Query Languages

Language in which user requests information from the database.

Categories of languages
procedural
non-procedural
“Pure” languages:
Relational Algebra
Tuple Relational Calculus
Domain Relational Calculus
Pure languages form underlying basis of query languages
that people use.

Database System Concepts 3.1 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Relational Algebra
Procedural language
Six basic operators
select
project
union
set difference
Cartesian product
rename
The operators take one or more relations as inputs and give a
new relation as a result.

Database System Concepts 3.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Select Operation – Example

• Relation r A B C D

  1 7
  5 7
  12 3
  23 10

• A=B ^ D > 5 (r)

A B C D

  1 7
  23 10

Database System Concepts 3.3 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Select Operation

Notation:  p(r)
p is called the selection predicate
Defined as:
p(r) = {t | t  r and p(t)}
Where p is a formula in propositional calculus consisting
of terms connected by :  (and),  (or),  (not)
Each term is one of:
<attribute> op <attribute> or <constant>
where op is one of: =, , >, . <. 
Example of selection:
 branch-name=“Perryridge”(account)

Database System Concepts 3.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Project Operation – Example

Relation r: A B C

 10 1
 20 1
 30 1
 40 2

A,C (r) A C A C

 1  1
 1 =  1
 1  2
 2

Database System Concepts 3.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Project Operation
Notation:

A1, A2, …, Ak (r)

where A1, A2 are attribute names and r is a relation name.
The result is defined as the relation of k columns obtained by
erasing the columns that are not listed
Duplicate rows removed from result, since relations are sets
E.g. To eliminate the branch-name attribute of account
account-number, balance (account)

Database System Concepts 3.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Union Operation – Example

Relations r, s: A B A B

 1  2
 2  3
 1 s
r

r  s: A B

 1
 2
 1
 3

Database System Concepts 3.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Union Operation
Notation: r  s
Defined as:
r  s = {t | t  r or t  s}

For r  s to be valid.
1. r, s must have the same arity (same number of attributes)
2. The attribute domains must be compatible (e.g., 2nd column
of r deals with the same type of values as does the 2nd
column of s)
E.g. to find all customers with either an account or a loan
customer-name (depositor)  customer-name (borrower)

Database System Concepts 3.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Set Difference Operation – Example

Relations r, s: A B A B

 1  2
 2  3
 1 s
r

r – s: A B

 1
 1

Database System Concepts 3.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Set Difference Operation
Notation r – s
Defined as:
r – s = {t | t  r and t  s}
Set differences must be taken between compatible relations.
r and s must have the same arity
attribute domains of r and s must be compatible

Database System Concepts 3.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Cartesian-Product Operation-Example

Relations r, s: A B C D E

 1  10 a
 10 a
 2
 20 b
r  10 b
s
r x s:
A B C D E
 1  10 a
 1  10 a
 1  20 b
 1  10 b
 2  10 a
 2  10 a
 2  20 b
 2  10 b

Database System Concepts 3.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Cartesian-Product Operation
Notation r x s
Defined as:
r x s = {t q | t  r and q  s}
Assume that attributes of r(R) and s(S) are disjoint. (That is,
R  S = ).
If attributes of r(R) and s(S) are not disjoint, then renaming must
be used.

Database System Concepts 3.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Composition of Operations
Can build expressions using multiple operations
Example: A=C(r x s)
rxs A B C D E
 1  10 a
 1  10 a
 1  20 b
 1  10 b
 2  10 a
 2  10 a
 2  20 b
 2  10 b
A=C(r x s)
A B C D E

 1  10 a
 2  20 a
 2  20 b
Database System Concepts 3.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Rename Operation
Allows us to name, and therefore to refer to, the results of
relational-algebra expressions.
Allows us to refer to a relation by more than one name.
Example:
 x (E)
returns the expression E under the name X
If a relational-algebra expression E has arity n, then
x (A1, A2, …, An) (E)
returns the result of expression E under the name X, and with
the attributes renamed to A1, A2, …., An.

Database System Concepts 3.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Banking Example

branch (branch-name, branch-city, assets)

customer (customer-name, customer-street, customer-only)

account (account-number, branch-name, balance)

loan (loan-number, branch-name, amount)

depositor (customer-name, account-number)

borrower (customer-name, loan-number)

Database System Concepts 3.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Example Queries

Find all loans of over $1200

amount > 1200 (loan)

Find the loan number for each loan of an amount greater than
$1200

loan-number (amount > 1200 (loan))

Database System Concepts 3.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan

 Example Queries

Find the names of all customers who have a loan, an account, or

both, from the bank

customer-name (borrower)  customer-name (depositor)

Find the names of all customers who have a loan and an

account at bank.

customer-name (borrower)  customer-name (depositor)

Database System Concepts 3.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan