Oracle

SQL Study Material

for Oracle and BI Streams

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 1

 Table of contents

INTRODUCTION TO ORACLE ................................................................................................. 7

Features of Oracle ................................................................................................................................. 8
Large Database Support .............................................................................................................................. 8
Data Concurrence ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Industry acceptance standards ................................................................................................................... 8
Portability .................................................................................................................................................... 8
Enforced Integrity ....................................................................................................................................... 8
Data Security ............................................................................................................................................... 9
Support for Client / Server environment .................................................................................................... 9
Oracle’s Role in Client / Server Computing ............................................................................................. 9
What is Personal Oracle? ....................................................................................................................... 9
Physical Database Architecture ............................................................................................................10
Physical Level ............................................................................................................................................10
Data Files ...................................................................................................................................................10
Redo Log Files............................................................................................................................................10
Control Files ..............................................................................................................................................10
Logical Database Architecture ............................................................................................................. 11
Tablespace ................................................................................................................................................11
Segments ...................................................................................................................................................11
Extents.......................................................................................................................................................12
Data block .................................................................................................................................................12
Overall System Structure ..................................................................................................................... 13
Query Processor Component ....................................................................................................................13
Storage manager component ...................................................................................................................13
Oracle Instance ................................................................................................................................... 14
Query process ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Parsing .......................................................................................................................................................15
Execute ......................................................................................................................................................15
Fetch..........................................................................................................................................................15
DML Processing Steps ...............................................................................................................................15
DML Execute Phase ...................................................................................................................................16
Oracle Versions ................................................................................................................................... 17
Oracle 9i.............................................................................................................................................. 18
Features ....................................................................................................................................................18
Benefits .....................................................................................................................................................18
9i Products ................................................................................................................................................18
Application Server.................................................................................................................................18
Oracle9i: ORDBMS ................................................................................................................................19
Oracle 9i supports .................................................................................................................................19
Data Concurrency and Consistency...........................................................................................................19
Locking ......................................................................................................................................................19
Read Consistency ......................................................................................................................................20
Oracle 10g Grid Computing .................................................................................................................. 21
Summary............................................................................................................................................. 22
Exercises ............................................................................................................................................. 23
SQL – STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE ......................................................................... 25
Environment ....................................................................................................................................... 25
Introduction to SQL ............................................................................................................................. 26
A Brief History of SQL ................................................................................................................................26
An Overview of SQL...................................................................................................................................27
SQL in Application Programming ..............................................................................................................27
Structured Query Language ......................................................................................................................28

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 SQL Statements and Categorization..........................................................................................................28
Oracle SQL Datatypes .......................................................................................................................... 29
Character Datatypes .................................................................................................................................29
CHAR datatype ..........................................................................................................................................29
VARCHAR2 (size) .......................................................................................................................................29
NVARCHAR2(size) ......................................................................................................................................29
NUMBER ....................................................................................................................................................30
LONG .........................................................................................................................................................30
DATE ..........................................................................................................................................................30
TIMESTAMP(precision)..............................................................................................................................30
TIMESTAMP(precision) WITH TIME ZONE .................................................................................................30
TIMESTAMP(precision) WITHLOCAL TIME ZONE ......................................................................................30
RAW(size) ..................................................................................................................................................31
LONG RAW ................................................................................................................................................31
CLOB ..........................................................................................................................................................31
BLOB ..........................................................................................................................................................31
BFILE ..........................................................................................................................................................31
Rules for writing SQL Statements......................................................................................................... 31
Data Retrieval or Data Query using SELECT statement ......................................................................... 32
Terminating an SQL Statement .................................................................................................................32
Changing the Order of the Columns .........................................................................................................33
Expressions, Conditions, and Operators ...................................................................................................33
Expressions ...........................................................................................................................................33
Conditions .............................................................................................................................................34
The WHERE Clause ................................................................................................................................34
Operators ..................................................................................................................................................36
Arithmetic Operators ............................................................................................................................36
Comparison Operators .........................................................................................................................36
Character Operators .............................................................................................................................37
LIKE operator ........................................................................................................................................37
Underscore (_) ......................................................................................................................................39
Concatenation (||) operator ................................................................................................................40
Logical Operators ..................................................................................................................................41
Miscellaneous Operators: IN, BETWEEN and DISTINCT ........................................................................41
Distinct Operator ..................................................................................................................................43
ORDER BY CLAUSE .....................................................................................................................................43
Exercises ....................................................................................................................................................46
FUNCTIONS ...............................................................................................................................................49
Predefined functions .................................................................................................................................49
Aggregate Functions .............................................................................................................................50
SINGLE ROW FUNCTIONS .....................................................................................................................56
Arithmetic Functions ............................................................................................................................57
Round(expression1,expression2) and Trunc((expression1,expression2).......................60
Test the following .................................................................................................................................60
CHARACTER FUNCTIONS .......................................................................................................................61
Conversion Functions ...........................................................................................................................71
Date and Time Functions ......................................................................................................................76
Interval Data types ( Only from 9i) .......................................................................................................81
Interpreting Two-digit Years .................................................................................................................82
CONVERTING NUMBER TO INTERVALS .................................................................................................83
Miscellaneous Functions.......................................................................................................................85
Exercises ...............................................................................................................................................92
GROUP BY clause with SELECT statement .................................................................................................93
ERROR with GROUP BY Clause ..............................................................................................................94
Group by with ROLLUP and CUBE Operators........................................................................................97

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 HAVING CLAUSE ....................................................................................................................................99
ORDER OF EXECUTION ............................................................................................................................100
Nested Sub queries .................................................................................................................................101
Single row sub query ..........................................................................................................................101
Multi row Sub queries ........................................................................................................................104
Multi Column Sub Queries ..................................................................................................................105
Correlated Sub Queries.......................................................................................................................106
ANY and ALL Operators ...........................................................................................................................108
DML STATEMENTS IN SUB QUERIES ........................................................................................................110
EXISTS And NOT EXISTS Operators ..........................................................................................................111
Exercise based on sub-queries ................................................................................................................112
INTEGRITY CONSTRAINTS .................................................................................................................. 113
Constraint Guidelines ..............................................................................................................................113
TYPES OF CONSTRAINTS ..........................................................................................................................113
Table Constraint..................................................................................................................................113
Column Constraint ..............................................................................................................................114
Various types of Integrity constraints .....................................................................................................114
PRIMARY KEY ......................................................................................................................................114
UNIQUE ...............................................................................................................................................114
NOT NULL............................................................................................................................................115
CHECK .................................................................................................................................................115
Guidelines for Primary Keys and Foreign Keys ........................................................................................115
DDL ( Data Definition language) ......................................................................................................... 116
Create Table ............................................................................................................................................116
Naming Rules in oracle............................................................................................................................116
ALTER TABLE............................................................................................................................................118
DATA MANIPULATION ....................................................................................................................... 119
INSERTING ROWS ....................................................................................................................................119
SAVEPOINT ..............................................................................................................................................120
IMPLICIT COMMIT ...................................................................................................................................120
AUTO ROLLBACK .....................................................................................................................................121
ISSUE Frequent commit statements .......................................................................................................121
CREATING A TABLE FROM ANOTHER TABLE ...........................................................................................121
To add a new column in the table ...........................................................................................................121
UPDATING ROWS ....................................................................................................................................122
DELETING ROWS .....................................................................................................................................123
TRUNCATING A TABLE .............................................................................................................................123
DROPPING A TABLE OR REMOVING A TABLE ..........................................................................................123
ADDING COMMENTS TO A TABLE. ..........................................................................................................123
REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY CONSTRAINTS .................................................................................................124
Foreign Key .........................................................................................................................................124
References ..........................................................................................................................................124
On delete cascade...............................................................................................................................124
On Delete Set NULL ............................................................................................................................124
Exercise ...................................................................................................................................................126
JOINS ................................................................................................................................................ 127
Objectives................................................................................................................................................127
TYPES OF JOINS .......................................................................................................................................127
Joining tables using Oracle Syntax ..........................................................................................................128
Equi join ..................................................................................................................................................130
To display common column information ............................................................................................130
Non-Equi joins .........................................................................................................................................131
OUTER JOIN .............................................................................................................................................132
LEFT, RIGHT AND FULL OUTER JOIN ........................................................................................................133
Position of Joins in where clause ............................................................................................................135

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 4

 SELF JOIN .................................................................................................................................................135
NATURAL AND INNER JOINS (Introduced in 9i) .......................................................................................136
Creating Natural Joins .........................................................................................................................136
Joins with Using Clause ...........................................................................................................................136
INNER JOIN ..............................................................................................................................................137
CROSS JOIN (CARTESIAN PRODUCT) .......................................................................................................137
OTHER OBJECTS................................................................................................................................. 138
SEQUENCE OBJECT ..................................................................................................................................138
Example ..............................................................................................................................................139
NEXTVAL and CURRVAL.....................................................................................................................139
TO MODIFY THE SEQUNECE OBJECT ...................................................................................................139
To remove the sequence object .........................................................................................................139
VIEWS ......................................................................................................................................................140
Changing Base Table through view .....................................................................................................141
Rules for deleting row.........................................................................................................................141
Rules for updating rows ......................................................................................................................141
Rules for insertion of rows..................................................................................................................141
WITH CHECK OPTION ..........................................................................................................................142
INDEX ......................................................................................................................................................142
Why to Use An INDEX .........................................................................................................................142
When Oracle Does Not Use Index ......................................................................................................143
Negative Side of an Index ...................................................................................................................143
FUNCTIONAL INDEX (Function based indexes) ...................................................................................143
Dropping an Index ..............................................................................................................................144
PSEUDO COLUMN ............................................................................................................................. 144
ADVANCED QUERIES ......................................................................................................................... 146
ANALYTICAL QUERIES ..............................................................................................................................146
DENSE_RANK ......................................................................................................................................147
ROW_NUMBER ...................................................................................................................................147
NULLIF FUNCTION ...............................................................................................................................148
NVL2 Function.....................................................................................................................................149
Coalesce Function ...............................................................................................................................149
Multiple Insert and Merge statements............................................................................................... 150
Multiple insert statement .......................................................................................................................150
Unconditional Insert Statement .........................................................................................................150
Conditional Insert statement ..............................................................................................................151
LOCKING MECHANISMS ..................................................................................................................... 152
Locking using SELECT for UPDATE ...........................................................................................................152
SECURITY .......................................................................................................................................... 154
What is a privilege ...................................................................................................................................154
Object privilege .......................................................................................................................................154
System privilege ......................................................................................................................................154
Object Privileges......................................................................................................................................154
Restricting privilege to certain columns .............................................................................................155
SYNONYMS ....................................................................................................................................... 156
Creating private synonym. ......................................................................................................................156
Public Synonym .......................................................................................................................................156
Bulk loading ...................................................................................................................................... 157
What is SQL*Loader? ..............................................................................................................................157
Why Use SQL*Loader From Your PC? .....................................................................................................157
Getting Started, an Example ...................................................................................................................157
Here’s what you do: ............................................................................................................................158
How to convert Excel Sheet into CSV(Comma separated variable) file ................................................ 160
Date and time formats in Oracle ........................................................................................................ 162
Function list of Oracle........................................................................................................................ 167

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 5

SQL Functions as per oracle documentation: Oracle 10g .......................................................................167
Single-Row Functions ..............................................................................................................................167
Numeric Functions ..............................................................................................................................167
Character Functions Returning Character Values ...............................................................................168
NLS Character Functions .....................................................................................................................168
Character Functions Returning Number Values .................................................................................168
Datetime Functions ............................................................................................................................168
General Comparison Functions ..........................................................................................................168
Conversion Functions .........................................................................................................................168
Large Object Functions .......................................................................................................................169
Collection Functions ...........................................................................................................................169
Hierarchical Function ..........................................................................................................................169
Data Mining Functions ........................................................................................................................169
XML Functions ....................................................................................................................................169
Encoding and Decoding Functions ......................................................................................................170
NULL-Related Functions......................................................................................................................170
Environment and Identifier Functions ................................................................................................170
Aggregate Functions ...........................................................................................................................170
Analytic Functions...............................................................................................................................170
Object Reference Functions................................................................................................................171
Model Functions .................................................................................................................................171

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 6

Introduction to Oracle

It is a database management system (DBMS), which manages a large amount of

data in a multi-user environment so that many users concurrently access the data.
It also provides security and Recovery. It stores and manages data using relational
model.

Oracle is the name of database management system developed by Oracle

Corporation.

Oracle server manages data in the database. Users access Oracle server using SQL
commands. So Oracle server receives SQL commands from users and executes
them on the database to produce the desired results as requested by the user.

Figure 1: Oracle Architecture

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 7

Features of Oracle

The following are some of the important features of Oracle Server.

Large Database Support

Oracle supports largest database, potentially hundreds of pita bytes in size. It also
allows efficient usage of space by providing full control on space management.

Data Concurrence

Oracle supports concurrent access to database by multiple users. It automatically

locks and unlocks rows to maintain integrity of the data.

Industry acceptance standards

Oracle server is 100% compliant with Entry of the ANSI / ISO standards. Oracle
adheres to industry standards for data access language, network protocols etc.
This makes Oracle an ‘open’ system, which protects the investment of customer.
It is easy to port Oracle applications.

Portability

Oracle software can be ported to different operating systems and it is the name
on all systems. Application development in Oracle can be ported to any operating
system with little or no modifications.

Oracle server runs on different platforms. The following are some of the platforms
on which Oracle runs.

 Windows NT.
 Novel Netware
 Unix
Enforced Integrity

Oracle allows users to define business rules and enforce them. These rules need
not be included at the application level.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 8

Data Security

Oracle provides security in different levels – system level and object level. It also
makes implementation of security easier through Roles.

Support for Client / Server environment

Oracle allows process to be split between client and server. Oracle server does all
database management whereas Client does user interface. Oracle server allows
code to be stored in the database in the form of procedures and functions. This
allows centralization of the code and reduces network traffic.

Oracle’s Role in Client / Server Computing

Client/Server computing is a method in which

 Database is stored on the server in the network

 A dedicated program, called back-end, runs on the server to manage
database, which is also stored on the server.
 User access the data in database by running application, also called as front-
end from clients, that accesses back-end running on the server.
 Applications running on the clients interact with the user.
 Back-end takes care of total database management.
 Client application and back-end run on different machines, which may be of
different types. For example, back-end may run on mainframe and front-
end may be on a PC.

Oracle is a database system that runs on the server, and used to manage the data.
The other name to database server is Back-End.

What is Personal Oracle?

Personal Oracle is one of the flavors of Oracle. In this Oracle server and client both
run on the same machine. This is unlike other flavors where Oracle Server runs on
Server and Front-end runs on Client.

It is possible to develop an application using Personal Oracle and deploy it in a

Client / Server environment. Personal Oracle can support up to 15 database
connections.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 9

Physical Database Architecture

A database contains any length of information. But for the end user, we have to
show only required information by hiding the unwanted information. This data
hiding can be done using various data abstraction methods.

In any RDBMS we can use 3 levels of data abstractions.

 Physical level
 Logical Level
 View level
Physical Level

The Physical structure of the database is placed in Physical level. It is physically a

set of three operating system files. These files automatically create when
database is created.

 Data Files
 Redo log files
 Control files
Data Files

It contains the data of the database. Every table that is stored in the database is a
part of these files. Only Oracle Server can interpret these data files.

Redo Log Files

Every database has a set of two or more Redo Log files. The set of redo log files is
known as databases redo log. Redo Log files are used in failure recovery. All
changes made to the database are written to redo log file. (Filenames redo01.log)

Control Files

Contain information required to verify the integrity of the database, including the
names of the other files in the database (Extension of file is ctl)

 Database Name
 Names and locations of data files and redo log files.

Path: We can use this Oracle\oradata\orcl path in the server to see all the 3 types
of files

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 10

Logical Database Architecture

Logical Structure is independent of Physical structure. Each Oracle database

contains the following components.

 Tablespaces
 Segments
 Extents
 Blocks
Tablespace

Each Database is a collection of tablespaces. For example we can use a table space
called PAYROLL to store all the data related to payroll application.

Every database contains SYSTEM tablespace. This is automatically created when a

database is created. SYSTEM tablespace contains the data dictionary tables.

It is possible to make tablespace temporarily unavailable by making it off-line and

makes it available again by changing it to on-line. By making a tablespace off-line,
DBA can take the backup.

Segments

Data into table spaces comes in the form of segments. Example Table is a
segment. An Oracle database requires up to 4 types of segments

 Data segments It is used to store data of tables

 Index Segments Used to store indexes
 Rollback segments Undo information is stored
 Temporary segments Oracle stores Temporary tables

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 11

Extents

The storage space is allocated to segments is in the form of Extents. Each

Tablespace contains 65536 data files N number of such Table spaces creates a
database. An extent is made with in a data file. N Number of continuous db blocks
makes up an Extent.

Data block

A data block is the amount of data that is transferred between disc to memory
and memory to disk when a read or write operation is performed.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 12

Overall System Structure

A database system is partitioned into modules, which handles different

responsibilities of over all system.

The functional components of a database system are

 Query processor Component

 Storage manager component
Query Processor Component

This component is a collection of the following processes.

DML Compiler : It translates DML statements into a lower level instructions

that the query evaluation engine understands

Embedded DML precompiler It converts DML statements embedded in an

application program into normal procedure calls in the host language.

DDL Interpreter It interprets DDL statements and records them in a set of

tables

Query evaluation engine It executes lower level instructions generated by

the DML compiler
Storage manager component

It is an Interface between the data stored in the database, application programs

and queries submitted to the system.

Authorization and Integrity manager It tests for satisfaction of integrity

constraints and checks the authority of users to access data.

Transaction Manager It ensures concurrent transaction executions

processed without conflicting.

File manager It manages the allocation of space on disk and the data
structures used to represent information.

Buffer manager This is responsible for fetching data from disk storage into
main memory.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 13

Oracle Instance

Every oracle database is associated with an Oracle Instance. Every time a database
is started, a memory area called System Global Area (SGA) or Shared Global Area
is allocated and one or more processes are started.

The combination of SGA and Oracle processes is called as Oracle Instance. SGA
consists of several memory structures:

The shared pool is used to store the most recently executed SQL statements
and the most recently used data from the data dictionary. These SQL
statements may be submitted by a user process or, in the case of stored
procedures, read from the data dictionary.
The database buffer cache is used to store the most recently used data. The
data is read from, and written to, the data files.
The redo log buffer is used to track changes made to the database by the
server and background processes.
Query process

When User connects to the database, it automatically creates two different

processes called as User process and Server Process. The user process is the
application program that originates SQL statements. The server process executes
the statements sent from the user process.

There are three main stages in the processing of a query:

Figure 2: Oracle Query Processing Steps

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 14

Parsing

During the parse stage, the SQL statement is passed from the user process to the
server process, and a parsed representation of the SQL statement is loaded into a
shared SQL area.

During the parse, the server process performs the following functions:

 Searches for an existing copy of the SQL statement in the shared pool
 validates the SQL statement by checking its syntax
 Performs data dictionary lookups to validate table and column definitions
Execute

Identify rows selected. The steps to be taken when executing the request. The
optimizer is the function in the Oracle Server that determines the optimal
execution plan.

Fetch

Return rows to user process. With each fetch process, it can fetch 20 records at a
time.

DML Processing Steps

A data manipulation language (DML) statement requires only two phases of

processing:

 Parse is the same as the parse phase used for processing a query
 Execute requires additional processing to make data changes

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 15

DML Execute Phase

The server process records the before image to the rollback block and updates the
data block. Both of these changes are done in the database buffer cache. Any
changed blocks in the buffer cache are marked as dirty buffers: that is, buffers
that are not the same as the corresponding blocks on the disk.

The processing of a DELETE or INSERT command uses similar steps. The

before image for a DELETE contains the column values in the deleted row, and
the before image of an INSERT contains the row location information.

Because the changes made to the blocks are only recorded in memory structures
and are not written immediately to disk, a computer failure that causes the loss of
the SGA can also lose these changes.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 16

Oracle Versions
Table 1: Versions and features of Oracle

Oracle 6.0 1990

Oracle 7.0 1995
Oracle 7.1 1996
Oracle 7.2 1997
Oracle 7.3 1998 Object based
Oracle 8.0 1999 ORDBMS
Oracle 8i 2000 Internet based Application
Oracle9i 2001 Application server
Oracle10g 2004 Grid Computing
Oracle 11g 2009 482 new features
Oracle 12i 2009 Aug 1500 new features

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 17

Oracle 9i

Features

Oracle offers a comprehensive high performance infrastructure for e-business. It

is called Oracle9i. It provides everything needed to develop, deploy and manage
Internet applications.

Benefits

 Scalability from departments to enterprise e-business sites

 Reliable, available and secure architecture
 One development model, easy development options
 Common skill sets including SQL, PL/SQL,JAVA and XML
 One Management interface for all applications
9i Products

There are two products. They provide a complete and simple infrastructure for
Internet applications.

Application Server

9i Application server runs all the applications and 9i database stores our data.
Oracle 9i Application server runs

 Portals or web sites

 Java Transactional Applications
 Provides integration between users, applications and data

Figure 3: Products of Oracle 9i

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Oracle9i: ORDBMS

Oracle is the first object-capable database developed by Oracle Corporation. It

extends the data modeling capabilities of Oracle 8 to support a new object
relational database model. Oracle provides a new engine that brings object-
oriented programming, complex data types, complex business objects, and full
compatibility with the relational world.

Oracle 9i supports

 User-Defined data types and objects

 Fully compatible with relational database (It supports all the CODD rules)
 Support of multimedia and Large objects
 It also support client server and web based applications

Oracle 9i can scale tens of thousands of concurrent users and support up to 512
peta bytes of data (One peta byte = 1000 tera bytes and One terabyte = 1000
GB).

Data Concurrency and Consistency

Data concurrency allows many users to access the same data at the same time.
One way of managing data concurrency is by making other users wait until their
turn comes, when a user is accessing the data. But the goal of the database
system is to reduce wait time so that it is negligible to each user. At the same time
data integrity should not be compromised.

Locking

Oracle uses locking mechanism and multi-versioning to increase data concurrency

while maintaining data integrity.

Oracle uses Locks to control data concurrency. Locks are used to prevent
destructive interference. For instance, when user X is modifying a row, it is locked
so that other users cannot modify it until X completes modification. However, it
doesn’t stop users querying the row. That means users reading the data will not
be interrupted by user modifying and vice-versa.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 19

Note: it is the responsibility of the application developer to unlock rows that are
locked by committing or rolling back the transaction.

Read Consistency

For a query, Oracle returns a time point-based version of data. That means, the
data retrieved is consistent with the time at which the query started. So any
changes made to database since query started will not be available.

Ready consistency is made possible In Oracle using Rollback segment. Rollback

segment keeps a copy of unchanged data. This data is substituted for the data
that has changed since query started, in the query result.

This ensures readers do not wait for writers and vice-versa. And ensures that
writers only wait for other writers, if they attempt to update identical rows at the
same time.

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Oracle 10g Grid Computing

1. Grid computing enables groups of networked computers to be pooled on

demand to meet the changing needs of business.
2. Grid computing enables the creation of a single IT infrastructure that can be
shared by multiple business processes.
3. Grid computing also employs special software infrastructure to monitor
resource usage and allocate requests to the most appropriate resource.

Figure 4: Oracle RAC Cluster

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Summary

Oracle is RDBMS. In a Client/Server environment, Oracle runs on the server as

back-end to manage the data. The logical structure of the database is
independent of physical structure of the database. User is concerned with only
the logical structure of the database.

An Oracle Instance is the combination of SGA and Oracle process. Oracle instance
contains a collection of background processes, where each process does a specific
job.

Oracle uses locking mechanism to manage data concurrency. It copies the data of
a row, before the row is changed, to rollback segment to provide read
consistency.

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Exercises

1. SGA stands for _______________________________

2. _____________ is the name of the tablespace that is automatically created
when a database is created.
3. In which segment the data of a table is stored?
4. What is the difference between Personal Oracle and Client/Server Oracle
5. Redo Log files are also called as ______________
6. File extension of control file is ___________
7. ________ Number of data files are there in each table space
8. What is Oracle Instance?
9. What is the maximum storage capacity of Oracle database
10.What is Application server?

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 23

Answers:

1. System Global Area or Shared Global Area

2. SYSTEM tablespace
3. DATA SEGMENT
4. PERSONAL ORACLE is for single user purpose where as Cleint/Server Oracle
is for Enterprise.
5. Databases redo log files.
6. CTL
7. 65536
8. Oracle Instance is a component of oracle server that manages one and only
one DATABASE.
9. 512 PETA Bytes.
10.It is a part of Oracle 9i which runs Web Sites, Java Transactional applications
and also provide user integration and security features.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 24

SQL – Structured Query Language

Environment

Clients of Oracle can use two different environments for executing SQL
statements. SQL*plus and iSQL*plus.

iSQL*plus is (Available only from Oracle 9i) a web based client tool.

 An Environment
 Oracle proprietary
 Keywords can be abbreviated
 Runs on a browser
 Centrally loaded, does not have to be implemented on each machine

Difference between SQL*Plus and ISQL*plus

 SQL*Plus is a CUI and iSQL*Plus runs on a browser

 SQL*plus should be loaded in each every client system, where as iSQL*plus,
centrally loaded, doesn’t have to be implemented on each machine

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 25

Introduction to SQL

A Brief History of SQL

The history of SQL begins in an IBM laboratory in San Jose, California, where SQL
was developed in the late 1970s. The initials stand for Structured Query Language,
and the language itself is often referred to as "sequel." It was originally developed
for IBM's DB2 product (a relational database management system, or RDBMS, that
can still be bought today for various platforms and environments). In fact, SQL
makes an RDBMS possible. SQL is a nonprocedural language, in contrast to the
procedural or third generation languages (3GLs) such as COBOL and C that had
been created up to that time.

NOTE: Nonprocedural means what rather than how. For example, SQL describes
what data to retrieve, delete, or insert, rather than how to perform the operation.

The characteristic that differentiates a DBMS from an RDBMS is that the RDBMS
provides a set-oriented database language. For most RDBMS, this set-oriented
database language is SQL. Set oriented means that SQL processes sets of data in
groups.

Two standards organizations, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)

and the International Standards Organization (ISO), currently promote SQL
standards to industry. The ANSI-92 standard is the standard for the SQL used
throughout this book. Although these standard-making bodies prepare standards
for database system designers to follow, all database products differ from the
ANSI standard to some degree. In technology in a single-user business application
positions the application for future growth.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 26

An Overview of SQL

SQL is the standard language used to manipulate and retrieve data from these
relational databases. SQL enables a programmer or database administrator to do
the following:

 Modify a database's structure

 Change system security settings
 Add user permissions on databases or tables
 Query a database for information
 Update the contents of a database
SQL in Application Programming

SQL was originally made an ANSI standard in 1986. The ANSI 1989 standard (often
called SQL-89) defines three types of interfacing to SQL within an application
program:

Module Language-- Uses procedures within programs. These procedures can be

called by the application program and can return values to the program via
parameter passing.

Embedded SQL--Uses SQL statements embedded with actual program code. This
method often requires the use of a precompiler to process the SQL statements.
The standard defines statements for Pascal, FORTRAN, COBOL, and PL/1.

Direct Invocation--Left up to the implementer.

Before the concept of dynamic SQL evolved, embedded SQL was the most popular
way to use SQL within a program. Embedded SQL, which is still used, uses static
SQL—meaning that the SQL statement is compiled into the application and cannot
be changed at runtime. The principle is much the same as a compiler versus an
interpreter. The performance for this type of SQL is good; however, it is not
flexible--and cannot always meet the needs of today's changing business
environments.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 27

Structured Query Language

Oracle server supports ANSI standard SQL and contains extensions. Using SQL, you
can communicate with the Oracle server. SQL has the following advantages

Efficient
Easy to learn and use
Functionally complete (With SQL, you can define, retrieve, and manipulate
data in the tables.)

SQL Statements and Categorization

Structured query language is a collection of various types of statements shown in

the table below.
Table 2: Various statements of SQL

SELECT Data retrieval or Data query

INSERT
UPDATE Data manipulation language(DML)
DELETE
MERGE
CREATE
ALTER
DROP Data definition language (DDL)
RENAME
TRUNCATE
COMMIT
ROLLBACK Transaction control
SAVEPOINT
GRANT
REVOKE Data control language (DCL)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 28

Oracle SQL Datatypes

Each column value and constant in a SQL statement has a data type, which is
associated with a specific storage format, constraints, and a valid range of values.
When you create a table, you must specify a data type for each of its columns.
Oracle provides the following built-in data types.

Character Data types

o CHAR Data type
o VARCHAR2 and VARCHAR Data types
o NCHAR and NVARCHAR2 Data types
LONG Data type
NUMBER Data type
DATE Data type
LOB Data types
o BLOB data type
o CLOB and NCLOB data types
o BFILE Data type
RAW and LONG RAW Data types
Character Datatypes

The character data types store character (alphanumeric) data in strings, with byte
values corresponding to the character.

CHAR datatype

Fixed length character data of length size in bytes. (Default size is 1 and maximum
size is 2000). Padded on right with blanks to full length of size.

VARCHAR2 (size)

Variable length characters strings having a maximum size of 4000 bytes (Default
size is 1). Truncates leftover blank spaces.

NVARCHAR2(size)

Variable length characters strings having a maximum size of 4000 bytes (Default
size is 1) Or characters, depending on the choice of national character set.
Truncates leftover blank spaces.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 29

NUMBER

The NUMBER datatype stores fixed and floating-point numbers. Numbers of

virtually any magnitude can be stored and are guaranteed portable among
different systems operating Oracle Database, up to 38 digits of precision.

The following numbers can be stored in a NUMBER column:

 Positive numbers in the range 1 x 10-130 to 9.99...9 x 10125 with up to 38

significant digits
 Negative numbers from -1 x 10-130 to 9.99...99 x 10125 with up to 38
significant digits
 Zero
 Positive and negative infinity (generated only by importing from an Oracle
Database, Version
LONG

Character data of variable size up to 2GB in length. Only one LONG column is
allowed in a table. Long column cannot be used in sub queries, functions,
expressions, where clause or indexes.

DATE

Valid date ranges from January 1,4712 BC to December 31,9999 AD. (Default date
format DD-MON-YY)
TIMESTAMP(precision)

Date plus time, where precision is the number of digits in the fractional part of the
seconds field (default is 6).

TIMESTAMP(precision) WITH TIME ZONE

Timestamp plus time zone displacement value.

TIMESTAMP(precision) WITHLOCAL TIME ZONE

TIMESTAMP, with normalized to local time zone.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 30

RAW(size)

Raw binary date, size bytes long. Maximum size is 2000 bytes.

LONG RAW

Raw binary data, otherwise the same as LONG. Raw and Long Raw data types
allow storing pictures.

CLOB

Character Large object, up to 4GB in length.

BLOB

Binary large object, up to 4GB in length.

BFILE

Pointer to a binary operating system file.

Rules for writing SQL Statements

 SQL statements are not case sensitive.

 SQL statements can be on one or more lines.
 Keywords cannot be abbreviated or split across lines.
 Clauses are usually placed on separate lines.
 Indents are used to enhance readability.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 31

Data Retrieval or Data Query using SELECT statement

It is a building block for data retrieval in SQL. This statement helps to retrieve data
from one or multiple tables and produce output in a well formatted manner.

Syntax : SELECT <COLUMNS> FROM <TABLE>;

Your First Query

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp;
OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB MGR HIREDATE SAL COMM DEPTNO
------ ---------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH CLERK 7902 17-DEC-80 800 20
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 7698 20-FEB-81 1600 300 30
7521 WARD SALESMAN 7698 22-FEB-81 1250 500 30
7566 JONES MANAGER 7839 02-APR-81 2975 20
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 7698 28-SEP-81 1250 1400 30
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 7839 01-MAY-81 2850 30
7782 CLARK MANAGER 7839 09-JUN-81 2450 10
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 7566 09-DEC-82 3000 20
7839 KING PRESIDENT 17-NOV-81 5000 10
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 7698 08-SEP-81 1500 0 30
7876 ADAMS CLERK 7788 12-JAN-83 1100 20
7900 JAMES CLERK 7698 03-DEC-81 950 30
7902 FORD ANALYST 7566 03-DEC-81 3000 20
7934 MILLER CLERK 7782 23-JAN-82 1300 10

ANALYSIS:
Notice that columns 6 and 8 in the output statement are right justified and that
columns 2 and 3 are left justified. This format follows the alignment convention in
which numeric data types are right justified and character data types are left
justified.

The asterisk (*) in select * tells the database to return all the columns associated
with the given table described in the FROM clause. The database determines the order
in which to return the columns.

A full table scan is used whenever there is no where clause on a query.

Terminating an SQL Statement

In some implementations of SQL, the semicolon at the end of the statement tells
the interpreter that you are finished writing the query. For example, Oracle's
SQL*PLUS won't execute the query until it finds a semicolon (or a slash). On the
other hand, some implementations of SQL do not use the semicolon as a
terminator. For example, Microsoft Query and Borland's ISQL don't require a
terminator, because your query is typed in an edit box and executed when you
push a button.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 32

Changing the Order of the Columns

We can change the order of selection of columns

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, sal, job, comm FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL JOB COMM
---------- ---------- ---------- --------- ----------
7369 SMITH 800 CLERK
7499 ALLEN 1600 SALESMAN 300
7521 WARD 1250 SALESMAN 500
7566 JONES 2975 MANAGER
7654 MARTIN 1250 SALESMAN 1400
7698 BLAKE 2850 MANAGER
7782 CLARK 2450 MANAGER
7788 SCOTT 3000 ANALYST
7839 KING 5000 PRESIDENT
7844 TURNER 1500 SALESMAN 0
7876 ADAMS 1100 CLERK
7900 JAMES 950 CLERK
7902 FORD 3000 ANALYST
7934 MILLER 1300 CLERK

14 rows selected.

ANALYSIS:
Observe that the column sequence specified in the select command is not the original
sequence followed during table creation. Also as per sql a column may be selected
any number of times in the same select command.

Expressions, Conditions, and Operators

Expressions

The definition of an expression is simple: An expression returns a value.

Expression types are very broad, covering different data types such as String,
Numeric, and Boolean. In fact, pretty much anything following a clause (SELECT
or FROM, for example) is an expression. In the following example amount is an
expression that returns the value contained in the amount column.

SELECT sal FROM emp;

In the following statement NAME, DESIGNATION, SAL are expressions:

SELECT ENAME, DESIGNATION, SAL FROM EMP;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 33

Now, examine the following expression:

WHERE ENAME = 'KING'

It contains a condition, ENAME = 'KING', which is an example of a Boolean

expression. ENAME = 'KING' will be either TRUE or FALSE, depending on
the condition =.

Conditions

If you ever want to find a particular item or group of items in your database, you
need one or more conditions. Conditions are contained in the WHERE clause. In
the preceding example, the condition is ENAME = 'KING'

To find everyone in your organization who worked more than 100 hours last
month, your condition would be SAL > 2000

Conditions enable you to make selective queries. In there most common form,
conditions comprise a variable, a constant, and a comparison operator. In the first
example the variable is ENAME, the constant is 'KING', and the comparison
operator is =.

In the second example the variable is SAL, the constant is 100, and the
comparison operator is >. You need to know about two more elements before
you can write conditional queries: the WHERE clause and operators.

The WHERE Clause

Syntax: SELECT <COLUMNS> FROM <TABLE> WHERE <SEARCH CONDITION>;

SELECT, FROM, and WHERE are the three most frequently used clauses in SQL.
WHERE simply causes your queries to be more selective. Without the WHERE
clause, the most useful thing you could do with a query is display all records in the
selected table(s).

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 34

If you want a particular EMPLOYEE details, you could type

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename = 'KING';

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB MGR HIREDATE SAL COMM DEPTNO
------ ---------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7839 KING PRESIDENT 17-NOV-81 5000 10

ANALYSIS:
This simple example shows how you can place a condition on the data that you want to
retrieve.

If you want a particular EMPLOYEE, you could type

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename != 'KING';
OR
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename <> 'KING';

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB MGR HIREDATE SAL COMM DEPTNO
------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH CLERK 7902 17-DEC-80 800 20
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 7698 20-FEB-81 1600 300 30
7521 WARD SALESMAN 7698 22-FEB-81 1250 500 30
7566 JONES MANAGER 7839 02-APR-81 2975 20
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 7698 28-SEP-81 1250 1400 30
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 7839 01-MAY-81 2850 30
7782 CLARK MANAGER 7839 09-JUN-81 2450 10
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 7566 09-DEC-82 3000 20
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 7698 08-SEP-81 1500 0 30
7876 ADAMS CLERK 7788 12-JAN-83 1100 20
7900 JAMES CLERK 7698 03-DEC-81 950 30
7902 FORD ANALYST 7566 03-DEC-81 3000 20
7934 MILLER CLERK 7782 23-JAN-82 1300 10

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees other than KING.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 35

Operators

Operators are the elements you use inside an expression to articulate how you
want specified conditions to retrieve data. Operators fall into six groups:
arithmetic, comparison, character, logical, set, and miscellaneous.

Arithmetic Operators

The arithmetic operators are plus (+), minus (-), divide (/), multiply (*).

The first four are self-explanatory. Modulo returns the integer remainder of a
division.

Comparison Operators

True to their name, comparison operators compare expressions and return one of
three values: TRUE, FALSE, or Unknown. See the following examples.

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal >= 2000;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal >= 3000 AND sal <= 4000;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal BETWEEN 3000 AND 4000;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal NOT BETWEEN 3000 AND 4000;

To understand how you could get an Unknown, you need to know a little about
the concept of NULL. In database terms NULL is the absence of data in a field. It
does not mean a column has a zero or a blank in it. A zero or a blank is a value.
NULL means nothing is in that field. If you make a comparison like Field = 9
and the only value for Field is NULL, the comparison will come back
Unknown. Because Unknown is an uncomfortable condition, most flavors of
SQL change Unknown to FALSE and provide a special operator, IS NULL, to
test for a NULL condition.

Here's an example of NULL: Suppose an entry in the PRICE table does not
contain a value for WHOLESALE. The results of a query might look like this:

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE comm IS NULL;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE comm IS NOT NULL;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 36

Character Operators

You can use character operators to manipulate the way character strings are
represented, both in the output of data and in the process of placing conditions
on data to be retrieved. This section describes two character operators: the LIKE
operator and the || operator, which conveys the concept of character
concatenation.

LIKE operator

What if you wanted to select parts of a database that fit a pattern but weren't
quite exact matches? You could use the equal sign and run through all the
possible cases, but that process would be time-consuming. Instead, you could use
LIKE.

Consider the following:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „A%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose names begins with letter A

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename NOT LIKE „A%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose names not beginning with letter A

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „%A%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose names contains letter A (Any number of A‟s)

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „%A%A%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the names whose name contains letter A more than one time

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 37

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE hiredate LIKE „%DEC%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees who joined in the month of December.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE hiredate LIKE „%81‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees who joined in the year 81.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal LIKE „4%‟;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose salary begins with number 4. (Implicit data
conversion takes place).

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 38

Underscore (_)

The underscore is the single-character wildcard with in the LIKE operator.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „_A%‟;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME
---------- ----------
7521 WARD
7654 MARTIN
7900 JAMES

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose second letter is A

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „__A%‟;

OUTPUT:
ENAME
----------
BLAKE
CLARK
ADAMS

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose third letter is A ( Two underscores followed by A)

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „A%\_%‟ ESCAPE „\‟;

OUTPUT:
ENAME
----------
AVINASH_K
ANAND_VARDAN
ADAMS_P

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees with underscore (_). „\‟ Escape character. Underscore is
used to identify a position in the string. To treat _ as a character we have to use
Escape (\) character,

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 39

Concatenation (||) operator

Used to combine two given strings

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename || job FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME||JOB
-------------------
SMITHCLERK
ALLENSALESMAN
WARDSALESMAN
JONESMANAGER
MARTINSALESMAN
BLAKEMANAGER
CLARKMANAGER
SCOTTANALYST
KINGPRESIDENT
TURNERSALESMAN
ADAMSCLERK
JAMESCLERK
FORDANALYST
MILLERCLERK

ANALYSIS:
Combines both name and designation as a single string.

INPUT:
SQL>SELECT ename || „ , ‟ || job FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME||','||JOB
----------------------
SMITH , CLERK
ALLEN , SALESMAN
WARD , SALESMAN
JONES , MANAGER
MARTIN , SALESMAN
BLAKE , MANAGER
CLARK , MANAGER
SCOTT , ANALYST
KING , PRESIDENT
TURNER , SALESMAN
ADAMS , CLERK
JAMES , CLERK
FORD , ANALYST
MILLER , CLERK

ANALYSIS:
Combines both name and designation as a single string separated by,

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 40

Logical Operators

AND, OR and NOT are the logical operators used in SQL.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE ename LIKE „%A%‟ AND ename NOT LIKE „%A%A%‟

OUTPUT:
ENAME
----------
ALLEN
WARD
MARTIN
BLAKE
CLARK
JAMES

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose names contains letter A exactly one time.

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal >= 3000 AND sal <= 4000;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal BETWEEN 3000 AND 4000;

SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal NOT BETWEEN 3000 AND 4000;

Miscellaneous Operators: IN, BETWEEN and DISTINCT

The two operators IN and BETWEEN provide shorthand for functions you
already know how to do. You could type the following:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename, job FROM emp WHERE job='CLERK' OR job=„MANAGER‟ OR
job='SALESMAN';

OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB
---------- ---------
SMITH CLERK
ALLEN SALESMAN
WARD SALESMAN
JONES MANAGER
MARTIN SALESMAN
BLAKE MANAGER
CLARK MANAGER
TURNER SALESMAN
ADAMS CLERK
JAMES CLERK
MILLER CLERK

ANALYSIS:
Display employees with designations manager, clerk, and salesman,

The above statement takes more time to parse it, which reduces the efficiency.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 41

INPUT:

SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE job IN('CLERK','SALESMAN','MANAGER');

OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB
---------- ---------
SMITH CLERK
ALLEN SALESMAN
WARD SALESMAN
JONES MANAGER
MARTIN SALESMAN
BLAKE MANAGER
CLARK MANAGER
TURNER SALESMAN
ADAMS CLERK
JAMES CLERK
MILLER CLERK

ANALYSIS:
Display employees with designations manager, clerk, and salesman,

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename, job FROM emp WHERE job NOT IN('CLERK','SALESMAN','MANAGER');

OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB
---------- ---------
SCOTT ANALYST
KING PRESIDENT
FORD ANALYST

ANALYSIS:
Display designations other than manager, clerk, and salesman

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,hiredate FROM emp WHERE hiredate IN (‟01-MAY-1981‟,‟09-DEC-1982‟);

OUTPUT:
ENAME HIREDATE
---------- ---------
BLAKE 01-MAY-81
SCOTT 09-DEC-82

ANALYSIS:
Display employees who joined on two different dates.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 42

Distinct Operator

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT DISTINCT job FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
JOB
---------
ANALYST
CLERK
MANAGER
PRESIDENT
SALESMAN

ANALYSIS:
Distinct operator displays unique designations. Distinct operator by default
displays the information in ascending order.

ORDER BY CLAUSE

Display the information in a particular order (Ascending or descending order)

Syntax: SELECT <COLUMNS> FROM <TABLE> WHERE <CONDITION> ORDER BY

<COLUMN(S)>;

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename FROM emp ORDER BY ename;

OUTPUT:
ENAME
----------
ADAMS
ALLEN
BLAKE
CLARK
FORD
JAMES
JONES
KING
MARTIN
MILLER
SCOTT
SMITH
TURNER
WARD

ANALYSIS:
Display employees in ascending order of names.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 43

Ordering on multiple columns is also available as shown below.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,ename,sal FROM emp ORDER BY job,ename;

OUTPUT:
JOB ENAME SAL
--------- ---------- ----------
ANALYST FORD 3000
ANALYST SCOTT 3000
CLERK ADAMS 1100
CLERK JAMES 950
CLERK MILLER 1300
CLERK SMITH 800
MANAGER BLAKE 2850
MANAGER CLARK 2450
MANAGER JONES 2975
PRESIDENT KING 5000
SALESMAN ALLEN 1600
SALESMAN MARTIN 1250
SALESMAN TURNER 1500
SALESMAN WARD 1250

ANALYSIS:
Display employees in ascending order of jobs. With each job it places the
information in ascending order of names.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp ORDER BY job, ename desc;

ANALYSIS:
Display employees in ascending order by jobs. With each job it places the
information in descending order of names.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp ORDER BY job desc, ename DESC;

ANALYSIS:
Display employees in descending order by jobs. With each job it places the
information in descending order of names.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 44

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE job != „CLERK‟ ORDER BY job;

OUTPUT:
Display employees in ascending order of jobs other than clerks.

ANALYSIS:
When we are executing the query, it is divided into two different parts.

1) SELECT * FROM emp WHERE job != „CLERK‟

2) ORDER BY job;

First part is going to execute first, and selects all the employees whose
designation is other than clerk and places them in a temporary table.

On the temporary table, order by clause is applied, places the information in

ascending order by jobs in the shadow page, from where end user can able to see the
output.

We can also use order by clause as

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM EMP ORDER BY 3;

ANALYSIS:
It places the information in the order of third column in the table.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno, job, sal, empno FROM emp ORDER BY 3;

ANALYSIS:
The information is displayed in the order of the 3rd column of the selected and not
the 3rd column of the table

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno, job, sal, empno, comm FROM emp ORDER BY comm;

ANALYSIS:
Since the comm column contain nulls, you observe that the rows containing null in
the comm column are displayed at the bottom of the output.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, sal, sal*12 as ann_sal FROM emp ORDER BY ann_sal;

ANALYSIS:
Data can be ordered by using alias name.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 45

Exercises

1. _________ is the operator used to compare a column with null value.

2. _________is used to compare one value with a set of values.
3. The maximum number of characters that can be stored in CHAR type is
4. Assume there is a table student(sname char(6), sname1 varchar2(6)).
Assume that value placed in both columns is RAVI. What is the size of
sname and sname1.
5. How many LONG columns can a table contain? _______
6. SQL commands are to be terminated with ______________
7. Display list of employees that start with letter C
8. Display employees in ascending order of 5th column in the table
9. Examine the trace instance chart for employee table. You want to display
each employee hiredate from earliest to latest. Which SQL statement will
you use?
a. SELECT hiredate FROM emp;
b. SELECT hiredate FROM emp ORDER BY hiredate;
c. SELECT emp FROM emp ORDER BY hiredate;
d. SELECT hiredate FROM emp ORDER BY hiredate DESC;
10.Which of the following data type should you use for interest rates with
varying and unpredictable decimal places such as 1.234, 1.3, 4?
a. Long
b. Number
c. Number(p,s)
d. None
11.Which SQL Query generates the alias Annual Salary for the calculated
column SALARY *12?
a. SELECT ename, salary*12 ANNUAL_SALARY FROM employees;
b. SELECT ename, salary*12 ANNUAL SALARY FROM employees;
c. SELECT ename, salary*12 AS “ANNUAL SALARY” FROM employees;
d. SELECT ename, salary*12 AS INITCAP(ANNUAL SALARY)FROM
employees
12.The EMP table has these columns. ENAME VARCHAR2(35), SALARY
NUMBER(8,2), HIRE_DATE DATE. Management wants a list of names of

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 46

 employees, who have been with the company for more than 5 years. Which
of the following Select commands will get the required result?
a. SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE SYSDATE – hire_date > 5;
b. SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE hire_date – SYSDATE > 5;
c. SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE (SYSDATE – hire_date)/365 > 5;
d. SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE (SYSDATE – hire_date)*365 > 5;
13.The employee table contains these columns. LAST_NAME VARCHAR2(25),
FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2(25) DEPT_ID NUMBER(9) You need to display the
names of the employees that are not assigned to the department. Evaluate
this SQL statement.
SELECT last_name, first_name FROM employee WHERE dept_id IS NULL;
which change should you make to achieve the desired result?
a. Create an outer join
b. Change the Column in the Where Condition
c. Query executes Successfully
d. Add a second condition to the where condition
14.Which statement about SQL is true?
a. Null values are displayed last in the ascending sequences
b. Data values are displayed in the descending or by default
c. You cannot specify a column alias in an ORDER BY clause
d. You cannot sort query result by a column that is not included in the
SELECT list.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 47

Answers

1. IS NULL or IS NOT NULL

2. IN() operator
3. 2000 Characters
4. 6 and 4 respectively (can be verified using vsize() function)
5. 1 (one)
6. ; (semicolon)
7. SELECT * FROM emp WHERE ename like(‘C%’);
8. SELECT * FROM emp ORDER BY 5
9. b (SELECT hiredate FROM emp ORDER BY hiredate)
10.b (NUMBER)
11.a) and c)
12.c (SELECT ename FROM emp WHERE (SYSDATE – hire_date)/365 > 5;)
13.c (Query executes successfully)
14.a (Null values are displayed last in the ascending sequences).

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FUNCTIONS

A function is a sub program, which executes whenever we call it and returns a

value to the calling place. Oracle has a large collection of predefined functions.
Each function has a name and some parameters on which the function will work
and return some answer.

These functions are classified into two types

 Predefined functions
 User defined functions
Predefined functions

These functions are again classified into two types

 Group or Aggregate Functions

 Single row Functions

Now let us have some detailed description of each of these functions, their use
and application.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 49

Aggregate Functions

These functions are also referred to as group functions. They return a value based
on the non-null values in a column.

COUNT([DISTINCT] <column name>|*|<expression>)

The function COUNT returns the number of rows that satisfy the condition in the
WHERE clause.

Say you wanted to know how many employees are there.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:

COUNT(*)
--------
14

ANALYSIS:
It counts the number of rows in that table.

To make the code more readable, try an alias:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) NUM_OF_EMP FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
NUM_OF_EMP
-------------------
14

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(comm) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
COUNT(comm)
--------
4

ANALYSIS:
It counts only those when there is a value in comm Column
Note: Count (*) faster than count(comm) Count(*) count the row when a row present in
the table where as Count(comm) counts the row only when there is a value in the
column.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 50

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE job = „MANAGER‟;

OUTPUT:
COUNT(*)
-------
4

ANALYSIS:
It counts only managers

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT job) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
COUNT (*)
-------
4

ANALYSIS:
It counts only distinct jobs

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 51

SUM(<column name>|<expression>)

SUM does just that. It returns the sum of all values in a column.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUM(sal) TOTAL_SALARY FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
TOTAL_SALARY
-------------
29025

ANALYSIS:
Find the total salary drawn by all the employees

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUM(sal) TOTAL_SALARY, SUM(comm) TOTAL_COMM FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
TOTAL_SALARY TOTAL_COMM
------------- ----------
29025 2200

ANALYSIS:
The totals of sal column and the comm column are calculated and displayed

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUM(sal) TOTAL_SALARY,SUM(comm) TOTAL_COMM FROM emp WHERE
job=„SALESMAN‟;

OUTPUT:
TOTAL_SALARY TOTAL_COMM
------------- ----------
5600 2200

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 52

AVG(<column name>|<expression>)

The AVG function computes the average of a column.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT AVG(sal) AVERAGE_SALARY FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
AVERAGE_SALARY
---------------
2073.21429

ANALYSIS:
Find the average salary of all the employees

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT AVG(comm) AVERAGE_COMM FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
AVERAGE_COMM
------------
550

ANALYSIS:
Functions ignores null rows

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 53

MAX(<column name>|<expression>)

Returns the Maximum value in the given column of values

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MAX(sal) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
MAX(SAL)
--------
5000

ANALYSIS:
Takes the value from one different rows from one particular column

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MAX(ename) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
MAX(ENAME)
--------
WARD

ANALYSIS:
Max of name is identified based on ASCII value when a char column is given

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MAX (hiredate) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
MAX(HIREDATE)
-------------
12-JAN-83

ANALYSIS:
Can find the maximum date in the given column

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 54

MIN(<column name>|<expression>)

Finds the minimum value in the given column of values. This example shows the
use of min function with a numeric column.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MIN(sal) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
MIN(SAL)
--------
800

Using MIN with char column

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MIN(ename) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
MIN (ENAME)
--------
ADAMS

The following example shows the use of all aggregate functions together.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUM(sal),AVG(sal),MIN(sal),MAX(sal),COUNT(*) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
SUM(SAL) AVG(SAL) MIN(SAL) MAX(SAL) COUNT(*)
--------- --------- -------- -------- --------
29025 2073.21429 800 5000 14

ANALYSIS:
All the aggregate functions can be used together in a single SQL statement

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 55

SINGLE ROW FUNCTIONS

These functions work on each and every row and return a value to the calling
places.

These functions are classified into different types

 Arithmetic Functions
 Character Functions
 Date functions
 Miscellaneous Functions

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 56

Arithmetic Functions

Many of the uses you have for the data you retrieve involve mathematics. Most
Implementations of SQL provide arithmetic functions similar to that of operators
covered here.

ABS(<column name>|<expression>)

The ABS function returns the absolute value of the number you point to. For
example:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ABS(-10) ABSOLUTE_VALUE FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
ABSOLUTE_VALUE
---------------
10
ANALYSIS:
ABS changes all the negative numbers to positive and leaves positive numbers alone.

Dual is a system table or dummy table from where we can display system information
(i.e. system date and username etc) or we can make our own calculations.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 57

CEIL(<column name>|<expression>) and FLOOR(<column name>|<expression>)

CEIL returns the smallest integer greater than or equal to its argument. FLOOR
does just the reverse, returning the largest integer equal to or less than its
argument.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT CEIL(12.145) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
CEIL(12.145)
------------
13

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT CEIL(12.000) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
CEIL(12.000)
-----------
12
ANALYSIS:
Minimum we require one decimal place, to get the next higher integer number

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT FLOOR(12.678) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
FLOOR(12.678)
-----------------
12

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT FLOOR(12.000) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
FLOOR(12.000)
-----------------
12

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 58

MOD(<column name>|<expression>,<column name>|<expression>)

It returns remainder when we divide one value with another value

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MOD(5,2) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
MOD(5,2)
----------
1

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT MOD(2,5) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
MOD(2,5)
----------
2
ANALYSIS:
When numerator value less than denominator, it returns numerator value as remainder.

POWER(<column name>|<expression>,<column name>|<expression>)

To raise one number to the power of another, use POWER. In this function the
first argument is raised to the power of the second:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT POWER(5,3) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
POWER(5,3)
----------
125

SIGN(<column name>|<expression>)

SIGN returns -1 if its argument is less than 0, 0 if its argument is equal to 0,

and 1 if its argument is greater than 0,

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SIGN(-10), SIGN(10),SIGN(0) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SIGN(-10) SIGN(10) SIGN(0)
---------- ---------- ----------
-1 1 0

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 59

SQRT(<column name>|<expression>)

The function SQRT returns the square root of an argument. Because the square
root of a negative number is undefined, you cannot use SQRT on negative
numbers.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SQRT(4) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SQRT(4)
---------
2

Round(expression1,expression2) and Trunc((expression1,expression2)

These functions are useful for performing numeric and date operations. Study the
below examples and analyse.

Test the following

1. Select Round(12.1567,2) from dual;

2. Select round(12.1567,-1) from dual;
3. Select round(51.782,-2) from dual;
4. Select round(sysdate,’YEAR’) from dual;
5. Select round(sysdate,’MONTH’) from dual;
6. Select round(Sysdate,’DAY’) from dual;

Note : Test the above with TRUNC function

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 60

CHARACTER FUNCTIONS

Many implementations of SQL provide functions to manipulate characters and

strings of characters.

CHR(<column name>|<expression>)

CHR returns the character equivalent of the number it uses as an argument. The
character it returns depends on the character set of the database. For this
example the database is set to ASCII.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT CHR(65) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
CHR(65)
-------
A

CONCAT(<column name>|<expression>,<column name>|<expression>)

It is similar to that of concatenate operator ( | | )

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT CONCAT(„KRISHNA‟, „ KANTH‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
CONCAT(„KRISHNA‟, „ KANTH‟)
---------------------------
KRISHNA KANTH

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 61

INITCAP(<column name>|<expression>)

INITCAP capitalizes the first letter of a word and makes all other characters
lowercase.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename “BEFORE”,INITCAP(ename) “AFTER” FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
BEFORE AFTER
---------- ----------
SMITH Smith
ALLEN Allen
WARD Ward
JONES Jones
MARTIN Martin
BLAKE Blake
CLARK Clark
SCOTT Scott
KING King
TURNER Turner
ADAMS Adams
JAMES James
FORD Ford
MILLER Miller

ANALYSIS:
Observe that the first letter of every word is capital and remaining smalls.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 62

LOWER(<column name>|<expression>) and UPPER(<column name>|<expression>)

As you might expect, LOWER changes all the characters to lowercase; UPPER
does just the changes all the characters to uppercase.

INPUT:
SQL>SELECT ename,UPPER(ename) UPPER_CASE,LOWER(ename) LOWER_CASE FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME UPPER_CASE LOWER_CASE
---------- ---------- ----------
SMITH SMITH smith
ALLEN ALLEN allen
WARD WARD ward
JONES JONES jones
MARTIN MARTIN martin
BLAKE BLAKE blake
CLARK CLARK clark
SCOTT SCOTT scott
KING KING king
TURNER TURNER turner
ADAMS ADAMS adams
JAMES JAMES james
FORD FORD ford
MILLER MILLER miller

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 63

LPAD(expr1,expr2[,expr3]) and RPAD(expr1,expr2[,expr3])

LPAD and RPAD take a minimum of two and a maximum of three arguments.
The first argument is the character string to be operated on. The second is the
number of characters to pad it with, and the optional third argument is the
character to pad it with. The third argument defaults to a blank, or it can be a
single character or a character string.

The following statement adds five pad characters, assuming that the field
LASTNAME is defined as a 15-character field:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT LPAD(ename,15,‟*‟) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
LPAD(ENAME,15,'
---------------
**********SMITH
**********ALLEN
***********WARD
**********JONES
*********MARTIN
**********BLAKE
**********CLARK
**********SCOTT
***********KING
*********TURNER
**********ADAMS
**********JAMES
***********FORD
*********MILLER

ANALYSIS:
15 locations allocated to display ename, out of that, name is occupying some space
and in the remaining space to the left side of the name pads with *.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT RPAD(5000,10,‟*‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
RPAD(5000,10,‟*‟)
--------------------
5000******

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 64

LTRIM(expr1[,expr2]) and RTRIM(expr1[,expr2])

LTRIM and RTRIM take at least one and at most two arguments. The first
argument, like LPAD and RPAD, is a character string. The optional second element
is either a character or character string or defaults to a blank. If you use a second
argument that is not a blank, these trim functions will trim that character the
same way they trim the blanks in the following examples.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename, RTRIM(ename,‟R‟) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME RTRIM(ENAM
---------- ----------
SMITH SMITH
ALLEN ALLEN
WARD WARD
JONES JONES
MARTIN MARTIN
BLAKE BLAKE
CLARK CLARK
SCOTT SCOTT
KING KING
TURNER TURNE
ADAMS ADAMS
JAMES JAMES
FORD FORD
MILLER MILLE

ANALYSIS:
Removes the rightmost character

Note: Try TRIM() function

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 65

REPLACE(<expr1>,<expr2>,[<expr3>])

REPLACE does just that. Of its three arguments, the first is the string to be
searched. The second is the search key. The last is the optional replacement
string. If the third argument is left out or NULL, each occurrence of the search key
on the string to be searched is removed and is not replaced with anything.

Syntax: REPLACE(STRING,SEARCH_STRING,REPLACE_STRING)

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT REPLACE („RAMANA‟,‟MA‟, VI‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
REPLACE („RAMANA‟,‟MA‟, VI‟)
----------------------------
RAVINA

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT REPLACE(„RAMANA‟,‟MA‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
REPLACE(„RAMANA‟,‟MA‟)
----------------------
RANA

ANALYSIS:
When the replace string is missing, search string removed from the given string

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT REPLACE („RAMANA‟,‟MA‟, NULL) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
REPLACE („RAMANA‟,‟MA‟, NULL)
------------------------------
RANA

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 66

TRANSLATE(<expr1>,<expr2>,<expr3>)

The function TRANSLATE takes three arguments: the target string, the FROM
string, and the TO string. Elements of the target string that occur in the FROM
string are translated to the corresponding element in the TO string.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TRANSLATE(„RAMANA‟,‟MA‟,‟CD‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TRANSLATE(„RAMANA‟,‟MA‟,‟CD‟)
-----------------------------
RDCDND

ANALYSIS:
Notice that the function is case sensitive. When search string matches, it replaces
with corresponding replace string and if any one character is matching in the search
string, it replaces with corresponding replace character.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 67

SUBSTR(expr1,expr2[,expr3])

This three-argument function enables you to take a piece out of a target string.
The first argument is the target string. The second argument is the position of the
first character to be output. The third argument is the number of characters to
show.

Syntax: SUBSTR(STRING,STARTING_POSITION[,NO_OF_CHARACTERS])

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,1,3) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,1,3)
--------------------
RAM

ANALYSIS:
It takes first 3 characters from first character

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,3,3) FROM DUAL;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,3,3)
--------------------
MAN

ANALYSIS:
It takes 3 characters from third position

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,-2,2) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,-2,2)
---------------------
NA

ANALYSIS:
You use a negative number as the second argument, the starting point is determined
by counting backwards from the right end.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 68

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,1,2) || SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,-2,2) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA
--------------
RANA

ANALYSIS:
First two characters and last two characters are combined together as a single
string

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,3) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,3)
------------------
MANA

ANALYSIS:
When third argument is missing, it takes all the character from starting position

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE SUBSTR(hiredate,4,3) = SUBSTR(SYSDATE,4,3);

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees who joined in the current month SYSDATE is a single row
function, which gives the current date.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,1,2) || SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,-2,2) FROM DUAL;

OUTPUT:
SUBSTR(„RAMANA‟,1,2)
--------------------
RANA

ANALYSIS:
First two characters and Last two characters are combined together as a single
string

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 69

INSTR(<expr1>,<expr2>[,<expr3>[,expr4]])

To find out where in a string a particular pattern occurs, use INSTR. Its first
argument is the target string. The second argument is the pattern to match. The
third and forth are numbers representing where to start looking and which match
to report. This example returns a number representing the first occurrence of O
starting with the second
INPUT:
SQL> SELECT INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟) FROM DUAL;

OUTPUT:
INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟)
-------------------
2
ANALYSIS:
Find the position of the first occurrence of letter A

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟,1,2) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟,1,2)
-----------------------
4

ANALYSIS:
Find the position of the second occurrence of letter A from the beginning of the
string. Third argument represents from which position, Fourth argument represents,
which occurrence.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟a‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟a‟)
-------------------
0
ANALYSIS:
Function is case sensitive; it returns 0 (zero) when the given character is not
found.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟,3,2) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
INSTR(„RAMANA‟,‟A‟,3,2)
----------------------
6
ANALYSIS:
Find the position of the second occurrence of letter A from 3rd position of the
string

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 70

Conversion Functions

These functions provide a handy way of converting one type of data to another.
They are mainly useful for changing date formats and number formats.

TO_CHAR

The primary use of TO_CHAR is to convert a number into a character. Different

Implementations may also use it to convert other data types, like Date, into a
character, or to include different formatting arguments.

The following example illustrates the primary use of TO_CHAR:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT sal, TO_CHAR(sal) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
SAL TO_CHAR(SAL)
---------- ----------------------------------------
800 800
1600 1600
1250 1250
2975 2975
1250 1250
2850 2850
2450 2450
3000 3000
5000 5000
1500 1500
1100 1100
950 950
3000 3000
1300 1300

ANALYSIS:
After conversion, Converted information is left aligned. So we can say that it is a
string.

The main usage of this function is, to change the date formats and number
formats

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟DD/MM/YYYY‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD/MM/YYYY')
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 24/03/2007

ANALYSIS:
Convert the default date format to DD/MM/YYYY format

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 71

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟DD-MON-YY‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD-MON-YY')
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 24-MAR-07

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟DY-MON-YY‟) FROM dual;
OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DY-MON-YY')
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 SAT-MAR-07
ANALYSIS:
DY displays the first 3 letters from the day name

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟DAY MONTH YEAR‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DAYMONTHYEAR')
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 SATURDAY MARCH TWO THOUSAND SEVEN

ANALYSIS:
DAY gives the total day name
MONTH gives the total month name
YEAR writes the year number in words

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟DDSPTH MONTH YEAR‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DDSPTHMONTHYEAR')
--------- -------------------------------------------------------------------
24-MAR-07 TWENTY-FOURTH MARCH TWO THOUSAND SEVEN

ANALYSIS:
DD gives the day number
DDSP Writes day number in words
TH is the format. Depends upon the number it gives either ST / RD/ST/ND
format

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 72

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT hiredate,TO_CHAR(hiredate,‟DDSPTH MONTH YEAR‟) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
HIREDATE TO_CHAR(HIREDATE,'DDSPTHMONTHYEAR')
--------- -------------------------------------------------------------------
17-DEC-80 SEVENTEENTH DECEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY
20-FEB-81 TWENTIETH FEBRUARY NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
22-FEB-81 TWENTY-SECOND FEBRUARY NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
02-APR-81 SECOND APRIL NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
28-SEP-81 TWENTY-EIGHTH SEPTEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
01-MAY-81 FIRST MAY NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
09-JUN-81 NINTH JUNE NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
09-DEC-82 NINTH DECEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO
17-NOV-81 SEVENTEENTH NOVEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
08-SEP-81 EIGHTH SEPTEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
12-JAN-83 TWELFTH JANUARY NINETEEN EIGHTY-THREE
03-DEC-81 THIRD DECEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
03-DEC-81 THIRD DECEMBER NINETEEN EIGHTY-ONE
23-JAN-82 TWENTY-THIRD JANUARY NINETEEN EIGHTY-TWO

ANALYSIS:
Converts all hire dates in EMP table into Words

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟Q‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟Q‟)
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 1

ANALYSIS:
Gives in the quarter the given date falls

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(TO_DATE(‟10-SEP-2005‟),‟Q‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('10-SEP-2005'),'Q')
----------------------------------------
3
ANALYSIS:
To_date is data conversion function, which converts given string into date type

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟W‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟W‟)
--------- ------------------------------
24-MAR-07 4

ANALYSIS:
Gives the week number in the current month ( In which week given date falls in the
current month)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 73

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT SYSDATE,TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟WW‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
SYSDATE TO_CHAR(SYSDATE)
--------- ----------------------------
24-MAR-07 12

ANALYSIS:
Returns no. of weeks worked during the year.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟HH:MI:SS AM‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(SYS
-----------
08:40:17 PM

ANALYSIS:
HH returns Hours }
MI returns Minutes } Returns time from current date
SS returns Seconds }
AM returns AM / PM depends on Time

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,‟HH24:MI:SS‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(
--------
20:43:12

ANALYSIS:
HH24 returns Hours in 24 hour format }
MI returns Minutes } Returns time from current date
SS returns Seconds }

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(12567,‟99,999.99‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(12567,'99,999.99')
-----------------------------
12,567.00

ANALYSIS:
Converts the given number into comma format with two decimal places

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 74

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(12567,‟L99,999.99‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(12567,'L99,999.99')
-----------------------------
$12,567.00

ANALYSIS:
Display the local currency symbol

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(-12567,‟L99,999.99PR‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(-12567,'L99,999.99PR')
-----------------------------------
<$12,567.00>

ANALYSIS:
PR Parenthesis negative number

TO_NUMBER

TO_NUMBER is the companion function to TO_CHAR, and of course, it converts a

string into a number.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT sal, TO_NUMBER((TO_CHAR(sal)) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:

SAL TO_NUMBER(TO_CHAR(SAL))
---------- -----------------------
800 800
1600 1600
1250 1250
2975 2975
1250 1250
2850 2850
2450 2450
3000 3000
5000 5000
1500 1500
1100 1100
950 950
3000 3000
1300 1300

ANALYSIS:
After conversion, Converted information is right aligned. So we can say that it is a
number.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 75

Date and Time Functions

We live in a civilization governed by times and dates, and most major

implementations of SQL have functions to cope with these concepts.

It demonstrates the time and date functions.

ADD_MONTHS(expr1,expr2)

This function adds a number of months to a specified date.

For example, say a customer deposited some amount on a particular date for a
period of 6 months. To find the maturity date of the deposit

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ADD_MONTHS (SYSDATE, 6) MATURITY_DATE FROM dual;

OUTPUT:

MATURITY_DATE
--------------------
24-SEP-07

ANALYSIS:
It adds 6 months to the system date

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT hiredate, TO_CHAR(ADD_MONTHS(hiredate,33*12),‟DD/MM/YYYY‟) RETIRE_DATE
FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
HIREDATE RETIRE_DATE
--------- ---------------
17-DEC-80 17/12/2013
20-FEB-81 20/02/2014
22-FEB-81 22/02/2014
02-APR-81 02/04/2014
28-SEP-81 28/09/2014
01-MAY-81 01/05/2014
09-JUN-81 09/06/2014
09-DEC-82 09/12/2015
17-NOV-81 17/11/2014
08-SEP-81 08/09/2014
12-JAN-83 12/01/2016
03-DEC-81 03/12/2014
03-DEC-81 03/12/2014
23-JAN-82 23/01/2015

ANALYSIS:
Displaying the retirement date with century.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 76

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT hiredate, ADD_MONTHS(hiredate,33*12) RETIRE_DATE FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
HIREDATE RETIRE_DATE
--------- ---------------
17-DEC-80 17-DEC-13
20-FEB-81 20-FEB-14
22-FEB-81 22-FEB-14
02-APR-81 02-APR-14
28-SEP-81 28-SEP-14
01-MAY-81 01-MAY-14
09-JUN-81 09-JUN-14
09-DEC-82 09-DEC-15
17-NOV-81 17-NOV-14
08-SEP-81 08-SEP-14
12-JAN-83 12-JAN-16
03-DEC-81 03-DEC-14
03-DEC-81 03-DEC-14
23-JAN-82 23-JAN-15

ANALYSIS:
Find the retirement date of an employee Assume, 33 years of service from date of
join is retirement date

LAST_DAY(expr1)

LAST_DAY returns the last day of a specified month.

For example, you need to know what the last day of the month by issueing the
command on 12/1/11 you get the following result

INPUT:
SELECT LAST_DAY(sysdate) FROM DUAL;

OUTPUT:
LAST_DAY(SYSDATE)
-----------------
31-JAN-11

ANALYSIS:
The last_date function automatically calculates the last of the current month on
which the function is applied and return that date.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 77

MONTHS_BETWEEN(expr1,expr2)

Used to find the number of months between two given months

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,hiredate)/12 EXPERIENCE FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME EXPERIENCE
---------- ----------
SMITH 26.2713494
ALLEN 26.0966182
WARD 26.0912419
JONES 25.9783387
MARTIN 25.4917795
BLAKE 25.8976935
CLARK 25.7928548
SCOTT 24.2928548
KING 25.3546827
TURNER 25.545543
ADAMS 24.2014569
JAMES 25.3089838
FORD 25.3089838
MILLER 25.171887

ANALYSIS:
Finds number of months between sysdate and hiredate. Result is divided with 12 to
get the experience

LOCALTIMESTAMP

Returns Local timestamp in the active time zone, with no time zone information
shown

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT LOCALTIMESTAMP FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
LOCALTIMESTAMP
------------------------------------
25-MAR-07 06.21.02.312000 PM

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 78

NEW_TIME(expr1,expr2,expr3)

This function is used to adjust the time according to the time zone you are in.

Here are the time zones you can use with this function:

Abbreviation Time Zone

AST or ADT Atlantic standard or daylight time

BST or BDT Bering standard or daylight time
CST or CDT Central standard or daylight time
EST or EDT Eastern standard or daylight time
GMT Greenwich mean time
HST or HDT Alaska-Hawaii standard or daylight time
MST or MDT Mountain standard or daylight time
NST Newfoundland standard time
PST or PDT Pacific standard or daylight time
YST or YDT Yukon standard or daylight time

You can adjust your time like this:

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(NEW_TIME(LOCALTIMESTAMP,'EsT','PDT'),'DD/MM/YYYY HH : MI :SS
PM') FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
TO_CHAR(NEW_TIME(LOCALTIM
-------------------------
25/03/2007 04 : 32 :55 PM

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT hiredate,NEW_TIME(hiredate,'EsT','PDT') FROM emp;
OUTPUT:
HIREDATE NEW_TIME(
--------- ---------
17-DEC-80 16-DEC-80
20-FEB-81 19-FEB-81
22-FEB-81 21-FEB-81
02-APR-81 01-APR-81
28-SEP-81 27-SEP-81
01-MAY-81 30-APR-81
09-JUN-81 08-JUN-81
09-DEC-82 08-DEC-82
17-NOV-81 16-NOV-81
08-SEP-81 07-SEP-81
12-JAN-83 11-JAN-83
03-DEC-81 02-DEC-81
03-DEC-81 02-DEC-81
23-JAN-82 22-JAN-82
ANALYSIS:
Like magic, all the times are in the new time zone and the dates are adjusted.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 79

NEXT_DAY(expr1,expr2)

NEXT_DAY finds the name of the first day of the week that is equal to or later than
another specified date.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT NEXT_DAY(SYSDATE,‟MONDAY‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
NEXT_DAY(
---------
26-MAR-07

ANALYSIS:
If the sysdate is Saturday, March 24, 2007, It display the date of the next coming
Monday.

EXTRACT

We can use Extract function in the place of to_char function from Oracle 9i.
SELECT EXTRACT(MONTH FROM SYSDATE) FROM dual;

SELECT EXTRACT(DAY FROM SYSDATE) FROM dual;

SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR FROM SYSDATE) FROM dual

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 80

Interval Data types ( Only from 9i)

Oracle supports two interval datatypes. Both were introduced in Oracle9i

Database, and both conform to the ISO SQL standard.

INTERVAL YEAR to MONTH

Allows you to define and interval of time in terms of years and months

INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND

Allows you to define an interval of time in terms of days, hours, minutes and
seconds (including fractional seconds).

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT (SYSDATE – TO_DATE('10-jan-2004')) YEAR TO MONTH FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
(SYSDATE-TO_DATE('10-JAN-2004'))YEARTOMONTH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+08-00

ANALYSIS:
Returns the difference. No of years and months between both the dates.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT (SYSDATE – TO_DATE('10-NOV-2007')) DAY TO SECOND FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
(SYSDATE – TO_DATE('10-NOV-2007'))DAYTOSECOND
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+000000009 11:04:07

ANALYSIS:
Find the difference with days and time. For sysdate it takes 0.00 hrs as starting
time

Note :- We can also change the default format for a given session using the ALTER
SESSION command
SQL> ALTER SESSION SET NLS_DATE_FORMAT = „DD/MM/YYYY‟;

SQL> SELECT SYSDATE FROM dual:

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 81

Interpreting Two-digit Years

Oracle provides the RR format element to interpret two-digit years.

If the Current year is in the first half of the century ( years 0 through 49), then:

If you enter a date in the first half of the century (i.e. from 0 through 49), RR
returns the current century.
If you enter a date in the latter half of the century (i.e. from 50 through 99),
RR returns the previous century.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'DD/MM/YYYY') "CURRENT DATE",
TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('14-OCT-88','DD-MON-RR'),'YYYY') "YEAR 88",
TO_CHAR(TO_DATE('14-OCT-18','DD-MON-RR'),'YYYY') "YEAR 18" FROM dual

OUTPUT:
CURRENT DATE YEAR 88 YEAR 18
------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
19/11/2007 1988 2018

When we reach the year 2050, RR will interpret the same dates differently

CURRENT DATE YEAR 88 YEAR 18

------------------------- -------------------- --------------------
19/11/2050 2088 2118

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 82

CONVERTING NUMBER TO INTERVALS

The NUMTOYMINTERVAL and NUMTODSINTERVAL functions allow you to convert

a single numeric value to one of the interval data types. The function
NUMTOYMINTERVAL (pronounced “ num to Y M interval”) converts a numeric
value an interval of type INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT NUMTOYMINTERVAL (10.5,'YEAR') FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
NUMTOYMINTERVAL (10.5,'YEAR')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+000000010-06

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT NUMTOYMINTERVAL (10.3,'YEAR') FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
NUMTOYMINTERVAL (10.3,'YEAR')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+000000010-03

Try the following formats

SELECT NUMTOYMINTERVAL(10.5,’MONTH’) FROM DUAL;

SELECT NUMTOYMINTERVAL(10.5,’DAY’) FROM DUAL;
Name Description
YEAR Some number of years ranging from 1 through 999,999,999
MONTH Some number of months ranging from 0 through 11
DAY Some number of days ranging from 0 through 999,999,999
HOUR Some number of hours ranging from 0 through 23
MINUTE Some number of minutes ranging from 0 through 59
SECOND Some number of seconds ranging from 0 through 59.999999999

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 83

NUMTODSINTERVAL

This function allows to convert a single numeric value to one of the interval data
types.

This function ( pronounced “num to D S interval”) likewise converts a numeric

value to an interval of type INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT NUMTODSINTERVAL(1440,‟MINUTE‟) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
NUMTODSINTERVAL(1440,‟MINUTE‟)
------------------------------
+01 00:00.00.000000

ANALYSIS:
Oracle automatically taken care of normalizing the input value of 1440 minutes to an
interval value of 1 day.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 84

Miscellaneous Functions

Here are three miscellaneous functions you may find useful.

GREATEST(list) and LEAST(list)

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT GREATEST(10,1,83,2,9,67) FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
GREATEST
---------
83

ANALYSIS:
Displays the greatest of the given set of values

Difference between GREATEST AND MAX IS

GREATEST IS SINGLE ROW FUNCTION, MAX IS A GROUP FUNCTION. GREATEST

TAKES VALUES FROM DIFFERENT COLUMNS FROM EACH ROW, WHERE AS MAX
TAKES VALUES FROM DIFFERENT ROWS FROM A COLUMN.

Assume there is a student table

ROLLNO NAME SUB1 SUB2 SUB3 SUB4

1 RAVI 55 22 86 45
2 KRIS 78 55 65 12
3 BABU 55 22 44 77
4 ANU 44 55 66 88

To find the greatest and Least Mark we can use the GREATEST and LEAST
functions as follows.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT name,sub1,sub2,sub3,sub4, GREATEST(sub1,sub2,sub3,sub4) GREATEST_MARK,
LEAST(sub1,sub2,sub3,sub4) LEAST_MARK FROM student;

OUTPUT:
ROLLNO NAME SUB1 SUB2 SUB3 SUB4 GREATEST_MARK LEAST_MARK
------ ------ ---- ---- ---- ---- ------------- ----------
1 RAVI 55 22 86 45 86 22
2 KRIS 78 55 65 12 78 12
3 BABU 55 22 44 77 77 22
4 ANU 44 55 66 88 88 44

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 85

USER

USER returns the character name of the current user of the database.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT USER FROM dual;

OUTPUT:
USER
--------
SCOTT

ANALYSIS:
Displays the current sessions user name We can also display username using
environment command

SQL> SHOW USER

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 86

DECODE(expr1,expr2,expr3[,…])

The DECODE function is one of the most powerful commands in SQL*Plus--and

perhaps the most powerful. The standard language of SQL lacks procedural
functions that are contained in languages such as COBOL and C. The DECODE
statement is similar to an IF...THEN statement in a procedural programming
language. Where flexibility is required for complex reporting needs, DECODE is
often able to fill the gap between SQL and the functions of a procedural language.

SYNTAX: DECODE (column1, value1, output1, value2, output2, output3)

The syntax example performs the DECODE function on column1. If column1 has a
value of value1, then display output1 instead of the column's current value. If
column1 has a value of value2, then display output2 instead of the column's
current value. If column1 has a value of anything other than value1 or value2,
then display output3 instead of the column's current value.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,job,DECODE(job,‟CLERK‟,‟EXEC‟,‟SALESMAN‟,
„S.OFFICER‟,‟ANALYST‟,‟PM‟,‟MANAGER‟,‟VP‟,JOB) PROMOTION FROM emp;
OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB PROMOTION
---------- --------- ---------
SMITH CLERK EXEC
ALLEN SALESMAN S.OFFICER
WARD SALESMAN S.OFFICER
JONES MANAGER VP
MARTIN SALESMAN S.OFFICER
BLAKE MANAGER VP
CLARK MANAGER VP
SCOTT ANALYST PM
KING PRESIDENT PRESIDENT
TURNER SALESMAN S.OFFICER
ADAMS CLERK EXEC
JAMES CLERK EXEC
FORD ANALYST PM
MILLER CLERK EXEC
ANALYSIS:
When JOB has a value CLERK , then display EXEC instead of CLERK
When JOB has a value SALESMAN , then display S.OFFICER instead of SALESMAN
When JOB has a value ANALYST , then display PM instead of ANALYST
When JOB has a value MANAGER , then display VP instead of MANAGER
OTHERWISE DISPLAY SAME JOB

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 87

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename, job, sal,DECODE(job,‟CLERK‟,SAL*1.1,‟SALESMAN‟,
sal*1.2,‟ANALYST‟,sal*1.25,‟MANAGER‟,sal*1.3,SAL) NEW_SAL FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB SAL NEW_SAL
---------- --------- ---------- ----------
SMITH CLERK 800 880
ALLEN SALESMAN 1600 1920
WARD SALESMAN 1250 1500
JONES MANAGER 2975 3867.5
MARTIN SALESMAN 1250 1500
BLAKE MANAGER 2850 3705
CLARK MANAGER 2450 3185
SCOTT ANALYST 3000 3750
KING PRESIDENT 5000 5000
TURNER SALESMAN 1500 1800
ADAMS CLERK 1100 1210
JAMES CLERK 950 1045
FORD ANALYST 3000 3750
MILLER CLERK 1300 1430

ANALYSIS:
When JOB has a value CLERK , then giving 10% increment
When JOB has a value SALESMAN , then giving 20% increment
When JOB has a value ANALYST , then giving 25% increment
When JOB has a value MANAGER , then giving 30% increment
OTHERWISE no increment

Assume there is a table with empno, ename, sex

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,sex,DECODE(sex,‟MALE‟,‟MR.‟||ename,„MS.‟||ename) FROM emp;

ANALYSIS:
Adding Mr.‟ or „Ms.‟ before the name based on their Gender

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 88

CASE

As of Oracle 9i, you can use the CASE function in place of DECODE. The CASE
function uses the keywords when, then, else, and end to indicate the logic path
followed, which may make the resulting code easier to follow than an equivalent
DECODE.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,
CASE job
WHEN 'MANAGER' then 'VP'
WHEN 'CLERK' THEN 'EXEC'
WHEN 'SALESMAN' THEN 'S.OFFICER'
ELSE
job
END
FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
JOB CASEJOBWH
--------- ---------
CLERK EXEC
SALESMAN S.OFFICER
SALESMAN S.OFFICER
MANAGER VP
SALESMAN S.OFFICER
MANAGER VP
MANAGER VP
ANALYST ANALYST
PRESIDENT PRESIDENT
SALESMAN S.OFFICER
CLERK EXEC
CLERK EXEC
ANALYST ANALYST
CLERK EXEC

ANALYSIS:
Works similar to that of DECODE

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 89

NVL

If the value is NULL, this function is equal to substitute. If the value is not NULL,
this function is equal to value. Substitute can be a literal number, another column,
or a computation.

NVL is not restricted to numbers, it can be used with CHAR, VARCHAR2, DATE, and
other data types, but the value and substitute must be the same data type.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,sal,comm.,sal+comm TOTAL FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO SAL COMM TOTAL
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 800
7499 1600 300 1900
7521 1250 500 1750
7566 2975
7654 1250 1400 2650
7698 2850
7782 2450
7788 3000
7839 5000
7844 1500 0 1500
7876 1100
7900 950
7902 3000
7934 1300

ANALYSIS:
Arithmetic operation is possible only when value is there in both columns

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, sal, comm, sal + NVL(comm,0) TOTAL FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO SAL COMM TOTAL
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 800 800
7499 1600 300 1900
7521 1250 500 1750
7566 2975 2975
7654 1250 1400 2650
7698 2850 2850
7782 2450 2450
7788 3000 3000
7839 5000 5000
7844 1500 0 1500
7876 1100 1100
7900 950 950
7902 3000 3000
7934 1300 1300

ANALYSIS:
Using NVL, we are substituting 0 if COMM is NULL.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 90

LENGTH

Finds the length of the given information

SQL> SELECT ename, LENGTH(ename)FROM emp;

SQL> SELECT LENGTH(SYSDATE) FROM emp;

SQL> SELECT sal, LENGTH(sal) FROM emp;

ASCII

Finds the ASCII value of the given character

SQL> SELECT ASCII(„A‟) FROM dual;

CAST

Converts one type of information into another type

SQL> SELECT 50 NUMB, CAST(50 as VARCHAR2(2)) VALUE FROM dual;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 91

Exercises

1. _____________ function performs one to one character substitution.

2. _____________ format option is used to get complete year spelled out in
TO_CHAR function.
3. ___________ symbol is used to combine tow given strings
4. What happens if “replace string” is not given for REPLACE function
5. Can a number be converted to DATE?
6. Convert the value of name in the EMP table to lower case letters
7. Display the names of the employees who have more than 4 characters in
the name.
8. Print *’s as number of thousands are there in the number
9. Display the ename, comm. If the commission is NULL, print as NO COMM
10.Add number of days to the given date
11.Display the first and last two characters from a given name and combine
them as a single string (Use only functions)
12.Find the difference between two given dates
13.Display all the names which contain underscore
14.subtract number of months from given date

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 92

GROUP BY clause with SELECT statement

Syntax: SELECT [column,] group_function(column)...

FROM table
[WHERE condition]
[GROUP BY [CUBE | ROLLUP] group_by_expression]
[HAVING having_expression]
[ORDER BY column];

Group by statement groups all the rows with the same column value. Use to
generate summary output from the available data. Whenever we use a group
function in the SQL statement, we have to use a group by clause.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job, COUNT (*) FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
JOB COUNT(*)
--------- ----------
ANALYST 2
CLERK 4
MANAGER 3
PRESIDENT 1
SALESMAN 4

ANALYSIS:
Counts number of employees under each and every job. When we are grouping on job,
initially jobs are placed in ascending order in a temporary segment. On the
temporary segment, group by clause is applied, so that on each similar job count
function applied.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job, SUM(sal) FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
JOB SUM(SAL)
--------- ----------
ANALYST 6000
CLERK 4150
MANAGER 8275
PRESIDENT 5000
SALESMAN 5600

ANALYSIS:
With each job, it finds the total salary

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 93

ERROR with GROUP BY Clause

Note :

 Only grouped columns allowed in the group by clause

 Whenever we are using a group function in the SQL statement, we have to
use group by clause.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,COUNT(*) FROM emp;

OUTPUT:
SELECT job, COUNT (*) FROM emp
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00937: not a single-group group function

ANALYSIS:
This result occurs because the group functions, such as SUM and COUNT, are
designated to tell you something about a group or rows, not the individual rows of
the table. This error is avoided by using JOB in the group by clause, which forces
the COUNT to count all the rows grouped within each job.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,ename,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
SELECT JOB,ENAME,COUNT(*) FROM EMP GROUP BY JOB
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00979: not a GROUP BY expression

ANALYSIS:
In the above query, JOB is only the grouped column where as ENAME column is not a
grouped column. Whatever the columns we are grouping, the same column is allowed to
display.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job, MIN(sal),MAX(sal) FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
JOB MIN(SAL) MAX(SAL)
--------- ---------- ----------
ANALYST 3000 3000
CLERK 800 1300
MANAGER 2450 2975
PRESIDENT 5000 5000
SALESMAN 1250 1600

ANALYSIS:
With each job, it finds the MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM SALARY

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 94

For displaying Total summary information from the table.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job, SUM(sal),AVG(sal),MIN(sal),MAX(sal) ,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY
job;
OUTPUT:
JOB SUM(SAL) AVG(SAL) MIN(SAL) MAX(SAL) COUNT(*)
--------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
ANALYST 6000 3000 3000 3000 2
CLERK 4150 1037.5 800 1300 4
MANAGER 8275 2758.33333 2450 2975 3
PRESIDENT 5000 5000 5000 5000 1
SALESMAN 5600 1400 1250 1600 4
ANALYSIS:
With each job, finds the total summary information.

To display the output Designation wise, Department wise total salaries With a
matrix style report.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,SUM(DECODE(deptno,10,sal)) DEPT10, SUM(DECODE(deptno,20,sal))
DEPT20,
SUM(DECODE(deptno,30,sal)) DEPT30, SUM(sal) TOTAL FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
JOB DEPT10 DEPT20 DEPT30 TOTAL
--------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
ANALYST 6000 6000
CLERK 1300 1900 950 4150
MANAGER 2450 2975 2850 8275
PRESIDENT 5000 5000
SALESMAN 5600 5600
ANALYSIS:
When we apply group by, initially all the designations are placed in ascending order
of designations. Then group by clause groups similar designations, then DECODE
function (Single row function) applies on each and every row of that group and
checks the DEPTNO. If DEPTNO=10, it passes corresponding salary as an argument to
SUM() .

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno,job,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY deptno,job;

OUTPUT:
DEPTNO JOB COUNT(*)
---------- --------- ----------
10 CLERK 1
10 MANAGER 1
10 PRESIDENT 1
20 CLERK 2
20 ANALYST 2
20 MANAGER 1
30 CLERK 1
30 MANAGER 1
30 SALESMAN 4
ANALYSIS:
Department wise, Designation wise , counts the number of employees

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 95

To display the DEPTNO only one time (output with breaks)

INPUT:
SQL> BREAK ON DEPTNO SKIP 1
SQL> SELECT deptno,job,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY deptno,job;

OUTPUT:
DEPTNO JOB COUNT(*)
---------- --------- ----------
10 CLERK 1
MANAGER 1
PRESIDENT 1

20 CLERK 2
ANALYST 2
MANAGER 1

30 CLERK 1
MANAGER 1
SALESMAN 4

ANALYSIS:
Break is Environment command , which breaks the information on repetitive column and
displays them only once.
SKIP 1 used with BREAK to leave one blank line after completion of each
Deptno.

To remove the given break , we have to use an Environment command

SQL> CLEAR BREAK;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 96

Group by with ROLLUP and CUBE Operators

Use Rollup or CUBE with Group by to produce super aggregate rows by

cross-referencing columns.
ROLLUP grouping produces a result set containing the regular grouped rows
and the subtotal values.
CUBE grouping produces a result set containing the rows from ROLLUP and
cross-tabulation rows

The ROLLUP and CUBE operators are available only in Oracle8i and later releases.

CUBE function

We can use CUBE function to generate subtotals for all combinations of the values
in the group by clause.( CUBE and ROLLUP are available only from 9i)

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno,job,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY CUBE(deptno,job);

OUTPUT:
DEPTNO JOB COUNT(*)
---------- --------- ----------
14
CLERK 4
ANALYST 2
MANAGER 3
SALESMAN 4
PRESIDENT 1
10 3
10 CLERK 1
10 MANAGER 1
10 PRESIDENT 1
20 5
20 CLERK 2
20 ANALYST 2
20 MANAGER 1
30 6
30 CLERK 1
30 MANAGER 1
30 SALESMAN 4

ANALYSIS:
Cube displays the out with all the permutation and combination of all the columns
given a CUBE function.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 97

ROLLUP FUNCTION

It is similar to that of CUBE function

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno,job,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY ROLLUP(deptno,job)

OUTPUT:
DEPTNO JOB COUNT(*)
---------- --------- ----------
10 CLERK 1
10 MANAGER 1
10 PRESIDENT 1
10 3
20 CLERK 2
20 ANALYST 2
20 MANAGER 1
20 5
30 CLERK 1
30 MANAGER 1
30 SALESMAN 4
30 6
14
ANALYSIS:
Observe the output. The count(*) column total is automatically displayed with every
change in the deptno.

COLLECT(<colname>) from oracle 10g

This function enables us to aggregate data into a collection, retaining multiple

records of data within a single row (like a nested table). One of the main benefits
of this function is that it makes "string aggregation" (one of the web's most-
requested Oracle technique) very simple. This article will introduce the COLLECT
function and then demonstrate how it can be used to aggregate multiple records
into a single value (a technique known as "string aggregation").

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT deptno, COLLECT(ename) AS emps FROM emp GROUP BY deptno;

DEP EMPS
--- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 SYSTPXeCjDqbWSqWrshgYrRPR4Q==('CLARK', 'KING')
20 SYSTPXeCjDqbWSqWrshgYrRPR4Q==('SMITH', 'JONES', 'SCOTT', 'ADAMS', 'FORD')
30 SYSTPXeCjDqbWSqWrshgYrRPR4Q==('ALLEN','WARD','MARTIN','BLAKE','TURNER', 'JAMES')
40 SYSTPXeCjDqbWSqWrshgYrRPR4Q==('MILLER')

4 rows selected.
ANALYSIS:
we can see that the COLLECT function has aggregated the employee names per
department as requested.

Oracle has created a collection type to support the COLLECT function each name
startin with SYSTP. This informaiton is available in the data dictionary USER_TYPES

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 98

HAVING CLAUSE

Whenever we are using a group function in the condition, we have to use having
clause. Having clause is used along with group by clause.

For example, to display Designation wise total salaries

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,SUM(sal) FROM emp GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
JOB SUM(SAL)
--------- ----------
ANALYST 6000
CLERK 4150
MANAGER 8275
PRESIDENT 5000
SALESMAN 5600

To Display only those designations, whose total salary is more than 5000

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,SUM(sal) FROM emp WHERE SUM(sal) > 5000 GROUP BY job;

OUTPUT:
SELECT JOB,SUM(SAL) FROM EMP WHERE SUM(SAL) > 5000 GROUP BY JOB
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00934: group function is not allowed here

ANALYSIS:
Where clause doesn‟t allow using group function in the condition.
When we are using group function in the condition, we have to use having clause.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,SUM(sal) FROM emp GROUP BY job HAVING SUM(sal) > 5000;

OUTPUT:
JOB SUM(SAL)
--------- ----------
ANALYST 6000
MANAGER 8275
SALESMAN 5600

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the designations whose total salary is more than 5000.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 99

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,COUNT(*) FROM emp GROUP BY job HAVING COUNT(*) BETWEEN 3 AND 5;

OUTPUT:
JOB COUNT(*)
--------- ----------
CLERK 4
MANAGER 3
SALESMAN 4

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the designations whose number where employees between 3 and 5

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT sal FROM emp GROUP BY sal HAVING COUNT(sal) > 1;

OUTPUT:
SAL
----------
1250
3000

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the salaries, which are appearing more than one time in the table.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

 WHERE clause can be used to check for conditions based on values of

columns and expressions but not the result of GROUP functions.
 HAVING clause is specially designed to evaluate the conditions that are
based on group functions such as SUM, COUNT etc.
 HAVING clause can be used only when GROUP BY clause is used.

ORDER OF EXECUTION

Here are the rules ORCALE uses to execute different clauses given in SELECT
command

 Selects rows based on Where clause

 Groups rows based on GROUP BY clause
 Calculates results for each group
 Eliminate groups based on HAVING clause
 Then ORDER BY is used to order the results

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 100

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT job,SUM(sal) FROM emp WHERE job != „CLERK‟
GROUP BY job HAVING SUM(sal) > 5000 ORDER BY job DESC;

Nested Sub queries

Oracle has the ability to execute queries which are more complex than the ones
that we have seen till now. In some situations, we may have to embed queries
with in another query. This system called sub-query. Nesting is the act of
embedding a sub query within another query.

Syntax: SELECT * FROM <tablename> WHERE (SELECT … (SELECT … (SELECT …)));

Whenever particular information is not accessible through a single query, then we

have to write different queries one included in another.

Sub queries can be nested as deeply as your implementation of SQL allows. We

can write different types sub queries

 Single row sub queries

 Multi row sub queries
 Multi column sub queries
 Correlated sub queries.

Single row sub query

A Sub query which returns only one value. For example, To get the employee, who
is drawing maximum salary?

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ENAME,SAL FROM EMP WHERE SAL = ( SELECT MAX(SAL) FROM EMP);

OUTPUT:
ENAME SAL
------------ ----------
KING 5000

ANALYSIS:
Right side query is called as child query and left side query is called parent
query. In nested queries, child query executes first before executing parent query.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 101

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename, hiredate FROM emp WHERE hiredate = (SELECT MAX(hiredate) FROM
emp);

OUTPUT:
ENAME HIREDATE
---------- ---------
ADAMS 12-JAN-83

ANALYSIS:
Display the least experienced employee

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal < (SELECT MAX(sal) FROM emp);

OUTPUT:
ENAME SAL
---------- ----------
SMITH 800
ALLEN 1600
WARD 1250
JONES 2975
MARTIN 1250
BLAKE 2850
CLARK 2450
SCOTT 3000
TURNER 1500
ADAMS 1100
JAMES 950
FORD 3000
MILLER 1300

ANALYSIS:
Display all the employees whose salary is less than the maximum salary of all the
employees.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 102

Try the following?

To display all the employees whose salary lines between minimum and maximum
salaries

Answer:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE sal BETWEEN (SELECT MIN(sal) FROM emp) AND (SELECT
MAX(sal) FROM emp);

Display all the employees who are getting maximum commission in the
organization

Answer:
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp WHERE comm = (SELECT MAX(comm) FROM emp);

Display all the employees from department 30 whose salary is less than maximum
salary of department 20.

Answer:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM emp WHERE deptno=30
AND sal < (SELECT MAX(sal) FROM emp WHERE deptno = 20);

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 103

Multi row Sub queries

A sub query, which returns more than one value.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal IN(SELECT sal FROM emp GROUP BY sal HAVING
COUNT(*)> 1);

OUTPUT:
ENAME SAL
---------- ---------
WARD 1250
MARTIN 1250
SCOTT 3000
FORD 3000

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees who are drawing similar salaries

When child query returns more than one value, we have to use IN operator for
comparison.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 104

Multi Column Sub Queries

When sub queries returns values from different columns.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,deptno,sal FROM emp WHERE (deptno,sal)
IN (SELECT deptno,MAX(sal) FROM emp GROUP BY deptno);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME DEPTNO SAL
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7839 KING 10 5000
7788 SCOTT 20 3000
7902 FORD 20 3000
7698 BLAKE 30 2850

ANALYSIS:
Display all the employees who are drawing maximum salaries in each department

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 105

Correlated Sub Queries

A correlated sub query is a sub query that receives a value from the main query
and then sends a value back to main query.

For example, Display all the employees whose salary is less than maximum salary
of each department

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,deptno,sal FROM emp X WHERE sal < (SELECT MAX(sal)
FROM emp WHERE deptno = x.deptno);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME DEPTNO SAL
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH 20 800
7499 ALLEN 30 1600
7521 WARD 30 1250
7566 JONES 20 2975
7654 MARTIN 30 1250
7782 CLARK 10 2450
7844 TURNER 30 1500
7876 ADAMS 20 1100
7900 JAMES 30 950
7934 MILLER 10 1300

ANALYSIS:
Find department wise maximum salaries and display the employees whose salary is less
than that value for each department

Execution Sequence of steps in Correlated sub queries

 A row from main query is retrieved

 Executes sub query with the value retrieved from main query
 Sub query returns a value to main query
 Main query’s current row is either selected or not, depending upon the
value passed by sub query.
 This continues until all rows of main query are retrieved

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 106

To display the nth highest paid employee

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp X WHERE &N = (SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT sal) FROM
emp WHERE sal >= x.sal);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL
---------- ---------- ----------
7788 SCOTT 3000
7902 FORD 3000

ANALYSIS:
It selects each row from emp table from parent query and finds the distinct count
for each salary whose salary >= the salary returned by main query.

The following example produces same output in two different methods with a
comparison of their performance in time.

Least Efficient (156 Mill Sec)

SQL>SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP FROM dual;

SQL>SELECT * FROM emp E WHERE sal >=5000 AND job = 'MANAGER' AND
25 < (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE mgr = e.empno);

SQL> SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP FROM dual;

Most Efficient (110 Mill Sec)

SQL>SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP FROM dual;

SQL>SELECT * FROM emp E WHERE

25 < (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE mgr = e.empno) and sal
>=5000 AND job = 'MANAGER'

SQL> SELECT SYSTIMESTAMP FROM dual;

Table joins should be written first before any condition of WHERE clause. And the
conditions which filter out the maximum records should be placed at the end after
the joins as the parsing is done from BOTTOM to TOP.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 107

ANY and ALL Operators

Both are used for comparing one value against a set of values. The operator can
be any one of the standard relational operators ( =, >=, >, <. <= , !=) and list is a
series of values.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal > ANY(SELECT sal FROM emp);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL
---------- ---------- ----------
7499 ALLEN 1600
7521 WARD 1250
7566 JONES 2975
7654 MARTIN 1250
7698 BLAKE 2850
7782 CLARK 2450
7788 SCOTT 3000
7839 KING 5000
7844 TURNER 1500
7876 ADAMS 1100
7900 JAMES 950
7902 FORD 3000
7934 MILLER 1300

ANALYSIS:
ANY displays greater than any values in the list.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal < ANY (SELECT sal FROM emp);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL
---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH 800
7499 ALLEN 1600
7521 WARD 1250
7566 JONES 2975
7654 MARTIN 1250
7698 BLAKE 2850
7782 CLARK 2450
7788 SCOTT 3000
7844 TURNER 1500
7876 ADAMS 1100
7900 JAMES 950
7902 FORD 3000
7934 MILLER 1300

ANALYSIS:
Less than ANY of the list of values

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 108

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal >ALL(SELECT sal FROM emp);

OUTPUT:
no rows selected

ANALYSIS:
Greater than Maximum of list

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal >ALL(3000,2000,4000);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL
---------- ---------- ----------
7839 KING 5000

ANALYSIS:
Greater than maximum of List

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal FROM emp WHERE sal <ALL(3000,2000,4000);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL
---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH 800
7499 ALLEN 1600
7521 WARD 1250
7654 MARTIN 1250
7844 TURNER 1500
7876 ADAMS 1100
7900 JAMES 950
7934 MILLER 1300

ANALYSIS:
Less than minimum of List

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 109

DML STATEMENTS IN SUB QUERIES

To modify the salary of an employee who is drawing minimum salary with the
salary of the employee who is drawing maximum salary

INPUT:
SQL> UPDATE emp SET sal = (SELECT MAX(sal) FROM emp) WHERE Empno = (SELECT empno
FROM emp WHERE sal = (SELECT MIN (sal) FROM emp));

ANALYSIS:
Identify the employee who is drawing minimum salary and update with the maximum
salary of all the employees.

To insert selected rows from emp table to emp1 table

INPUT:
SQL> INSERT INTO emp1 SELECT * FROM emp ;

ANALYSIS:
Assuming that EMP1 is an existing table. Inserts all the selected rows into EMP1
table.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 110

EXISTS And NOT EXISTS Operators

These two operators are exclusively used in correlated sub query. EXISTS checks
whether any row is existing in the sub query, and NOT EXISTS does the opposite.

EXISTS is different from other operators like IN , ANY etc, because it doesn’t
compare values of columns, instead. It checks any row is retrieved from sub query
or not. If any row is retrieved from sub query the EXISTS returns true otherwise it
returns False.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal,mgr FROM emp X WHERE EXISTS(SELECT mgr FROM emp WHERE
X.mgr = empno);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME SAL MGR
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
7369 SMITH 800 7902
7499 ALLEN 1600 7698
7521 WARD 1250 7698
7566 JONES 2975 7839
7654 MARTIN 1250 7698
7698 BLAKE 2850 7839
7782 CLARK 2450 7839
7788 SCOTT 3000 7566
7844 TURNER 1500 7698
7876 ADAMS 1100 7788
7900 JAMES 950 7698
7902 FORD 3000 7566
7934 MILLER 1300 7782

Note: Use EXISTS in place of IN for Base Tables to improve the performance.

Remember

The following important points to be remembered while dealing with sub queries

 Sub query can not use ORDER BY clause. Because ORDER BY clause must be
the last clause of SELECT
 BETWEEN … AND operator can not be used with Sub queries

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 111

Exercise based on sub-queries

1. In department 20, one employee is drawing minimum salary and is having

some designation. Display the employees from other departments whose
designation is matching with the designation of the above employee.
2. Display all the employees whose salary is within ±1000 from the average
salary of all the employees.
3. Display the employees who reported to KING
4. Display all the employees whose salary is less than the minimum salary of
MANAGERS.
5. Display the details of students who have paid the highest amount so far in
their course.
6. Display the details of subjects that have been taken by more than two
students

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 112

INTEGRITY CONSTRAINTS

Constraints are used to implement standard rules such as uniqueness in the key
filed and business rule such as AGE column should contain a value between 15
and 60 etc.

Oracle server makes sure that the constraints are not violated whenever a row is
inserted, deleted or updated. If constraint is not satisfied the operation will fail.

Constraints are normally defined at the time of creating table. But it is also
possible to define constraints after the table is created.

Constraint Guidelines

Name a constraint or the Oracle server generates a name by using the

SYS_Cn format
Create a constraint either:
o At the same time as the table is created, or
o After the table has been created.
Define a constraint at the column or table level.
View a constraint in the Data dictionary for verification

TYPES OF CONSTRAINTS

Constraints are classified into two types

 Table Constraints
 Column Constraints

Table Constraint

A constraint given at the table level is called as Table Constraint. It may refer to
more than one column of the table.

A typical example is PRIMARY KEY constraint that is used to define composite

primary key.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 113

Column Constraint

A constraint given at the column level is called as Column constraint. It defines a

rule for a single column. It cannot refer to column other than the column, at
which it is defined.

A typical example is PRIMARY KEY constraint when a single column is the primary
key of the table.

Various types of Integrity constraints

 PRIMARY KEY
 UNIQUE
 NOT NULL
 CHECK

PRIMARY KEY

It is used to uniquely identify rows in a table. There can be only one primary key in
a table. It may consist of more than one column, if so, it is called as composite
primary key. (It maintains uniqueness in the data and null values are not
acceptable) i.e. UNIQUE + NOT NULL = PRIMARY KEY

Automatically creates unique index to enforce uniqueness.

UNIQUE

Maintains unique and NULL values are acceptable.

Oracle automatically creates a unique index for the column.

Example : EmailID

A UNIQUE key integrity constraint requires that every value in a column or set of
columns (key) be unique- that is, no two rows of table can have duplicate values in
a specified column or set of columns. The column (or set of columns) included in
the definition of the UNIQUE key constraint is called the unique key. If the
UNIQUE constraint comprises more than one column, the group of columns is
called a composite unique key.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 114

NOT NULL

Uniqueness not maintained and null values are not acceptable.

Note: The NOT NULL constraint can be specified only at the column level, not at
the table level.

CHECK

Defines the condition that should be satisfied before insertion and updating is
done.

Defines a condition that each row must satisfy

The following expressions are not allowed
o References to CURRVAL, NEXTVAL and ROWNUM pseudocolumns
o Calls to SYSDATE,UID,USER functions
o Queries that refer to other values in other rows

Note: - Pseudocolumns are not actual columns in a table but they behave like
columns. For example, you can select values from pseudocolumns. However, you
cannot insert into, update, or delete from a pseudocolumn.

Guidelines for Primary Keys and Foreign Keys

You cannot use duplicate values in a primary key.

Primary keys generally cannot be changed.
Foreign keys are based on data values and are purely logical, not physical,
pointers.
A foreign key value must match an existing primary key value or unique key
value, or else be null.
A foreign key must reference either a primary key or unique key column.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 115

DDL ( Data Definition language)

CREATE, ALTER, DROP commands used in SQL are called the DDL commands. DDL
STATEMENTS COMMITS AUTOMATICALLY. There is no need to save explicitly.

Create Table

Syntax: CREATE TABLE <TABLE-NAME>

(COLUMN DEFINITION1, COLUMN DEFINITION2);
Column Def:
<Name> Data type [Default Value] [constraint <name> constraint type]
Note: Min. Column in a table = 1
Max. Columns in a table = 1000
Naming Rules in oracle

1. A table or a column name must never start a number but they can contain
numbers in them
2. They can’t consist of any special characters other than “$”, “#”, “-“

i.e. $,# are used mainly for system tables.

SQL>CREATE TABLE empl4747(
empno NUMBER (3) CONSTRAINT pk_empl47473_empno PRIMARY KEY,
ename VARCHAR2 (10) NOT NULL,
gender CHAR(1) CONSTRAINT chk_empl47473_gender CHECK(UPPER(gender) IN(„M‟,‟F‟)),
email_id VARCHAR2(30) UNIQUE,
designation VARCHAR2(15),
salary NUMBER(7,2) CHECK (salary BETWEEN 10000 AND 70000)
);

Note:

 Constraint name is useful for manipulating the given constraint

 When the constraint name is not given at the time of defining constraints,
system creates a constraint with the name SYS_Cn.
 Constraints defined on a particular table are store in a data dictionary table
USER_CONSTRAINTS, USER_CONS_COLUMNS.
 Tables defined by a user are stored in a data dictionary table USER_TABLES

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 116

These definitions can be viewed by giving the following command.

INPUT:
SQL> DESCRIBE USER_CONSTRAINTS

SQL> SELECT CONSTRAINT_NAME, CONSTRAINT_TYPE, SEARCH_CONDITION

FROM USER_CONSTRAINTS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'EMPL47473';

OUTPUT:
CONSTRAINT_NAME CONSTRAINTTYPE SEARCH_CONDITION
--------------- --------------- ---------------------------------
SYS_C003018 C "ENAME" IS NOT NULL
CHK_EMPL47473_GENDER C UPPER (GENDER) IN ('M','F')
SYS_C003020 C SALARY BETWEEN 10000 AND 70000
PK_EMPL47473_EMPNO P
SYS_C003022 U

ANALYSIS:
Describe displays structure of the data dictionary table.
Select statement is used to view the constraints defined on the table

INPUT:
SQL> DESCRIBE USER_CONS_COLUMNS
SQL> SELECT CONSTRAINT_NAME,COLUMN_NAME
FROM USER_CONS_COLUMNS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'EMPL47473';

OUTPUT:
CONSTRAINT_NAME COLUMN_NAME
------------------------------ --------------------------------
CHK_EMPL47473_GENDER GENDER
PK_EMPL47473_EMPNO EMPNO
SYS_C003018 ENAME
SYS_C003020 SALARY
SYS_C003022 EMAIL_ID

ANALYSIS:
Describe displays structure of the data dictionary table.
Select statement is used to view the constraints defined on the column

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 117

ALTER TABLE

Used to modify the structure of a table

Syntax: ALTER TABLE <TABLENAME> [ ADD | MODIFY | DROP | RENAME]

(COLUMN(S));

ADD - for adding new columns into the table

MODIFY - for modifying the structure of columns

DROP - for removing a column in the table ( 8i)

RENAME - for renaming the column name ( Only from 9i)

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl47473 ADD(address VARCHAR2(30), doj DATE,pincode VARCHAR2(7));

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl47473 MODIFY(ename CHAR (15), salary NUMBER (8,2));

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl47473 DROP COLUMN pincode;

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl47473 DROP (designation,address);

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl47473 RENAME COLUMN ename TO empname;

Note: This command is also useful for manipulating constraints

INPUT:
SQL> ALTER TABLE emplL47473 DROP PRIMARY KEY;

ANALYSIS:
To remove the primary key from table. Other constraints are removed only by
referring constraint name.

INPUT:
SQL>ALTER TABLE empl47473 ADD PRIMARY KEY(empno);

ANALYSIS:
To add primary key to the table without constraint name. It creates constraint name
with SYS_Cn.

INPUT:
SQL>ALTER TABLE empl47473 ADD CONSTRAINT pk_empl47473_empno PRIMARY KEY(empno);

ANALYSIS:
To add primary key in the table with constraint name

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 118

DATA MANIPULATION

Data manipulation means performing operations on the data in the tables of the
dataase. We perform mainly 3 types of data manipulation operations. They are

 Insertion
 Updation
 Deletion

INSERTING ROWS

Syntax: INSERT INTO tablename(colname1,colname2,…)

VALUES(VALUE1,VALUE2,...);
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473 VALUES(101,‟RAVI‟,‟M‟,
„[email protected]‟,5000,‟10-JAN-2001‟);
OR
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473 VALUES(&empno,
&ename‟,‟&gender‟,‟&email_id‟,&salary,‟&doj‟);

To insert data into specific columns of the table instead of all columns
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473(empno,empname,salary) VALUES(101,‟RAVI‟, 5000);
OR
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473(empno,empname,salary) VALUES(&empno,‟&empname‟,&salary);

ANALYSIS:
We can‟t skip primary key and NOT NULL columns

Note: Changes made on the database are recorded only in the shadow page. For
saving the information we have to use a command COMMIT,
ROLLBACK.SAVEPOINT (Called as Transactional processing statements)
SQL>COMMIT;

ANALYSIS:
Information from shadow page flushed back to the table and shadow page gets
destroyed automatically.

SQL> ROLLBACK;

ANALYSIS:
Shadow page destroys automatically without transferring the information back to the
table.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 119

SAVEPOINT

We can use save points to roll back portions of your current set of transactions

For example
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473 VALUES(105,‟KIRAN‟,‟M‟,„[email protected]‟,5000,‟10-JAN-
2001‟);
SQL> SAVEPOINT A
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473 VALUES(106,‟LATHA‟,‟F‟, „[email protected]‟,5000,‟15-JAN-
2002‟);
SQL> SAVEPOINT B
SQL> INSERT INTO empl47473 VALUES(107,‟RADHA‟,‟F‟,„[email protected]‟,15000,‟15-JAN-
2002‟);

When we SELECT data from the table

SQL> SELECT * FROM empl47473;

EMPNO EMPNAME G EMAIL_ID SALARY DOJ

---------- ---------- - ------------------ ---------- ---------
105 KIRAN M [email protected] 5000 10-JAN-01
106 LATHA F [email protected] 5000 15-JAN-02
107 RADHA F [email protected] 15000 15-JAN-02

The output shows the three new records we’ve added . Now roll back just the last
insert:

SQL> ROLLBACK TO B;

IMPLICIT COMMIT

The actions that will force a commit to occur, even without your instructing it to,
or quit, exit (the equivalent to exit), any DDL command forces a commit.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 120

AUTO ROLLBACK

If you’ve completed a series of inserts, updates or deletes, but not yet explicitly or
implicitly committed them, and you experience serious difficulties, such as a
computer failure, Oracle automatically roll back any uncommitted work. If the
machine or database goes down, it does this as cleanup work the next time the
database is brought back up.

Note :

 Rollback works only on uncommitted data

 A DDL transaction after a DML transaction, automatically commits.
 We can use an Environment command SET VERIFY OFF to remove the old
and new messages while inserting data.

ISSUE Frequent commit statements

Whenever possible, issue frequent COMMIT statements in all your programs. By

issuing frequent COMMIT statements, the performance of the program is
enhanced & its resource requirements are minimized as COMMIT frees up the
following resources:

 Information held in the rollback segments to undo the transaction if

necessary.
 All locks acquired during statement processing
 Space in the redo log buffer cache
 Overhead associated with any internal Oracle mechanisms to manage the
resources in the previous three items.

CREATING A TABLE FROM ANOTHER TABLE

Syntax: CREATE TABLE <tablename> AS SELECT <columns> FROM

<tablename> [WHERE <condition>];
SQL> CREATE TABLE empl47473 AS SELECT empno,ename,sal,job FROM emp;

To add a new column in the table

SQL> ALTER TABLE empl7473 ADD(sex CHAR(1));

SQL> SELECT * FROM empl47473;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 121

UPDATING ROWS

This command is used to change the data of the table

Syntax: UPDATE <tablename> SET column1 = expression, column2 = expression

WHERE <condition>;
SQL> UPDATE empl47473 SET sal = sal * 1.1;

SQL> COMMIT / ROLLBACK;

ANALYSIS
To give uniform increments to all the employees

SQL> UPDATE empl47473 SET

sal = DECODE(job,‟CLERK‟,sal*1.1, „SALESMAN‟,sal*1.2,sal*1.15);

SQL> COMMIT / ROLLBACK;

SQL> UPDATE empl47473 SET sex = „M‟ WHERE ename IN („KING‟,‟MILLER‟,‟BLAKE‟);

SQL> COMMIT / ROLLBACK;

SQL> SELECT * FROM empl47473;

SQL> UPDATE empl47473 SET sex = „F‟ WHERE sex IS NULL;

SQL> COMMIT / ROLLBACK;

SQL> SELECT * FROM empl47473 ;

SQL> UPDATE empl47473 SET ename = DECODE(sex,‟M‟,‟Mr.‟||ename,‟Ms.‟||ename);

SQL> COMMIT / ROLLBACK;

ANALYSIS:
ADD Mr. or Ms. Before the existing name as per the SEX value

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 122

DELETING ROWS

Syntax: DELETE [FROM] <table-name> WHERE <condition>;

From is an optional keyword.

Omitting the where clause will delete all rows from the table.
You have to commit or rollback if the autocommit is not set to true.
SQL> DELETE FROM empl47473 WHERE sex = „M‟;

SQL> COMMIT | ROLLBACK;

TRUNCATING A TABLE

Syntax: TRUNCATE TABLE <TABLENAME>

Note : Removes all the rows from table. Deleting specified rows is not possible.
Once the table is truncated, it automatically commits. It is a DDL statement.

DROPPING A TABLE OR REMOVING A TABLE

Syntax: DROP TABLE <TABLENAME>

Note : Table is dropped permanently. It is a DDL statement. It removes the data

along with table definitions and the table.

ADDING COMMENTS TO A TABLE.

You can add comments up to 2000 bytes about a column, table, view by using the
COMMENT statement. The comment is stored in the data dictionary and can be
viewed in one of the following data dictionary views in the COMMENTS column:

 ALL_COL_COMMENTS
 USER_COL_COMMENTS
 ALL_TAB_COMMENTS
 USER_TAB_COMMENTS

Syntax: COMMENT ON TABLE table | COLUMN table.column IS ‘text’ ;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 123

REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY CONSTRAINTS

This constraint is useful for maintaining relation with other table. Various
referential integrity constraints we can use in Oracle are

 Foreign Key
 References
 On delete cascade
 On Delete Set NULL

Foreign Key

Defines the column in the child table at the table constraint level

References

Identifies the table and column in the parent table. Reference key accepts
NULL and duplicate values.

On delete cascade

Deletes the dependent rows in the child table when a row in the parent table is
deleted.

On Delete Set NULL

Converts dependent foreign key values to null.

For example we want following table structures and constraints imposed on those
tables as shown below. Give the commands to create those tables with the
specified constraints on those tables.

Department47473 (Deptno , dname)

Employee47473 (Empno, ename, salary, dno)
Deptno of Department47473 is a primary key
Empno of Employee47473 is a primary key
Dno of Employee47473 is a reference key

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 124

Solution
SQL> CREATE TABLE department47473 (
deptno NUMBER(3) PRIMARY KEY,
dname VARCHAR2(20) NOT NULL
);

SQL> CREATE TABLE employee47473(

empno NUMBER(3) PRIMARY KEY,
ename VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL,
salary NUMBER(7,2) CHECK(salary > 0),
dno NUMBER(3) REFERENCES department47473(deptno) ON DELETE CASCADE
);

Assume the case where supermarket selling various items and customers order
the items. Items may be returned by people who purchased it.
SQL> CREATE TABLE itemmaster (
itemno NUMBER (3) PRIMARY KEY,
itemname VARCHAR2 (10),
stock NUMBER (3) CHECK (stock > 0)
);

SQL> CREATE TABLE itemtran (

trnno NUMBER (3),
itemno NUMBER (3) REFERENCES itemmaster (itemno),
trndate DATE,
trntype CHAR (1) CHECK (UPPER (trntype) IN („R‟,‟I‟)),
quantity NUMBER (3) CHECK (quantity > 0),
PRIMARY KEY (trnno, itemno)
);

SQL> CREATE TABLE itemrefund(

trnno NUMBER (3),
itemno NUMBER (3),
quantity NUMBER (3),
FOREIGN KEY (trnno,itemno) REFERENCES itemtran
);

ALTER TABLE <TABLENAME> DISABLE PRIMARY KEY

ALTER TABLE <tablename> DISABLE PRIMARY KEY CASCADE;

Note : It is not possible to enable using cascade

ALTER TABLE <tablename> DROP PRIMARY KEY CASCADE;

ANALYSIS:
Removing the primary key along with Reference key

DROP TABLE <TABLENAME> CASCADE CONSTRAINTS

ANALYSIS:
Dropping the table along with constraints

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 125

Exercise

Consider a training institute conducting different courses, into which the

students are joining for various courses ( Also, assume the case where same
student can join in more than one course)
The students may pay the fee in installments

Identify the tables, attributes and define them with relations

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 126

JOINS

Objectives

After completing this lesion, you should be able to do the following.

 Write SELECT statements to access data from more than one table using
equality and non-equality join.
 View Data that generally does not meet a join condition by using outer joins
 Join a table itself by using self join

Join will enable you to gather and manipulate data across several tables. By

One of the most powerful features of SQL is its capability to gather and
manipulate data from across several tables. Without this feature you would have
to store all the data elements necessary for each application in one table. Without
common tables you would need to store the same data in several tables.

TYPES OF JOINS

Oracle supports different types of joins as defined in the following table.

Oracle Proprietary Joins(8i and SQL: 1999 Complaint Joins

prior)

Equi join Cross join

Non-Equi join Natural Join

Outer join Using clause

Self Join Full or two side outer joins

Arbitrary join conditions for outer joins

The Oracle 9i database offers join syntax that is SQL: 1999 compliant. Prior to 9i
release, the join syntax was different from the ANSI standards. The new SQL: 1999
compliant join syntax does not offer any performance benefits over the Oracle
proprietary join syntax that existed in prior releases.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 127

Joining tables using Oracle Syntax

Use a join to query data from more than one table

Syntax: SELECT table1.column1, table2.column2 FROM table1,table2

WHERE table1.column1 = table2.column2;

 Write the join condition in the WHERE clause.

 Prefix the column name with table name when the same column name
appears in more than one table.

Guidelines

When writing a SELECT statement that joins tables, precede the common
column name with the table name for clarify and to enhance database
access.
If the same column name appears in more than one table, the column name
must be prefixed with the table name.
To join n tables together, you need a minimum of n-1 join conditions. This
rule many not apply if your table has a concatenated primary key, in which
case more than one column is required to uniquely identify each row.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 128

Consider the table structures and data given below to understand various types of
joins.

Departments Table has the various department name of the company as shown
below.

DEPARTMENT_ID DEPARTMENT_NAME
10 ADMINISTRATION
20 MARKETING
50 SHIPPING
60 IT
80 SALES

Employees table has the details of the employees working in the above
mentioned departments.

EMPLOYEE_ID DEPARTMENT_ID
200 10
201 20
202 20
124 50
141 50
142 50
143 50
144 50
103 60
104 60
107 60
149 80
174 80
176 80

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 129

Equi join

Extracting the information from more than one table by comparing ( = ) the
common information.

Note : Equi Joins are also called as simple joins or Inner Joins

To display common column information

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,job,sal,dname FROM emp,dept WHERE emp.deptno = dept.deptno

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB SAL DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7782 CLARK MANAGER 2450 ACCOUNTING
7839 KING PRESIDENT 5000 ACCOUNTING
7934 MILLER CLERK 1300 ACCOUNTING
7369 SMITH CLERK 800 RESEARCH
7876 ADAMS CLERK 1100 RESEARCH
7902 FORD ANALYST 3000 RESEARCH
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 3000 RESEARCH
7566 JONES MANAGER 2975 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 1600 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 2850 SALES
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 1250 SALES
7900 JAMES CLERK 950 SALES
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 1500 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 1250 SALES

ANALYSIS:
Efficiency is more when we compare the information from lower data table(master
table) to Higher data table( child table).

When Oracle processes multiple tables, it uses an internal sort/merge procedure to

join those tables. First, it scans & sorts the first table (the one specified last
in FROM clause). Next, it scans the second table (the one prior to the last in the
FROM clause) and merges all of the retrieved from the second table with those
retrieved from the first table. It takes around 0.96 seconds

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,job,sal,dname FROM emp,dept WHERE emp.deptno = dept.deptno;

ANALYSIS:
Here driving table is EMP. It takes around 26.09 seconds
So, Efficiency is less.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 130

Non-Equi joins

Getting the information from more than one table without using comparison (=)
operator.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,sal,grade,losal,hisal FROM salgrade g,emp e
WHERE e.sal BETWEEN g.losal and g.hisal;

ANALYSIS:
Displays all the employees whose salary lies between any pair of low and high salary
ranges.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM dept WHERE deptno NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT deptno FROM emp);

OUTPUT:
DEPTNO DNAME LOC
---------- -------------- -------------
40 OPERATIONS BOSTON

ANALYSIS:
Displays the details of the department where there are no employees

We can also get above output using relational algebra operators.

SQL> SELECT deptno FROM dept MINUS SELECT deptno FROM emp;

SQL> SELECT deptno FROM dept UNION SELECT deptno FROM emp;

SQL> SELECT deptno FROM dept UNION ALL SELECT deptno FROM emp;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 131

OUTER JOIN

It is a join, which forcibly joins multiple tables even without having the common
information. It is represented by +.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno,ename,job,sal,dname FROM dept,emp WHERE dept.deptno =
emp.deptno(+);

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB SAL DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7782 CLARK MANAGER 2450 ACCOUNTING
7839 KING PRESIDENT 5000 ACCOUNTING
7934 MILLER CLERK 1300 ACCOUNTING
7369 SMITH CLERK 800 RESEARCH
7876 ADAMS CLERK 1100 RESEARCH
7902 FORD ANALYST 3000 RESEARCH
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 3000 RESEARCH
7566 JONES MANAGER 2975 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 1600 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 2850 SALES
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 1250 SALES
7900 JAMES CLERK 950 SALES
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 1500 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 1250 SALES
OPERATIONS

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 132

LEFT, RIGHT AND FULL OUTER JOIN

As of Oracle 9i, you can use the ANSI SQL standard syntax for outer joins. In the
FROM clause, you can tell Oracle to perform a LEFT, RIGHT or FULL OUTER join.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, dept.deptno, dname FROM emp
LEFT OUTER JOIN dept ON dept.deptno = emp.deptno;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB DEPTNO DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7934 MILLER CLERK 10 ACCOUNTING
7839 KING PRESIDENT 10 ACCOUNTING
7782 CLARK MANAGER 10 ACCOUNTING
7902 FORD ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7876 ADAMS CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7566 JONES MANAGER 20 RESEARCH
7369 SMITH CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7900 JAMES CLERK 30 SALES
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 30 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 30 SALES
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 30 SALES
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 30 SALES

ANALYSIS:
Gets the common information, and forcibly joins from left side table to right side
table.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, dept.deptno, dname FROM dept
LEFT OUTER JOIN emp ON dept.deptno = emp.deptno;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB DEPTNO DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7369 SMITH CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 30 SALES
7566 JONES MANAGER 20 RESEARCH
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 30 SALES
7782 CLARK MANAGER 10 ACCOUNTING
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7839 KING PRESIDENT 10 ACCOUNTING
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 30 SALES
7876 ADAMS CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7900 JAMES CLERK 30 SALES
7902 FORD ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7934 MILLER CLERK 10 ACCOUNTING
40 OPERATIONS
ANALYSIS:
Gets the common information from both tables, then forcibly joins from dept table to
emp table.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 133

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, dept.deptno, dname FROM dept
RIGHT OUTER JOIN emp ON dept.deptno = emp.deptno;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB DEPTNO DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7369 SMITH CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 30 SALES
7566 JONES MANAGER 20 RESEARCH
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 30 SALES
7782 CLARK MANAGER 10 ACCOUNTING
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7839 KING PRESIDENT 10 ACCOUNTING
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 30 SALES
7876 ADAMS CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7900 JAMES CLERK 30 SALES
7902 FORD ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7934 MILLER CLERK 10 ACCOUNTING

ANALYSIS:
Gets the common information from both tables, and then forcibly joins from dept
table to emp table.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, dept.deptno, dname FROM emp
RIGHT OUTER JOIN dept ON dept.deptno.deptno = emp.deptno;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB DEPTNO DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7369 SMITH CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 30 SALES
7566 JONES MANAGER 20 RESEARCH
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 30 SALES
7782 CLARK MANAGER 10 ACCOUNTING
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7839 KING PRESIDENT 10 ACCOUNTING
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 30 SALES
7876 ADAMS CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7900 JAMES CLERK 30 SALES
7902 FORD ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7934 MILLER CLERK 10 ACCOUNTING
40 OPERATIONS
ANALYSIS:
Gets the common information from both tables, then forcibly joins from dept table to
emp table.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 134

Position of Joins in where clause

Table joins should be written first before any condition of WHERE clause. And the
conditions which filter out the maximum records should be placed at the end after
the joins as the parsing is done from BOTTOM to TOP

Least Efficient (Total CPU = 153.6 Sec)

SQL> SELECT ename, job, mgr FROM emp e WHERE sal > 50000 AND job = „MANAGER‟
AND 25 < (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE mgr = e.empno);

Most Efficient (Total CPU time = 10.6 sec)

SQL> SELECT ename, job, mgr FROM emp e WHERE 25 < (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp
WHERE mgr = e.empno) AND sal > 5000 AND job = „MANAGER‟;

SELF JOIN

Joining the table from itself is called as self join.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT worker.ename || ' IS WORKING UNDER ' || manager.ename
FROM emp worker, emp manager WHERE worker.mgr = manager.empno;

OUTPUT:
WORKER.ENAME||'ISWORKINGUNDER'||MANAGE
--------------------------------------
SCOTT IS WORKING UNDER JONES
FORD IS WORKING UNDER JONES
ALLEN IS WORKING UNDER BLAKE
WARD IS WORKING UNDER BLAKE
JAMES IS WORKING UNDER BLAKE
TURNER IS WORKING UNDER BLAKE
MARTIN IS WORKING UNDER BLAKE
MILLER IS WORKING UNDER CLARK
ADAMS IS WORKING UNDER SCOTT
JONES IS WORKING UNDER KING
CLARK IS WORKING UNDER KING
BLAKE IS WORKING UNDER KING
SMITH IS WORKING UNDER FORD

ANALYSIS:
It displays who is working under whom MGR number appearing against employee is the
employee number of manager

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 135

NATURAL AND INNER JOINS (Introduced in 9i)

We can use natural keyword to indicate that a join should be performed based on
all columns that have the same name in the two tables being joined.

Creating Natural Joins

The Natural join clause is based on all columns in the two tables that have
the same name,
It selects rows from the two tables that have equal values in all matched
columns.
If the columns having the same names have different data types, an error is
returned.

To get the common information from two tables,

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, deptno, dname FROM dept NATURAL JOIN emp;

OUTPUT:
EMPNO ENAME JOB DEPTNO DNAME
---------- ---------- --------- ---------- --------------
7782 CLARK MANAGER 10 ACCOUNTING
7839 KING PRESIDENT 10 ACCOUNTING
7934 MILLER CLERK 10 ACCOUNTING
7369 SMITH CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7876 ADAMS CLERK 20 RESEARCH
7902 FORD ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 20 RESEARCH
7566 JONES MANAGER 20 RESEARCH
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 30 SALES
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 30 SALES
7900 JAMES CLERK 30 SALES
7844 TURNER SALESMAN 30 SALES
7521 WARD SALESMAN 30 SALES

Joins with Using Clause

If several columns have the same names but the data types do not match,
the NATURAL JOIN clause can be modified with USING clause to specify the
columns that should be used for an equijoin.
Use the USING clause to match only one column when more than one
column matches.
Do not use a table name or alias in the referenced columns
The NATURAL JOIN and USING clauses are mutually exclusive.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 136

INNER JOIN

Support for INNER join syntax was introduced in Oracle9i, inner joins are the
default – they return the rows the two tables have in common, and are the
alternative to outer joins. Note that they support ON clause, so that you can
specify join criteria.
SQL> SELECT empno, ename, job, dept.deptno, dname FROM emp
INNER JOIN dept ON emp.deptno = dept.deptno;

CROSS JOIN (CARTESIAN PRODUCT)

Joining tables without giving proper join condition.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT * FROM dept, emp;
OR
SQL> SELECT * FROM emp CROSS JOIN dept;

ANALYSIS:

It multiplies the rows from both tables and displays the output i.e. 14 rows (emp
table) X 4 rows(dept table) = 56 rows.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 137

OTHER OBJECTS

SEQUENCE OBJECT

Used to generate sequence(Unique) Integers for use of primary keys.

Syntax: CREATE SEQUENCE sequence

[INCREMENT BY n]
[START WITH n]
[{MAXVALUE n | NOMAXVALUE}]
[{MINVALUE n | NOMINVALUE}]
[{CYCLE | NOCYCLE}]
[{CACHE n | NOCACHE}];

Sequence is the name of the sequence generator

INCREMENT BY n specifies the interval between sequence numbers where

n is an integer (If this clause is omitted, the sequence
increments by 1.)

START WITH n specifies the first sequence number to be generated (If

this clause is omitted, the sequence starts with 1.)

MAXVALUE n specifies the maximum value the sequence can generate

N

NOMAXVALUE specifies a maximum value of 10^27 for an ascending

sequence and –1 for a descending sequence (This is the
default option.)

MINVALUE n specifies the minimum sequence value

NOMINVALUE specifies a minimum value of 1 for an ascending

sequence and – (10^26) for a descending sequence (This
is the default option.)

CYCLE | NOCYCLE specifies whether the sequence continues to generate

values after reaching its maximum or minimum value
(NOCYCLE is the default Option.)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 138

CACHE n | NOCACHE specifies how many values the Oracle server preallocates
and keep in memory (By default, the Oracle server
caches 20 values.) The value set must be less than MAXVALUE
minus

Example

CREATE SEQUENCE sqno47473

START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1
MAXVALUE 10;

CREATE SEQUENCE sqno47473

START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1
MAVALUE 10
CACHE 3
CYCLE;

Note: - These sequences are stored in a data dictionary table SER_SEQUENCES.

This sequence object provides two public member functions

NEXTVAL and CURRVAL

NEXTVAL is a function which generate next value from sequence object. CURRVAL
is a function, which gives the current value of the sequence object. Assume there
is a table SAMPLE47473(EMPNO,ENAME,SAL) columns. To insert the values into
the table we are using the sequence
SQL> INSERT INTO sample47473 VALUES(sqno47473.NEXTVAL,
„&ENAME‟, &SAL);

TO MODIFY THE SEQUNECE OBJECT

SQL> ALTER SEQUENCE sqno47473 INCREMENT BY 2 MAXVALUE 40;

Note : We can‟t change starting value

To remove the sequence object

SQL> DROP SEQUENCE <SEQUENCE_NAME>;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 139

VIEWS

 A view is an object, which is a logical representation of a table

 A view contains no data on its own
 It is derived from tables
 Changes made in tables are automatically reflected in views
 As a view does not store any data the redundancy problem does not arise.
 Critical data in the base table is safeguarded as access to such data can be
controlled.
 It is used to reduce the complexity of the query

In Oracle Oracle we can create different types of views

SIMPLE
COMPLEX
INLINE

SIMPLE view is a view, which is created using only one base table.

COMPLEX view is a view, which is created using more than one table or using
group functions

INLINE view is a view, which is created using sub query (it is not a schema object).
It is a named sub query in the FROM clause of the main query. Generally used in
TOP N Analysis.

Syntax: CREATE OR REPLACE [FORCE] VIEW <viewname>

AS SELECT <columns> FROM <table > [ WITH READ ONLY];

The table on which a view is based is called as base table

FORCE option allows view to be created even if the base table doesn’t exist.
However, the base table should exist before the view is used.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 140

Changing Base Table through view

A view can also be used to change the data of base table

A view can be used to delete, insert and update rows in the base table.

However for each operation certain conditions are to be satisfied.

Rules for deleting row

The following should NOT be used in the query.

 More than one table

 GROUP BY clause
 GROUP Function
 DISTINCT clause
 Pseudo column ROWNUM

Rules for updating rows

The following are the rules that are to be satisfied to update base table through
view.

 All the rules of Delete are applicable

 The column being updated should not be derived from an expression.

Rules for insertion of rows

 All the rules of UPDATE

 Al NOT NULL columns should be included in the view.

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW testview47473 AS SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM
empl47473;

Note: - These views are stored in a data dictionary table USER_VIEWS

SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW testview47473 AS
SELECT empno, ename, sal FROM empl47473 WITH READ ONLY;

ANALYSIS:
View becomes a read only view

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 141

WITH CHECK OPTION

This option is used to prevent any changes to base table through view. Insertion
and updating is not allowed into base table through view.
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW chkview AS SELECT * FROM emp WHERE deptno = 20 WITH
CHECK OPTION;

It doesn’t allow you to update the condition column as well as it doesn’t allow you
to insert the details of employees with DEPTNO other than 20.

We can also create a view using group functions. Such views are called as INLINE
views. They are by default read only.
SQL> CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW simpleview47473 AS SELECT
SUBSTR(hiredate,-2) YEAR, COUNT(*) NUMB FROM empl47473
GROUP BY job;

To remove a view

SQL> DROP VIEW <VIEWNAME>;

INDEX

The concept indexing in Oracle is same as a book index. Just like how book index is
sorted in the ascending order of topics, an index in Oracle is a list of values of a
column in the ascending order. Page number in book index is similar to ROWID if
Oracle index.

An oracle index is a database object. It contains the values of the indexed

column(s) in the ascending order along with address of each row. The address of
rows are obtained using ROWID pseudo column.

Why to Use An INDEX

INDEXES in ORACLE are used for two purposes

 To speed up data retrieval and thereby improving performance of query

 To enforce uniqueness

Note: A UNIQUE index is automatically created when you use PRIMARY KEY and
UNIQUE constraints

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 142

An index can have up to 32 columns.

Syntax: CREATE *UNIQUE+ INDEX index_name ON table(column1,column2,…);

Note :- Indexes are stored in the data dictionary table USER_INDEXES.

When Oracle Does Not Use Index

Oracle index is completely automatic. I.e., you never have to open or close an
index. Oracle server decides whether to use an index or not.

The following are the cases in which Oracle does NOT use index.

 SELECT doesn’t contain WHERE clause

 When the data size is less
 SELECT contains WHERE clause, but WHERE clause doesn’t refer to indexed
column.
 SELECT contains WHERE clause and WHERE clause uses indexed columns
but indexed column is modified in the WHERE clause.

Negative Side of an Index

INDEX plays an important role in improving performance. But at the same time it
may also degrade performance, if not designed carefully.

Having many indexes may have negative impact on the performance because
whenever there is a change in the table, immediately index is to reflect that
change. A new row’s insertion will effect index and Oracle server implicitly
updates index. So this will put more burden on the machine if more number of
indexes are created on a table.

FUNCTIONAL INDEX (Function based indexes)

As of Oracle8i, we can create functional-based indexes. When we are storing

alpha-numeric information, we may store the information in any case. When we
create index on such columns, information is placed in different ranges of indexes.
So, before creating index, we can convert them in to single case.
SQL> CREATE INDEX idx_name ON emp(UPPER(ename));

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 143

Dropping an Index

Syntax: DROP INDEX <indexname>;

Removing an index doesn’t invalidate existing applications, because applications

are not directly dependent on index, but at the same time not having an index
may effects performance.

PSEUDO COLUMN

A pseudo-column is a column that yields a value when selected but which is not
an actual column of the table.

ROWID
ROWNUM
SYADATE
NEXTVAL
CURRVAL
NULL
LEVEL
Are called as Pseudo-columns.
SELECT ROWNUM, empno, ename FROM emp;

TO DISPLAY 3 HIGHEST PAID EMPLOYEES

SQL> SELECT ROWNUM,empno,ename,sal FROM (SELECT empno,
ename,sal FROM emp ORDER BY sal DESC)
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 144

Exercise

1. Display the string SATYAM in the format

S
A
T
Y
A
M
2. Display only even rows from the table
3. Display one year calendar
4. Display how many a’s are there in the given string
5. Remove duplicate rows from the given table

Empno ename
1 x
2 y
3 z
1 x
3 z

1. Find out how many columns are there in a given table(Use the
data dictionary table USER_TAB_COLUMNS)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 145

ADVANCED QUERIES

ANALYTICAL QUERIES

Analytical functions are used mainly for the analysis of data as required by
decision-making managers.

Oracle has embedded analytical functions in SQL statement to cater to most of

the requirements of data mining.

These functions are listed below

Ranking: For calculating ranks, percentiles, and n-tiles of the values in a result set.

For example, to find out top three salaried employees

INPUT:

SQL> SELECT RANK() OVER(ORDER BY SAL DESC) DEFAULT_RANK, SAL FROM EMP;

OUTPUT:
DEFAULT_RANK SAL
------------ ----------
1 855945.6
1 855945.6
1 855945.6
4 641959.2
5 196867.32
6 184563.24
7 153802.68
7 153802.68
9 129461.88
10 111807.6
11 66870.77
12 10000
13 6810.91

ANALYSIS:
When different employees salary is same, they get the same rank. There is a gap
between ranks. In the example, see the ranks between 1 and 4.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 146

DENSE_RANK

The main difference between RANK() and DENSE_RANK() is that in the

DENSE_RANK () there is no gap between ranks.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT DENSE_RANK() OVER(ORDER BY SAL DESC) DEFAULT_RANK, SAL FROM EMP;

OUTPUT:
DEFAULT_RANK SAL
------------ ----------
1 855945.6
1 855945.6
1 855945.6
2 641959.2
3 196867.32
4 184563.24
5 153802.68
5 153802.68
6 129461.88
7 111807.6
8 66870.77
9 10000
10 6810.91

ROW_NUMBER

The function row number assigns unique rank to each row even if they are having
the same value of order by expression. The rows will get the same rank if their
order by expression has the same value.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT RANK() OVER(ORDER BY SAL) DEFAULT_RANK, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY SAL)
RW_NUM,SAL FROM EMP

OUTPUT:
DEFAULT_RANK RW_NUM SAL
------------ ---------- ----------
1 1 6810.91
2 2 10000
3 3 66870.77
4 4 111807.6
5 5 129461.88
6 6 153802.68
6 7 153802.68
8 8 184563.24
9 9 196867.32
10 10 641959.2
11 11 855945.6
11 12 855945.6
11 13 855945.6

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 147

NULLIF FUNCTION

This function produces NULL value if the expression has a specified value. It
produces NULL value if the expression has a specified value. This is like a
complement of the NVL function.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ENAME,JOB,COMM,NULLIF(JOB,'MANAGER') FROM EMP;

OUTPUT:
ENAME JOB COMM NULLIF(JO
--------------- --------- ---------- ---------
ss ss CLERK 1234 CLERK
allen SALESMAN 746.5 SALESMAN
WARD SALESMAN 1244.16 SALESMAN
JONES MANAGER
MARTIN SALESMAN 3483.65 SALESMAN
BLAKE MANAGER
CLARK MANAGER
SCOTT ANALYST ANALYST
TURNER SALESMAN 0 SALESMAN
ADAMS CLERK CLERK
JAMES CLERK CLERK
FORD ANALYST ANALYST
phani se 20000 se

ANALYSIS:
It is just opposite to NVL(). NVL() substitute value, if its is NULL. Where as
NULLIF produces NULL, if value matches.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 148

NVL2 Function

It is an extended form of NVL.

Syntax: NVL2(expr1,expr2,expr3)

In NVL2, expr1 can never be returned; either expr2 or expr3 will be returned. If
expr1 is not NULL, NVL2 returns expr2 otherwise returns expr3. The expr1 can
have any data type. The arguments expr2 and expr3 can have any datatype except
LONG.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT COMM,NVL2(COMM,COMM,0) FROM EMP;

OUTPUT:
COMM NVL2(COMM,COMM,0)
---------- -----------------
0
300 300
500 500
0
1400 1400
0
0
0
0
0

Coalesce Function

This function takes n arguments and produces first argument, which is having the
first NOT NULL value.

INPUT:
SQL> SELECT ENAME, COMM, SAL, DEPTNO, MGR, COALESCE (COMM, SAL, DEPTNO, MGR) COAL
FROM EMP;

OUTPUT:
ENAME COMM SAL DEPTNO MGR COAL
--------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
ss ss 1234 6810.91 20 7902 1234
allen 746.5 196867.32 30 7698 746.5
WARD 1244.16 153802.68 30 7698 1244.16
JONES 855945.6 20 7839 855945.6
MARTIN 3483.65 153802.68 30 7698 3483.65
BLAKE 855945.6 30 7839 855945.6
CLARK 855945.6 10 7839 855945.6
SCOTT 641959.2 20 7566 641959.2
TURNER 0 184563.24 30 7698 0
ADAMS 129461.88 20 7788 129461.88
JAMES 111807.6 30 7698 111807.6
FORD 66870.77 20 7566 66870.77
phani 20000 10000 90 9822 20000

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 149

Multiple Insert and Merge statements

Oracle 9i provides enhanced facility of loading data in the table using select
statement.

Using this facility you

 Load data in multiple tables in single insert statement

 Load multiple rows in the same table in single insert statement
 Load data conditionally in the table.

Multiple insert statement

There are four types of multiple inert statements

 Unconditional insert statement

 Pivoting insert statement
 Conditional insert statement
 Insert first statement

Unconditional Insert Statement

This statement enables to you insert data in multiple tables using a single insert
statement. To understand this query consider the three tables from Annexure

To insert the data into two tables

Example1(pname,title,salary)
Example2(pname,course,cost)

Insert all
Into example1 values(pname,title,salary)
Into example2 values(pname,course,cost)
Select p.pname,title,course,cost,salary from programmer p,software s, studies st
Where p.pname = s.pname and s.pname = st.pname;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 150

Conditional Insert statement

It inserts the data into the table only when condition is satisfied.

Assume there are 3 tables table1, table2 and table3 with same structure (empno,
ename, job, sal, deptno). We can load the data conditionally into three tables by
using following statement
SQL> insert all
When deptno = 10 then
Insert into table1 values(empno,ename,job,sal,deptno);
When deptno = 20 then
Insert into table2 values(empno,ename,job,sal,deptno);
When deptno = 30 then
Insert into table3 values(empno,ename,job,sal,deptno);
Select empno,ename,sal,deptno from emp

The difference between Insert First and Insert All is that in the former, at the
most one row is inserted into the table while in later rows may be inserted into
multiple tables.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 151

LOCKING MECHANISMS

To ensure data integrity oracle uses locks. Locks are used to prevent destructive
interaction between processes accessing the same resource.

Oracle uses two locking types

 DML locks - used to protect data. Can be either table or row level.
 Dictionary locks – used to protect the database structure

Locks may be explicit or implicit. A process or user instigates explicit locks. Implicit
locks are undertaken by Oracle. Oracle will lock any resource when it detects a
valid attempt to update the resource. Dictionary locks are always implicit. DML
locks may be implicit or explicit.

There are five locking modes. They are

EXCLUSIVE(X) LOCK ALLOWS QUERIES BUT NOTHING ELSE

SHARE(S) Lock allows queries but not updates
ROW SHARE(RS) Lock allows concurrent process access to table.
Resource may not be locked exclusively.
ROW EXCLUSIVE (RX) Same as row share but no share mode locking.
Updates. Deletes and inserts use this lock mode.

Locks are held until either a transaction is committed / rolled back.

Locking using SELECT for UPDATE

SELECT * FROM EMP WHERE EMPNO = 7521 FOR UPDATE OF SAL NOWAIT;

With this SELECT we lock all the rows in the result set for later update. The FOR
UPDATE tells Oracle to lock each row as it processes it.

The OF keyword prefixes the column identification area that specifies which
columns are going to be updated by us at a later date. The NOWAIT keyword
specifies that we don’t want the statement to wait until, and current locks on the
table are removed.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 152

Assume that there are two users SCOTT AND X

In the Scott user there is one table with the name EMP. Scott has given some
privileges on EMP table to X user. If X wants to lock the EMP table, then he has to
issue a command

LOCK TABLE SCOTT.EMP IN EXCLUSIVE MODE NOWAIT;

Now from SCOTT user, if he tries to the lock the table, which is already locked by X
LOCK TABLE EMP IN EXCLUSIVE MODE;

It results an error
LOCK TABLE EMP IN EXCLUSIVE MODE NOWAIT
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00054: resource busy and acquire with NOWAIT specified

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 153

SECURITY

What is a privilege

A privilege is a right to access an object such as a table, view etc., or to execute a

particular type of SQL command such as CREATE TABLE.

Privileges are classified into two categories depending upon what type of right
they give to the user.

 Object Privileges
 System privileges

Object privilege

An object privilege is a right to perform a particular operation on an object. An

object is a table, view, sequence, procedure, function or package.

System privilege

A system privilege is a right to perform certain operation in the system. For

example, the privilege to create a table is a system privilege.

Object Privileges

User owns the object that he/she creates. Unless otherwise specified, only the
owner and DBA can access the object. But, if user wants to share his object with
other users, he has to grant privileges on the object to other users.

The following are the list of object privileges available in Oracle

ALTER, DELETE, EXECUTE, INDEX, INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE

These privileges are given on various objects, such as

TABLE, VIEW, SEQUENCE, PROCEDURE,FUNCTION, PACKAGE AND OBJECT TYPE

Syntax: GRANT <PRIVILEGES> | ALL [(COLUMN1,COLUMN2)] ON <OBJECT> TO

(USER | PUBLIC | ROLE) [ WITH GRANT OPTION];

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 154

 Privileges any object privileges
ALL to grant all privileges
PUBLIC to grant privilege to all the users of the system.

Example

GRANT SELECT,UPDATE ON EMP TO X;

Note :- X is a user

Now from X user, he can select as well as update the information in EMP table.
SELECT * FROM SCOTT.EMP;
UPDATE SCOTT.EMP SET AL = 11000 WHERE EMPNO = 7521;

Restricting privilege to certain columns

GRANT UPDATE(SAL) ON EMP TO X;

So, X user can modify only sal value in the EMP table.

REVOKE OBJECT PRIVILEGES

To remove the given privileges, we can use REVOKE command

REVOKE <PRIVILEGES> ON <OBJECT> FROM <USER>;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 155

SYNONYMS

To simplify accessing tables owned by other users, create a SYNONYM. A synonym

is another name (alias) to a table or view. By creating a synonym you can avoid
giving the owner name while accessing table of other users.

We can create two types of synonyms

 Private Synonyms
 Public Synonyms

Any user can create private synonym, where as public synonym is created by only
DBA using a keyword called public.

Creating private synonym.

CREATE SYNONYM EMPL FOR SCOTT.EMP;

Now we can access EMP table which is there in SCOTT user using synonym EMPL
as

SQL> SELECT * FROM EMPL;

Public Synonym

Public synonym is available for all the users.

SQL>CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM EMPL FOR SCOTT.EMP;

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 156

Bulk loading

What is SQL*Loader?

SQL*Loader is Oracle’s utility program for loading data into an Oracle table. Most
often, SQL*Loader takes two input files – a control file and a data file – and loads
the data into a single Oracle table. The data file contains data, and the control file
contains information about the data -- where to load it, what to do if something
goes wrong, etc.

SQL*Loader has lots and lots of options which can be used to handle various types
of data and levels of complexity. SQL*Loader is fully described in the Oracle
Server Utilities User’s Guide. This document is just about getting started.
SQL*Loader runs on Unix, mainframes, and PC’s. This document is just about
running it from a Windows PC.

Why Use SQL*Loader From Your PC?

If you need to transfer quite a lot of data from your machine to an Oracle
database table, you might want to use SQL*Loader. If you already have the data
in some other format, it may be worthwhile to use SQL*Loader. If you need to
transfer local data to a remote database on some recurring basis, it may be
preferable to use SQL*Loader rather than something like FTP. At the end of this
document, there is a brief comparison of FTP versus SQL*Loader.

Getting Started, an Example

Say, for example, that you’ve got an Excel spreadsheet with State data already in
it. You’ve got 50 rows of data – each containing the State Abbreviation, State
Name, an [optional] unofficial State Slogan, and the number of State Residents
Who Drink Bottled Water. (Is 50 rows of data really sufficient to justify this
exercise? That’s debatable, but let’s say you’ve thought it over and you DO want
to SQL*load your data into a 4-column Oracle table at UW-Stevens Point. The
remote table is called sp.mystates.)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 157

Here’s what you do:

1. Create your data file. This is easy. Save your Excel spreadsheet data AS a
Comma-Separated-Variable (*.csv) file. This will automatically put commas
between each of the four data elements. In addition, if any of the data
elements already contain a comma, the Save AS *.csv step will optionally
and automatically enclose that data in double quotes. So, after your Save
AS command, you might have a file named C:\MyStates.csv that contains
data like this:

AR,Arkansas,We are sure proud of Bill,0

CO,Colorado,,3000
WI,Wisconsin,Rose Bowl Champions Again!,5
CA,California,"Dude? You want, like, another hit of Oxygen?",90203049

2. Create your control file. Using any text editor, create a file (say,
C:\mystates.ctl) containing these lines:
LOAD DATA
INFILE 'C:\EMPLOYEE.csv'
REPLACE
INTO TABLE EMPL
FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
TRAILING NULLCOLS
(EMPNO,
ENAME
INTEGER EXTERNAL)

The REPLACE keyword says, "remove any existing rows before starting the load."
There's also an INSERT [into empty table] and APPEND [to existing rows] option.

State_Abbrev, State_Name, State_Slogan, and Nbr_Residents_WDBW are the actual

column names defined in the sp.mystates table.

Because the first three items are of character datatype, it was not necessary to
further describe them – character is the default. The fourth column is numeric
data – it totals the number of state residents who drink bottled water. The
INTEGER EXTERNAL describes the datatype in the C:\mystates.csv input file.

Notice there is some missing data in the data file -- Colorado has no state slogan.
The TRAILING NULLCOLS statement handles the missing data; it tells SQL*Loader
to load any missing data as NULL values. There are, as we said earlier, lots of
available options described in the Utilities User’s Guide.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 158

 3. Create a table with the name referred in ctl file with required columns
4. Run SQL*Loader.

Prerequisites:

You must have SQL*Loader and SQL*Net installed on your machine. The
SQL*Loader program may have a version number included as part of its name,
something like sqlldr73.exe or sqlldr80.exe. Or maybe it will be just
sqlldr.exe. You can look for it in your ORAWIN95 or ORANT \BIN directory. If
it's not installed, you can get the Oracle Client Software installation CD and
install "UTILITIES".
You must have the target database (say, it’s called ‘ELTP’) configured as
SQL*Net service in your local tnsnames.ora file. This is pretty standard stuff;
it’s probably already there.
You must have authorization to modify the sp.mystates table (INSERT, or
DELETE and INSERT if you're using the REPLACE option in the control file. In
the example below we assume that user SCOTT with password TIGER has
appropriate authorization.

At an MS-DOS prompt (or the Start, Run menu) , execute SQL*Loader as follows:

sqlldr scott/tiger@ELTP control=C:\mystates.ctl

When the load completes, look in the file C:\mystates.log. This log file will contain
information about how many rows were loaded, how many rows -- if any -- were
NOT loaded, and other information that may be useful to reassure or debug.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 159

How to convert Excel Sheet into CSV(Comma separated variable) file

This article describes how to convert a single column of addresses in a Microsoft

Excel worksheet into a comma-separated value (CSV) file that you can import into
another program (for example, Microsoft Word).

Note For the address example in this article, the Excel worksheet contains the
following address information:
A B
1 ravi
2 kris
3 babu

1. On the File menu, click Save As.

Note In Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save As.
2. In the Save As dialog box:
a. In the Save as type box, click CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv).
b. In the File name box, type a name for your CSV file (for example, Address.csv),
and then click Save.
c. Click OK when you receive the following message:
The selected file type does not support workbooks that contain multiple
sheets.
• To save only the active sheet, click OK.
• To save all sheets, save them individually using a different file name for
each, or select a file type that supports multiple sheets.
d. Click Yes when you receive the following message:
Address.csv may contain features that are incompatible with CSV (comma
delimited). Do you want to keep the workbook in this format?
• To keep this format, which leaves out any incompatible features, click Yes.
• To preserve the features, click No. Then save a copy in the latest Excel
format.
• To see what might be lost, click Help.
3. On the File menu, click Close, and then exit Microsoft Excel.
Note In Excel 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, click Close, and then click Exit
Excel.

Note You may be prompted to save the file again. When you are prompted, you
can click Yes, repeat steps c and d, and then exit Excel.
Edit the CSV File in Microsoft Word
1. Start Microsoft Word.
2. On the File menu, click Open.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 160

 Note In Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Open.
3. In the Files of type box, click All Files (*.*).
4. Click the CSV file that you saved in step 4 of the "Edit the Excel Worksheet"
section, and then click Open.
5. On the Tools menu, click Options.
Note In Word 2007, skip this step.
6. On the View tab, click to select the All check box, and then click OK.
Note In Word 2007, follow these steps:
a. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
b. Click Display.
c. Click Paragraph marks under the Always show these formatting marks on the screen.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 161

Date and time formats in Oracle

The following table gives the list of number formats supported by Oracle

Element Example Description

Returns a comma in the specified position. You can specify multiple commas in a
number format model.

Restrictions:
,
9,999
(comma)
A comma element cannot begin a number format model.
A comma cannot appear to the right of a decimal character or period in a
number format model.

Returns a decimal point, which is a period (.) in the specified position.

. (period) 99.99
Restriction: You can specify only one period in a number format model.
$ $9999 Returns value with a leading dollar sign.
0999 Returns leading zeros.
0
9990 Returns trailing zeros.
Returns value with the specified number of digits with a leading space if positive or
with a leading minus if negative.
9 9999
Leading zeros are blank, except for a zero value, which returns a zero for the integer
part of the fixed-point number.
Returns blanks for the integer part of a fixed-point number when the integer part is
B B9999
zero (regardless of "0"s in the format model).
Returns in the specified position the ISO currency symbol (the current value of
C C999
the NLS_ISO_CURRENCY parameter).
Returns in the specified position the decimal character, which is the current value of
the NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTER parameter. The default is a period (.).
D 99D99
Restriction: You can specify only one decimal character in a number format model.
EEEE 9.9EEEE Returns a value using in scientific notation.
FM FM90.9 Returns a value with no leading or trailing blanks.
Returns in the specified position the group separator (the current value of
the NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTER parameter). You can specify multiple group
separators in a number format model.
G 9G999
Restriction: A group separator cannot appear to the right of a decimal character or
period in a number format model.
Returns in the specified position the local currency symbol (the current value of
L L999
the NLS_CURRENCY parameter).
Returns negative value with a trailing minus sign (-).
MI 9999MI
Returns positive value with a trailing blank.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 162

Element Example Description
Restriction: The MI format element can appear only in the last position of a number
format model.
Returns negative value in <angle brackets>.

Returns positive value with a leading and trailing blank.

PR 9999PR

Restriction: The PR format element can appear only in the last position of a number
format model.
Returns a value as Roman numerals in uppercase.
RN RN
Returns a value as Roman numerals in lowercase.
rn Rn
Value can be an integer between 1 and 3999.
Returns negative value with a leading minus sign (-).

Returns positive value with a leading plus sign (+).

S9999
Returns negative value with a trailing minus sign (-).
S
9999S
Returns positive value with a trailing plus sign (+).

Restriction: The S format element can appear only in the first or last position of a
number format model.
"Text minimum". Returns (in decimal output) the smallest number of characters
possible. This element is case-insensitive.

The default is TM9, which returns the number in fixed notation unless the output
exceeds 64 characters. If output exceeds 64 characters, then Oracle automatically
returns the number in scientific notation.
TM TM
Restrictions:

You cannot precede this element with any other element.

You can follow this element only with 9 or E (only one) or e (only one).

Returns in the specified position the "Euro" (or other) dual currency symbol (the
U U9999
current value of the NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY parameter).
Returns a value multiplied by 10n (and if necessary, round it up), where n is the
V 999V99
number of 9's after the "V".
Returns the hexadecimal value of the specified number of digits. If the specified
number is not an integer, then Oracle rounds it to an integer.

Restrictions:
XXXX
X This element accepts only positive values or 0. Negative values return an
Xxxx error.
You can precede this element only with 0 (which returns leading zeroes) or
FM. Any other elements return an error. If you specify neither 0 nor FM with
X, then the return always has 1 leading blank.

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 163

The following are the date formats provided by oracle.

Format
Description
mask

CC Century

SCC Century BC prefixed with -

YYYY Year with 4 numbers

SYYY Year BC prefixed with -

IYYY ISO Year with 4 numbers

YY Year with 2 numbers

RR Year with 2 numbers with Y2k compatibility

YEAR Year in characters

SYEAR Year in characters, BC prefixed with -

BC BC/AD Indicator *

Q Quarter in numbers (1,2,3,4)

MM Month of year 01, 02...12

MONTH Month in characters (i.e. January)

MON JAN, FEB

WW Weeknumber (i.e. 1)

W Weeknumber of the month (i.e. 5)

IW Weeknumber of the year in ISO standard.

DDD Day of year in numbers (i.e. 365)

DD Day of the month in numbers (i.e. 28)

D Day of week in numbers(i.e. 7)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 164

DAY Day of the week in characters (i.e. Monday)

FMDAY Day of the week in characters (i.e. Monday)

DY Day of the week in short character description (i.e. SUN)

Julian Day (number of days since January 1 4713 BC, where January 1 4713 BC is 1 in
J
Oracle)

HH Hournumber of the day (1-12)

HH12 Hournumber of the day (1-12)

HH24 Hournumber of the day with 24Hours notation (0-23)

AM AM or PM

PM AM or PM

MI Number of minutes (i.e. 59)

SS Number of seconds (i.e. 59)

SSSSS Number of seconds this day.

DS Short date format. Depends on NLS-settings. Use only with timestamp.

DL Long date format. Depends on NLS-settings. Use only with timestamp.

Abbreviated era name. Valid only for calendars: Japanese Imperial, ROC Official and Thai
E
Buddha.. (Input-only)

EE The full era name

FF The fractional seconds. Use with timestamp.

The fractional seconds. Use with timestamp. The digit controls the number of decimal digits
FF1..FF9
used for fractional seconds.

FM Fill Mode: suppresses blianks in output from conversion

FX Format Exact: requires exact pattern matching between data and format model.

IYY or IY or
the last 3,2,1 digits of the ISO standard year. Output only
I

RM The Roman numeral representation of the month (I .. XII)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 165

RR The last 2 digits of the year.

The last 2 digits of the year when used for output. Accepts fout-digit years when used for
RRRR
input.

SCC Century. BC dates are prefixed with a minus.

CC Century

Spelled format. Can appear of the end of a number element. The result is always in english.
SP
For example month 10 in format MMSP returns "ten"

SPTH Spelled and ordinal format; 1 results in first.

TH Converts a number to it's ordinal format. For example 1 becoms 1st.

TS Short time format. Depends on NLS-settings. Use only with timestamp.

TZD Abbreviated time zone name. ie PST.

TZH Time zone hour displacement.

TZM Time zone minute displacement.

TZR Time zone region

X Local radix character. In america this is a period (.)

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 166

Function list of Oracle

SQL Functions as per oracle documentation: Oracle 10g

Function Categories:

1. Single row functions

2. Aggregate functions
3. Analytic Functions
4. Object reference functions
5. Model functions
6. User defined functions

single_row_functions are sub classified into

1. Numeric functions
2. Character functions
3. Data mining functions
4. Date time functions
5. Conversion functions
6. Collection functions
7. XML functions
8. Miscellaneous functions

Single-Row Functions

Numeric Functions

ABS ACOS ASIN ATAN

ATAN2 BITAND CEIL COS
COSH EXP FLOOR LN
LOG MOD NANVL POWER
REMAINDER ROUND (number) SIGN SIN
SINH SQRT TAN TANH
TRUNC (number) WIDTH_BUCKET

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 167

Character Functions Returning Character Values

CHR CONCAT INITCAP LOWER

LPAD LTRIM NLS_INITCAP NLS_LOWER
NLSSORT NLS_UPPER REGEXP_REPLACE REGEXP_SUBSTR
REPLACE RPAD RTRIM SOUNDEX
SUBSTR TRANSLATE TREAT TRIM
UPPER

NLS Character Functions

NLS_CHARSET_DECL_LEN NLS_CHARSET_ID NLS_CHARSET_NAME

Character Functions Returning Number Values

ASCII INSTR LENGTH REGEXP_INSTR

Datetime Functions

ADD_MONTHS CURRENT_DATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

DBTIMEZONE EXTRACT (datetime) FROM_TZ
LAST_DAY LOCALTIMESTAMP MONTHS_BETWEEN
NEW_TIME NEXT_DAY NUMTODSINTERVAL
NUMTOYMINTERVAL ROUND (date) SESSIONTIMEZONE
SYS_EXTRACT_UTC SYSDATE SYSTIMESTAMP
TO_CHAR (datetime) TO_TIMESTAMP TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ
TO_DSINTERVAL TO_YMINTERVAL TRUNC(date)
TZ_OFFSET

General Comparison Functions

GREATEST LEAST

Conversion Functions

ASCIISTR BIN_TO_NUM CAST

CHARTOROWID COMPOSE CONVERT
DECOMPOSE HEXTORAW NUMTODSINTERVAL
NUMTOYMINTERVAL RAWTOHEX RAWTONHEX

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 168

ROWIDTOCHAR ROWIDTONCHAR SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP
TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN TO_BINARY_DOUBLE TO_BINARY_FLOAT
TO_CHAR (character) TO_CHAR (datetime) TO_CHAR(number)
TO_CLOB TO_DATE TO_DSINTERVAL
TO_LOB TO_MULTI_BYTE TO_NCHAR(character)
TO_NCHAR (datetime) TO_NCHAR (number) TO_NCLOB
TO_NUMBER TO_DSINTERVAL TO_SINGLE_BYTE
TO_TIMESTAMP TO_TIMESTAMP_TZ TO_YMINTERVAL
TO_YMINTERVAL TRANSLATE ... USING UNISTR

Large Object Functions

BFILENAME EMPTY_BLOB EMPTY_CLOB

Collection Functions

CARDINALITY COLLECT POWERMULTISET

POWERMULTISET_BY_CARDINALITY SET

Hierarchical Function

SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH

Data Mining Functions

CLUSTER_ID CLUSTER_PROBABILITY CLUSTER_SET

FEATURE_ID FEATURE_SET FEATURE_VALUE
PREDICTION PREDICTION_COST PREDICTION_DETAILS
PREDICTION_PROBABILITY PREDICTION_SET

XML Functions

APPENDCHILDXML DELETEXML DEPTH

EXTRACT (XML) EXISTSNODE EXTRACTVALUE
INSERTCHILDXML INSERTXMLBEFORE PATH
SYS_DBURIGEN SYS_XMLAGG SYS_XMLGEN
UPDATEXML XMLAGG XMLCDATA
XMLCOLATTVAL XMLCOMMENT XMLCONCAT
XMLFOREST XMLPARSE XMLPI

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 169

XMLQUERY XMLROOT XMLSEQUENCE
XMLSERIALIZE XMLTABLE XMLTRANSFORM

Encoding and Decoding Functions

DECODE DUMP ORA_HASH VSIZE

NULL-Related Functions

COALESCE LNNVL NULLIF NVL NVL2

Environment and Identifier Functions

SYS_CONTEXT SYS_GUID SYS_TYPEID UID

USER USERENV

Aggregate Functions

AVG COLLECT CORR CORR_*

COUNT COVAR_POP COVAR_SAMP CUME_DIST
DENSE_RANK FIRST GROUP_ID GROUPING
GROUPING_ID LAST MAX MEDIAN
MIN PERCENTILE_CONT PERCENTILE_DISC
PERCENT_RANK RANK REGR_(Linear Regression)Fun.
STATS_BINOMIAL_TEST STATS_CROSSTAB STATS_F_TEST
STATS_KS_TEST STATS_MODE STATS_MW_TEST
STATS_ONE_WAY_ANOVA STATS_T_TEST_*
STATS_WSR_TEST STDDEV STDDEV_POP
STDDEV_SAMP SUM VAR_POP
VAR_SAMP VARIANCE
Analytic Functions

AVG * CORR * COVAR_POP * COVAR_SAMP *

COUNT * CUME_DIST DENSE_RANK FIRST
FIRST_VALUE * LAG LAST LAST_VALUE *
LEAD MAX * MIN * NTILE
PERCENT_RANK PERCENTILE_CONTPERCENTILE_DISC RANK
RATIO_TO_REPORT REGR_ (Linear Regression) Functions *
ROW_NUMBER STDDEV * STDDEV_POP * STDDEV_SAMP *
SUM* VAR_POP * VAR_SAMP * VARIANCE *

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 170

Object Reference Functions

DEREF MAKE_REF REF REFTOHEX

VALUE

Model Functions

CV ITERATION_NUMBER PRESENTNNV
PRESENTV PREVIOUS

Oracle SQL Workbook - Page No : 171