributes.
Add ORDER BY clause to the query:
SELECT *
FROM Sailors S
WHERE age < 20
ORDER BY rating;

SELECT *
FROM Sailors S
WHERE age < 20
ORDER BY rating, age;

By default, ascending order. Use DESC to

specify descending order.
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Cartesian Product
Expressed through FROM clause.
Forms the Cartesian product of all relations
listed in the FROM clause, in the given order.

SELECT *
FROM Sailors, Reserves;

So far, not very meaningful.

123
Join
Expressed through FROM clause and
WHERE clause.
Forms the subset of the Cartesian product of
all relations listed in the FROM clause that
satisfies the WHERE condition:

SELECT *
FROM Sailors, Reserves
WHERE Sailors.sid = Reserves.sid;

In case of ambiguity, prefix attribute names

with relation name, using the dot-notation.

124
Join
Since joins are so common operations, SQL
provides JOIN as a shorthand.
SELECT *
FROM Sailors JOIN Reserves ON
Sailors.sid = Reserves.sid;

NATURAL JOIN produces the natural join of

the two input relations, i.e. an equi-join on all
attributes common to the input relations.
SELECT *
FROM Sailors NATURAL JOIN Reserves;

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Join
Typically, there are some dangling tuples in one
of the input relations that have no matching
tuple in the other relation. Dangling tuples are
not contained in the output.
Outer joins are join variants that do not loose
any information from the input relations:
LEFT OUTER JOIN includes all dangling tuples
from the left input relation with NULL values filled
in for all attributes of the right input relation.
RIGHT OUTER JOIN includes all dangling tuples
from the right input relation with NULL values
filled in for all attributes of the left input relation.
FULL OUTER JOIN includes all dangling tuples
from both input relations.

126
Tuple Variables
Tuple variable is an alias referencing a tuple
from the relation over which it has been
defined.
Again, use dot-notation.
Needed only if the same relation name
appears twice in the query.

127
Tuple Variables
Example
SELECT S.sname
FROM Sailors S, Reserves R1, Reserves R2
WHERE S.sid=R1.sid AND S.sid=R2.sid
AND R1.bid <> R2.bid;

It is good style, however, to use tuple

variables always.

128
A Further Example
Find the sid of sailors who ve reserved at least
one boat:

Would adding DISTINCT to this query make a

difference?
What is the effect of replacing S.sid by S.sname
in the SELECT clause? What about adding
DISTINCT to this variant of the query?
129
Set Operations
SQL supports the three basic set operations.
UNION: union of two relations
INTERSECT: intersection of two relations
EXCEPT: set-difference of two relations
Two input relations must have the same
schema. Can use AS to make input relations
compatible.

130
Set Operations
Find sid s of sailors who ve reserved a red or a
green boat.
SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S, Boats B, Reserves R
WHERE S.sid=R.sid AND R.bid=B.bid

AND (B.color= red OR B.color= green );

If we replace OR by AND, what do we get?

131
Set Operations
Find sid s of sailors who ve reserved a red or a
green boat.
Solution with set operations

132
 Set Operations
SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S, Boats B1, Reserves R1,
Find sid s of sailors Boats B2, Reserves R2
who ve reserved a red WHERE S.sid=R1.sid AND R1.bid=B1.bid
AND S.sid=R2.sid AND R2.bid=B2.bid
and a green boat.
AND (B1.color= red AND B2.color= green );
Contrast symmetry of the Key attribute!
UNION and INTERSECT
(SELECT S.sid
queries with how much FROM Sailors S, Boats B, Reserves R
the other versions differ. WHERE S.sid=R.sid AND
R.bid=B.bid AND B.color= red )
INTERSECT
(SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S, Boats B, Reserves R
WHERE S.sid=R.sid AND
R.bid=B.bid AND B.color= green );
133
Subqueries
A subquery is a query nested within another SQL
query.
Subqueries can
return a a single constant that can be used in the
WHERE clause,
return a relation that can be used in the WHERE
clause,
appear in the FROM clause, followed by a tuple
variable through which results can be referenced in
the query.
Subqueries can contain further subqueries etc., i.e.
there is no restriction on the level of nesting.

134
Subqueries
The output of a subquery returning a single
constant can be compared using the normal
operators =, <>, >, etc.
SELECT S.age
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.age > (SELECT S.age
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.sid=22);
How can we be sure that the subquery returns
only one constant?
To understand semantics of nested queries, think
of a nested loops evaluation: For each Sailors tuple,
check the qualification by computing the subquery.

135
Subqueries
The output of a subquery R returning an entire
relation can be compared using the special operators:
EXISTS R is true if and only if R is non-empty.
s IN R is true if and only if tuple (constant) s is
contained in R.
s NOT IN R is true if and only if tuple (constant) s is
not contained in R.
s op ALL R is true if and only if constant s fulfills op
with respect to every value in (unary) R.
s op ANY R is true if and only if constant s fulfills op
with respect to at least one value in (unary) R.
Op can be one of >, <, =, ³, £, ¹

136
Subqueries
EXISTS, ALL and ANY can be negated by putting
NOT in front of the entire expression.

SELECT R.bid
FROM Reserves R
WHERE R.sid IN (SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.name= rusty );

137
Subqueries
SELECT *
FROM Sailors S1
WHERE S1.age > ALL (SELECT S2.age
FROM Sailors S2
WHERE S2.name= rusty );

138
Subqueries
In a FROM clause, we can use a parenthesized
subquery instead of a relation.
Need to define a corresponding tuple variable to
reference tuples from the subquery output.

SELECT *
FROM Reserves R, (SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.age>60) OldSailors
WHERE R.sid = OldSailors.sid;

139
Correlated Subqueries
SELECT B.bid
FROM Boats B
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM Reserves R
WHERE R.bid=B.bid);

This subquery is correlated to the outer query, i.e.

the execution of the subquery may return
different results for every tuple of the outer
query.
Illustrates why, in general, subquery must be re-
computed for each tuple of the outer query /
tuple.

140
A Further Example
Find sid s of sailors who ve reserved both a red and a
green boat:
SELECT S.sid
FROM Sailors S, Boats B, Reserves R
WHERE S.sid=R.sid AND R.bid=B.bid AND B.color= red
AND S.sid IN (SELECT

);
Similarly, EXCEPT queries re-written using NOT IN.
To find names (not sid s) of Sailors who ve
reserved both red and green boats, just replace
S.sid by S.sname in SELECT clause.

141
Division in SQL
Find sailors who ve reserved all boats.
With EXCEPT:
SELECT S.sname
FROM Sailors S
WHERE NOT EXISTS
((SELECT B.bid
FROM Boats B)
EXCEPT
(SELECT R.bid
FROM Reserves R
WHERE R.sid=S.sid));

142
 Division in SQL
Find sailors who ve reserved all boats.
Without EXCEPT:
SELECT S.sname
FROM Sailors S
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT B.bid
FROM Boats B
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT R.bid
Sailors S such that ...
FROM Reserves R
there is no boat B without ... WHERE R.bid=B.bid
AND R.sid=S.sid));
a Reserves tuple showing S reserved B

143
Aggregation Operators
Operators on sets of tuples.
Significant extension of relational algebra.
COUNT (*): the number of tuples.
COUNT ( [DISTINCT] A): the number of (unique) values
in attribute A.
SUM ( [DISTINCT] A): the sum of all (unique) values in
attribute A.
AVG ( [DISTINCT] A): the average of all (unique) values
in attribute A.
MAX (A): the maximum value in attribute A.
MIN (A): the minimum value in attribute A.

144
 Aggregation Operators
SELECT COUNT (*)
FROM Sailors S;

SELECT AVG (S.age)

FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.rating=10;

SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT S.rating)

FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.sname= Bob ;

145
Aggregation Operators
SELECT S.sname
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.rating= (SELECT MAX(S2.rating)
FROM Sailors S2);

SELECT AVG ( DISTINCT S.age)

FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.rating=10;

146
Aggregation Operators
Find name and age of the oldest sailor(s).

147
GROUP BY and HAVING
So far, we ve applied aggregation operators to all
(qualifying) tuples. Sometimes, we want to apply
them to each of several groups of tuples.
Find the age of the youngest sailor for each rating
value.
Suppose we know that rating values go from 1 to 10;
we can write ten (!) queries that look like this:
SELECT MIN (S.age)
For i = 1, 2, ... , 10: FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.rating = i;
But in general, we don t know how many rating
values exist, and what these rating values are.
148
GROUP BY and HAVING
SELECT [DISTINCT] target-list
FROM relation-list
WHERE qualification
GROUP BY grouping-list
HAVING group-qualification ;

A group is a set of tuples that have the same value

for all attributes in grouping-list.
The target-list contains (i) attribute names and (ii)
terms with aggregation operations.
The attribute names (i) must be contained in
grouping-list.
Each answer tuple corresponds to a group, and output
attributes must have a single value per group.
149
Conceptual Evaluation
The cross-product of relation-list is computed,
tuples that fail qualification are discarded,
unnecessary attributes are deleted, and the
remaining tuples are partitioned into groups by
the value of attributes in grouping-list.
The group-qualification is then applied to eliminate
groups that do not satisfy this condition.
Expressions in group-qualification must have a
single value per group!
One answer tuple is generated per qualifying
group.
150
GROUP BY and HAVING ³

Find the age of the youngest sailor sid sname rating age
with age > 18, for each rating with 22 dustin 7 45.0
at least 2 such sailors.
SELECT S.rating, MIN 31 lubber 8 55.5
(S.age) 71 zorba 10 16.0
FROM Sailors S 64 horatio 7 35.0
WHERE S.age > 18 29 brutus 1 33.0
GROUP BY S.rating 58 rusty 10 35.0
HAVING COUNT (*) > 1;
Only S.rating and S.age are rating age
mentioned in the SELECT, 1 33.0
GROUP BY or HAVING clauses; Answer relation
other attributes `unnecessary .
7 45.0
7 35.0 rating
2nd column of result is
unnamed. (Use AS to name it.) 8 55.5 7 35.0
10 35.0
151
GROUP BY and HAVING
For each red boat, find the number of reservations for this
boat.

152
GROUP BY and HAVING
What do we get if we remove B.color= red from the
WHERE clause and add a HAVING clause with this
condition?
What if we drop Sailors and the condition involving
S.sid?

153
GROUP BY and HAVING
Find the age of the youngest sailor with age > 18, for each
rating with at least 2 sailors (of any age).
SELECT S.rating, MIN (S.age)
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.age > 18
GROUP BY S.rating
HAVING 1 < (SELECT COUNT (*)
FROM Sailors S2
WHERE S.rating=S2.rating);
Shows HAVING clause can also contain a
subquery.
Compare this with the query where we
considered only ratings with 2 sailors over 18!
What if HAVING clause is replaced by:
HAVING COUNT(*) >1
154
GROUP BY and HAVING
Find those ratings for which the average age is the minimum over
all ratings.
Aggregation operations cannot be nested!
WRONG:
SELECT S.rating
FROM Sailors S
WHERE S.age =
(SELECT MIN (AVG (S2.age)) FROM Sailors S2);
Correct solution:
SELECT Temp.rating, Temp.avgage
FROM (SELECT S.rating, AVG (S.age) AS avgage
FROM Sailors S
GROUP BY S.rating) AS Temp
WHERE Temp.avgage = (SELECT MIN (Temp.avgage)
FROM Temp);

155
Summary
SQL was an important factor in the early acceptance of
the relational model; more natural than earlier,
procedural query languages.
All queries that can be expressed in relational algebra
can also be formulated in SQL.
In addition, SQL has significantly more expressive
power than relational algebra, in particular
aggregation operations and grouping.
Many alternative ways to write a query; query
optimizer looks for most efficient evaluation plan.
In practice, users need to be aware of how queries are
optimized and evaluated for most efficient results.

156