FUNDAMENTALS OF

DATABASES
Simple Queries in SQL

NGUYEN Hoang Ha
Email: [Link]@[Link]
 Objectives

 Get into the SQL

 Understand the SQL Environment
 Understand the how to write simple queries
 Understand about the string data type, date-time data type
 Understand about NULL values
 Know how to change the data of tables
 Know how to order the output

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SQL OVERVIEW
Mathematics to Computer: RA to SQL

π σ ρ ⋈c
Math
RA is the conceptual basis for RDB

Computer
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 What is SQL?
 SEQUEL (Structured English QUEry Language) was
developed by IBM in 1974,
later became Structural Query Language (SQL)
 Standard language to work with RDBMS
 Easy to learn
 Close to English
 Less than 100 words

 Pronounced as “S-Q-L” or “Sequel.”

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6
 From RA to SQL
 Based on relational algebra, but not entirely identical.
 Relations  Tables
 Tuples  Rows
 Attributes  Columns
 Like a relation, a table is a bag of rows. Duplicates are not
automatically removed.
 This is for practical reasons. Duplicate eliminations are inefficient in
implementation.
 Unlike a relation, the order of rows in a table is relevant.

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 SQL Revisions

Year Name Alias Comments

1986 SQL-86 SQL-87 First published by ANSI. Ratified by ISO in 1987.

1989 SQL-89 FIPS 127-1 Minor revision, adopted as FIPS 127-1.

1992 SQL-92 SQL2, FIPS 127-2 Major revision (ISO 9075), Entry Level SQL-92 adopted as FIPS 127-2.

1999 SQL:1999 SQL3 Added regular expression matching, recursive queries, triggers, support for procedural
and control-of-flow statements, non-scalar types, and some object-oriented features.

2003 SQL:2003 Introduced XML-related features, window functions, standardized sequences, and
columns with auto-generated values (including identity-columns).

2006 SQL:2006 ISO/IEC 9075-14:2006 defines ways in which SQL can be used in conjunction with
XML. It defines ways of importing and storing XML data in an SQL database,
manipulating it within the database and publishing both XML and conventional SQL-
data in XML form. In addition, it provides facilities that permit applications to
integrate into their SQL code the use of XQuery, the XML Query Language published
by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to concurrently access ordinary SQL-data
and XML documents.

2008 SQL:2008 Defines more flexible windowing functions, clarifies SQL 2003 items that were still
unclear [1]
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 Sub-languages of SQL

CREATE

DDL ALTER

DROP

INSERT
SQL

UPDATE
DML
DELETE
DCL
SELECT (correspond to RA)
TCL
PSM

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 SQL Enviroment

Terminal tool

Network:
MySQL Protocol

IDE: MySQL Workbench

Other Applications

Client side Server side

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 SQL Commands Are Sequential
 Commands are executed in the order they are encountered.
 DDL commands are not like C/Java declarations.
 DDL and DML commands can be mixed
 For example, you can define a table, fill it up with contents, and delete a
columns.
 That is, table definitions (relation schema) can be changed during the
lifespan of a database.
 The ability of doing so does imply it is a good practice.
 It is best the schema/design of a database is well thought through before its
use.

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 Element of SQL Code
 Statement: A complete instruction to the database
SELECT * FROM Employees
WHERE LastName = 'Smith'
ORDER BY FirstName;

 Clause: a part of an SQL statement

 Eg: SELECT * FROM Employees
 A statement may consist one or many clauses

 Keyword: reserved words in SQL having a predefined

meaning
 Identifier: objects in a databases
 Eg: tables, columns, indexes, views, schemas, and other elements

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 Coding in SQL
 SQL is case insensitive

 Convention:
 Keywords are all in UPPER CASE
 Identifier name: vary on each project and team, but must be consistent
 Tables and Columns:
 PascalCase, e.g. :UsthStudent, InvoiceDetails, TeachingLog)

 or lowercase with underscore to separate words. e.g.: usth_student, invoice_details,

teaching_log
 Tables: Singular nouns (customer, order)
 Columns: Descriptive names (first_name, order_date).

 Variables and function: use camelCase, e.g.: computeStudentNumber

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 Coding in SQL (cont’)

 Indentation and Alignment

 Align SQL statements and clauses for better readability. Each
clause normally is written in a line.
 Use indentation to indicate nested or queries
SELECT column_name
FROM (
SELECT column_name
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
) AS subquery;

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 Coding in SQL (cont’)
 Comments
 Use inline comments for complex logic or calculations.
SELECT column_name -- This is a comment
FROM table_name;

 Use block comments for detailed explanations.

/*
This is a block comment.
It can span multiple lines.
*/
SELECT column_name
FROM table_name;

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DDL
 DDL Commands
CREATE DATABASE
CREATE TABLE
ALTER TABLE
RENAME TABLE
DROP TABLE
CREATE INDEX
DROP INDEX
Also – CREATE VIEW

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 Referential Integrity Constraints
 A referential integrity constraint is used to link (or reference)
relations. This means that a foreign key in a relation must also
exist in the relation in which it serves as the primary key
 Super_ssn must be found in Ssn of Employee
 Mgr_ssn of Department must exist in Ssn of Employee
 Dno of Employee must exist in Dnumber of Department
 Dnum of Project must exist in Dnumber of Department
 Dnumber of Dept_Location must exist in Dnumber of Department

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 Create Database Example
 To create
CREATE DATABASE Company;
 To use (or switch to) the database
USE Company;
 Subsequent commands will operate on the Company
database by default.

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 CREATE TABLE
CREATE TABLE base-table-name (colname
datatype [column constraints – NULL/NOT
NULL, DEFAULT…, UNIQUE, CHECK…, PRIMARY
KEY],
[,colname datatype [column constraints
…]]
...
[table constraints – PRIMARY KEY…, FOREIGN
KEY…, UNIQUE…, CHECK…]
[storage specifications]);

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 Datatypes
 Each column must have a datatype specified
 Standards include various numeric types, fixed-length and
varying-length character strings, bit strings, and user-defined
types
 Available datatypes vary from DBMS to DBMS

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 Datatypes
 char(n). Fixed length character string, with user-specified length n.
 varchar(n). Variable length character strings, with user-specified maximum length n.
 int. Integer (a finite subset of the integers that is machine-dependent).
 smallint. Small integer (a machine-dependent subset of the integer domain type).
 numeric(p,d). Fixed point number, with user-specified precision of p digits, with d
digits to the right of decimal point. (ex., numeric(3,1), allows 44.5 to be stores
exactly, but not 444.5 or 0.32)
 real, double precision. Floating point and double-precision floating point numbers,
with machine-dependent precision.
 float(n). Floating point number, with user-specified precision of at least n digits.
 Date: Made up of year-month-day in the format yyyy-mm-dd
 Time: Made up of hour:minute:second in the format hh:mm:ss
 Timestamp: Has both DATE and TIME components
 Others: Boolean, Float, Double Precision
 See user’s manual for more data types.

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CREATE TABLE Example
CREATE TABLE Department (
Dname VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
Dnumber INTEGER DEFAULT 0,
Mgr_ssn CHAR(9),
Mgr_Start_date CHAR(9),
PRIMARY KEY (Dnumber),
UNIQUE (Dname),
FOREIGN KEY (Mgr_ssn) REFERENCES Employee(Ssn)
);

 The “UNIQUE” clause specifies secondary keys.

 Employee has to be created first for the FK Mgr_ssn to refer to it.
 How could we have defined the Dno FK in Employee?
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 Adding the Dno FK to Employee
 If “CREATE TABLE Employee” is issued first, we cannot
specify Dno as a FK in that CREATE command.
 Statement order:
 CREATE TABLE Employee
 CREATE TABLE Department
 Use an ALTER TABLE to add a Foreign key to Employee table

ALTER TABLE Employee

ADD CONSTRAINT
FOREIGN KEY (Dno)
REFERENCES Department (Dnumber);

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 The Check Clause
 Used to specify user-defined constraints
 Assume that dept. numbers are from 0 to 99.
CREATE TABLE Department (
…
Dnumber INTEGER Default 0
CHECK (Dnumber>=0 AND Dnumber<=99),
…);
 “Check” can also be a clause of the entire table.
CRATE TABLE Department (
…
Dept_create_date date,
Mgr_start_date date,
CHECK (Dept_create_date <= Mgr_start_date)
);
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 Review: Multi attribute Key

 The bar and beer together are the key for Sells:
CREATE TABLE Sells (
bar CHAR(20),
beer VARCHAR(20),
price REAL,
PRIMARY KEY (bar, beer)
);

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 Exercise
 Create the table WORKS_ON, assuming tables EMPLOYEE
and PROJECT have been created and Hours ranges from 1
to 56.

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 Add Columns to Existing Tables
 To add spouse SSN (S_ssn) to Employee
ALTER TABLE Employee
ADD COLUMN S_ssn char(9);
 The new attribute will have NULLs in all the tuples of the
relation right after the command is executed

 Alternatively, we can set a default value.

ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEE ADD COLUMN S_ssn
CHAR(9) DEFAULT “000000000”;

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 Delete Columns from Existing Tables
 To delete column S_ssn
ALTER TABLE Employee DROP COLUMN S_ssn;

 Reminder: changing relation schemas typically indicates ill-

executed design phase of the database.

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 Referential Integrity Options
 Causes of referential integrity violation for a foreign key FK
(consider the Mgr_ssn of Department).
 On Delete: when deleting the foreign tuple
 What to do when deleting the manager tuple in Employee ?
 On Update: when updating the foreign tuple
 What to do when updating/changing the SSN of the manager tuple in
Employee is changed ?

 Actions when the above two causes occur.

 Set Null: the Mgr_ssn is set to null.
 Set Default: the Mgr_ssn is set to the default value.
 Cascade: the Mgr_ssn is updated accordingly
 If the manager is deleted, the department is also deleted.

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The Mgr_ssn Example

CREATE TABLE DEPARTMENT (

…
Mgr_ssn CHAR(9),
…
FOREIGN KEY (Mgr_ssn)
REFERENCES EMPLOYEE (Ssn)
ON DELETE ???
ON UPDATE ???
);

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 Another Example
CREATE TABLE EMP(
…
SSN CHAR(9),
DNO INTEGER DEFAULT 1,
SUPERSSN CHAR(9),
PRIMARY KEY (ESSN),
FOREIGN KEY (DNO) REFERENCES DEPT
ON DELETE SET DEFAULT
ON UPDATE CASCADE,
FOREIGN KEY (SUPERSSN) REFERENCES EMP
ON DELETE SET NULL
ON UPDATE CASCADE
);

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 Miscellaneous Commands
 SHOW DATABASES;
 Show all the databases on the server

 SHOW TABLES;
 Show all the tables of the present database

 DROP TALBE t_name;

 Delete the entire table t_name

 DROP DATABASE db_name;

 Delete the entire database db_name

 DESCRIBE table_name
 Show structure of table, only for MySQL

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SIMPLE DML QUERIES
 SELECT commands
A SELECT statement retrieves information from the database. Using a
SELECT statement, you can do the following:
 Projection:You can use the projection capability in SQL to choose the
columns in a table that you want returned by your query.
 Selection:You can use the selection capability in SQL to choose the
rows in a table that you want returned by a query (with WHERE clause)
 Joining:You can use the join capability in SQL to bring together data
that is stored in different tables by creating a link between them.

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 SQL data retrieval query structure

SELECT desired expressions, columns π ρ

[FROM one or more tables] ⋈c
[WHERE conditions about expected rows] σ
Next
[GROUP BY rows with the same column values] lesson

[ORDER BY column list]

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 Syntax for a simple SELECT queries
❖ SELECT clause identifies what columns

▪ ALL: Specifies that duplicate rows can appear in the result set. ALL is the default
▪ DISTINCT: Specifies that only unique rows can appear in the result set. Null values
are considered equal for the purposes of the DISTINCT keyword
▪ TOP n [ PERCENT ]:Specifies that only the first n rows are to be output from the
query result set. n is an integer between 0 and 4294967295. If PERCENT is also
specified, only the first n percent of the rows are output from the result set. When

specified with PERCENT, n must be an integer between 0 and 100

❖ FROM identifies which table

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 A trick for reading & writing queries
 It’s generally easiest to examine a SELECT-FROM-
WHERE query by:
 First looking at the FROM clause to learn which relations
are involved in the query
 Then, move to the WHERE clause to learn what it is
about tuples that is important to the query
 Finally, look at the SELECT clause to see what the output
format is
 The same order: FROM, then WHERE, then SELECT
is often useful when writing queries of your own as
well

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 Example: SELECT all columns

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 Projection in SQL
 We can, if we wish, eliminate some of the components of
the chosen tuples; that is, we can project the relation
produced by a SQL query onto some of its attributes
 In place of the * of the SELECT clause, we may list some of
the attributes of the relation mentioned in the FROM clause.
The result will be projected onto the attributes listed

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Example: Projection in SQL

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 Example: Extended projection using Arithmetic Operators

 Note that the resultant calculated column SALARY+300 is

not a new column in the EMPLOYEES table; it is for display
only.
 By default, the name of a new column comes from the
calculation that generated it— in this case, salary+300.
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 Renaming or Defining a Column Alias
 A column alias:
 Renames a column heading
 Is useful with calculations
 Immediately follows the column name - there can also be the
optional AS keyword between the column name and alias

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 Example: ALIAS
 The example displays the last names and annual salaries of
all the employees.
 Because Annual Salary contain a space, it has been enclosed
in double quotation marks.
 Notice that the column heading in the output is exactly the
same as the column alias.

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Duplication Eliminating with SELECT distinct

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 Selection in SQL or Restricting data
 While retrieving data from the database, you may need to
restrict the rows of data that are displayed
 In that case, the solution is to use the WHERE clause
 The WHERE clause is equal to the selection operator of
relational algebra
 The expression that may follow WHERE include conditional
expressions like those found in C or Java

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 Selection in SQL (or Restricting data)
SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT ]
[ TOP n [ PERCENT ] ]
* | {column_name | expression [alias],…}
[FROM table]
[WHERE conditions]

 WHERE: restricts the query to rows that meet a

condition
 The WHERE clause follows the FROM clause.
 Condition: is composed of column names,
expressions, constants, and a comparison operator
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 Example: Restricting data

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 Example: Restricting data

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 Example: Restricting data

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 Comparison of Strings
 Two strings are equal if they are the same sequence
of characters. Recall from the section 2.3.2 that
strings can be stored as fixed-length strings (using
CHAR) or variable-length strings (using VCHAR)
 When comparing strings with different declarations,
only the actual strings are compared (SQL ignores
any “pad” characters that must be presenet in the
database in order to give a string its required
length)
 We can use “<“, “>”, “=“ and “<>” operators to
compare two strings
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 Pattern matching in SQL
 SQL also provides the capability to compare strings on the
basis of a simple pattern match. An alternative form of
comparision expression is:
s LIKE p
where:
 S: is a string
 P: is a pattern (with the optional use of some special characters: “%”,
“_” ..)
 Similarly, “s NOT LIKE p” is true if and only if string s does
not match pattern p

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 Wildcards

Symbol Meanings Example

% Any string of zero or more characters “P%” finds Peter, pack
MySQL

_ Underscore for any single character “h_t” finds hot, hat, hit
SQL Server

[] Any single character within brackets “h[oa]t” finds hot, hat

[^] Any single character not in brackets “h[^oa]t” finds hit but not hot
- A range of characters “c[a-f]%” fins cat, cell

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 Dates and Times
 SQL generally support dates and times as special data types.
These values are often representable in a variety of formats
such ash:
 ‘05/14/1948’ or
 ’14 May 1948’

 We can compare dates or times using the same comparison

operators we use for numbers or strings

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 NULL values
 Null means 'nothing' or without value or consequence
 Null is a special marker used in Structured Query Language
(SQL) to indicate that a data value does not exist in the
database. Introduced by the creator of the relational
database model
 Since Null is not a member of any data domain, it is not
considered a "value", but rather a marker (or placeholder)
indicating the absence of value. Because of this, comparisons
with Null can never result in either True or False, but always
in a third logical result, Unknown
 However, certain operations on Null can return values if the
value of Null is not relevant to the outcome of the
operation
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 Ordering the Output
 While retrieving data from the database, you may need to
specify the order in which the rows are displayed.
 In that case, the solution is to use the ORDER BY clause

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 Ordering the Output
 If you use the ORDER BY clause, it must be the last clause of the SQL
statement.
 Expression: Specifies a column on which to sort.
A sort column can be specified as a name or column alias (which can be qualified
by the table or view name), an expression, or a nonnegative integer representing
the position of the name, alias, or expression in select list.
 Multiple sort columns can be specified. The sequence of the sort columns in the
ORDER BY clause defines the organization of the sorted result set.

SELECT [ ALL | DISTINCT ]

[ TOP n [ PERCENT ] ]
* | {column_name | expression [alias],…}
FROM table
[WHERE conditions]
[ORDER BY {expression [ASC | DESC] ,…} ]
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 Example: Sorting data

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 Exercise 1
Write SQL queries to create the following tables:
 Studio (name, address)
 Star (name, address, phone)
 Movie (title, year, length, genre)

After creating, write SQL queries to drop them

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 Exercise 2

Write SQL queries to do following tasks:

 Add a column named Description into Movie table
(you must determine the data type for it)

 Add a column named Hobbies into Star table (you

must determine the data type for it)

 Add a column named Birthdate into Star table (you

must determine the data type for it)
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 Exercise 3

Write SQL queries to do following tasks:

 Remove the column named Description from
Movie table

 Remove the column named Hobbies from Star

table

 Remove the column named Birthdate from Star

table
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 Exercise 4
 Write a SQL query to show all tuples in table Employees

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 Exercise 5
 Write a SQL query to show all SALARY (but
eliminating duplications) in table EMPLOYEES
 Write a SQL query to show all DEPARTMENT_ID
(but eliminating duplications) in table EMPLOYEES

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DML STATEMENTS
UPDATE INSERT DELETE
Reference: Section 6.5 Jeffrey D. Ullman, Jennifer Widom: A First Course in Database
Systems, Pearson, 3rd Edition (2007)
 Insert record

INSERT INTO table_name ( field1, field2,...fieldN )

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

INSERT INTO table_name ( field1, field2,...fieldN )

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

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 Insert data from a select query

INSERT INTO table_name ( field1, field2,...fieldN )

<SelectStatement>

INSERT INTO SeatleEmp(id, last_name, first_name)

SELECT id, last_name, first_name
FROM employees
WHERE city = ‘Seattle’

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 Update records

UPDATE TableName
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2,.
WHERE condition

UPDATE employees
SET city = ‘SEAT’
WHERE city = ‘seattle’

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 Delete records

DELETE FROM TableName

[WHERE condition]

DELETE FROM student WHERE name='Shannon';

DELETE FROM student; -- delete all students

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 Exercise 6
 Write a SQL query to delete all tuples in
EMPLOYEES table
 Write a SQL query to delete all tuples with NULL
value in DEPARTMENT_ID

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 Exercise 7
 Write a SQL query to set DEPARTMENT_ID to
the value 10
 Write a SQL query to set DEPARTMENT_ID to
the value 10 if DEPARTMENT_ID is NULL

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 Exercise 8
 Write a SQL query to insert some new tuples into
EMPLOYEES

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