Database system Department of computer science of IT
LAB # 04
Implementation of
SQL Functions
(Aggregate/Scalar functions)
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 1
Database system Department of computer science of IT
Lab Objective:
The aim of this lab is to understand the different functions used in the SQL.
SQL Aggregate Functions
SQL aggregate functions return a single value, calculated from values in a column.
Useful aggregate functions:
AVG() - Returns the average value
COUNT() - Returns the number of rows
MAX() - Returns the largest value
MIN() - Returns the smallest value
SUM() - Returns the sum
SQL Scalar functions
SQL scalar functions return a single value, based on the input value.
Useful scalar functions:
UCASE() - Converts a field to upper case
LCASE() - Converts a field to lower case
LEN() - Returns the length of a text field
GETDATE() - Returns the current system date and time
Tip: The aggregate functions and the scalar functions will be explained in details in the next
chapters.
1- The AVG() Function
The AVG() function returns the average value of a numeric column.
SQL AVG() Syntax
SELECT AVG(column_name) FROM table_name
Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 2
Database system Department of computer science of IT
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find the average value of the "OrderPrice" fields.
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) AS OrderAverage FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
OrderAverage
950
Now we want to find the customers that have an OrderPrice value higher than the
average OrderPrice value.
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT Customer FROM Orders
WHERE OrderPrice>(SELECT AVG(OrderPrice) FROM Orders)
The result-set will look like this:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 3
Database system Department of computer science of IT
Customer
Hansen
Nilsen
Jensen
2- SQL COUNT() Function
The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criteria.
Its syntax is:
The COUNT(column_name) function returns the number of values (NULL values will
not be counted) of the specified column:
SELECT COUNT(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL COUNT(*) Syntax
The COUNT(*) function returns the number of records in a table:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name
SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Syntax
The COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) function returns the number of distinct values
of the specified column:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) FROM table_name
Note: COUNT(DISTINCT) works with ORACLE and Microsoft SQL Server, but not
with Microsoft Access.
Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 4
Database system Department of computer science of IT
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to count the number of orders from "Customer Nilsen".
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT COUNT(Customer) AS CustomerNilsen FROM Orders
WHERE Customer='Nilsen'
The result of the SQL statement above will be 2, because the customer Nilsen has made
2 orders in total:
CustomerNilsen
SQL COUNT(*) Example
If we omit the WHERE clause, like this:
SELECT COUNT(*) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 5
Database system Department of computer science of IT
NumberOfOrders
which is the total number of rows in the table.
SQL COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) Example
Now we want to count the number of unique customers in the "Orders"
table. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Customer) AS NumberOfCustomers FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
NumberOfCustomers
which is the number of unique customers (Hansen, Nilsen, and Jensen) in the
"Orders" table
3- SQL MAX() Function
The MAX() function returns the largest value of the selected column.
SQL MAX() Syntax
SELECT MAX(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL MAX() Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 6
Database system Department of computer science of IT
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find the largest value of the "OrderPrice" column.
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT MAX(OrderPrice) AS LargestOrderPrice FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
LargestOrderPrice
2000
The MIN() Function
The MIN() function returns the smallest value of the selected column.
SQL MIN() Syntax
SELECT MIN(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL MIN() Example
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 7
Database system Department of computer science of IT
We have the following "Orders" table:
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find the smallest value of the "OrderPrice"
column. We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT MIN(OrderPrice) AS SmallestOrderPrice FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
SmallestOrderPrice
100
SQL SUM() Function
The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.
SQL SUM() Syntax
SELECT SUM(column_name) FROM table_name
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 8
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SQL SUM() Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find the sum of all "OrderPrice" fields".
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT SUM(OrderPrice) AS OrderTotal FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
OrderTotal
5700
SQL GROUP BY Statement
Aggregate functions often need an added GROUP BY statement.
The GROUP BY statement is used in conjunction with the aggregate functions to group
the result-set by one or more columns.
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 9
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SQL GROUP BY Syntax
SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
GROUP BY column_name
SQL GROUP BY Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find the total sum (total order) of each customer.
We will have to use the GROUP BY statement to group the customers.
We use the following SQL statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders
GROUP BY Customer
The result-set will look like this:
Customer SUM(OrderPrice)
Hansen 2000
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 10
Database system Department of computer science of IT
Nilsen 1700
Jensen 2000
Nice! Isn't it? :)
Let's see what happens if we omit the GROUP BY statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders
The result-set will look like this:
Customer SUM(OrderPrice)
Hansen 5700
Nilsen 5700
Hansen 5700
Hansen 5700
Jensen 5700
Nilsen 5700
The result-set above is not what we wanted.
Explanation of why the above SELECT statement cannot be used: The SELECT statement
above has two columns specified (Customer and SUM(OrderPrice). The "SUM(OrderPrice)"
returns a single value (that is the total sum of the "OrderPrice" column), while "Customer"
returns 6 values (one value for each row in the "Orders" table). This will therefore not give us
the correct result. However, you have seen that the GROUP BY statement solves this problem.
GROUP BY More Than One Column
We can also use the GROUP BY statement on more than one column, like this:
SELECT Customer,OrderDate,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 11
Database system Department of computer science of IT
GROUP BY Customer,OrderDate
The HAVING Clause
The HAVING clause was added to SQL because the WHERE keyword could not be used
with aggregate functions.
SQL HAVING Syntax
SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING aggregate_function(column_name) operator value
SQL HAVING Example
We have the following "Orders" table:
O_Id OrderDate OrderPrice Customer
1 2008/11/12 1000 Hansen
2 2008/10/23 1600 Nilsen
3 2008/09/02 700 Hansen
4 2008/09/03 300 Hansen
5 2008/08/30 2000 Jensen
6 2008/10/04 100 Nilsen
Now we want to find if any of the customers have a total order of less than 2000.
We use the following SQL statement:
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 12
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders
GROUP BY Customer
HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)<2000
The result-set will look like this:
Customer SUM(OrderPrice)
Nilsen 1700
Now we want to find if the customers "Hansen" or "Jensen" have a total order of more
than 1500.
We add an ordinary WHERE clause to the SQL statement:
SELECT Customer,SUM(OrderPrice) FROM Orders
WHERE Customer='Hansen' OR Customer='Jensen'
GROUP BY Customer
HAVING SUM(OrderPrice)>1500
The result-set will look like this:
Customer SUM(OrderPrice)
Hansen 2000
Jensen 2000
SQL UCASE() Function
The UCASE() Function
The UCASE() function converts the value of a field to uppercase.
SQL UCASE() Syntax
SELECT UCASE(column_name) FROM table_name
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 13
Database system Department of computer science of IT
Syntax for SQL Server
SELECT UPPER(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL UCASE() Example
We have the following "Persons" table:
P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above,
and convert the "LastName" column to uppercase.
We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT UCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
LastName FirstName
HANSEN Ola
SVENDSON Tove
PETTERSEN Kari
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 14
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SQL LCASE() Function
The LCASE() function converts the value of a field to lowercase.
SQL LCASE() Syntax
SELECT LCASE(column_name) FROM table_name
Syntax for SQL Server
SELECT LOWER(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL LCASE() Example
We have the following "Persons" table:
P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Now we want to select the content of the "LastName" and "FirstName" columns above,
and convert the "LastName" column to lowercase.
We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LCASE(LastName) as LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
LastName FirstName
hansen Ola
svendson Tove
pettersen Kari
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 15
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SQL LEN() Function
The LEN() function returns the length of the value in a text field.
SQL LEN() Syntax
SELECT LEN(column_name) FROM table_name
SQL LEN() Example
We have the following "Persons" table:
P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
1 Hansen Ola Timoteivn 10 Sandnes
2 Svendson Tove Borgvn 23 Sandnes
3 Pettersen Kari Storgt 20 Stavanger
Now we want to select the length of the values in the "Address" column
above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LEN(Address) as LengthOfAddress FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this:
LengthOfAddress
12
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 16
Database system Department of computer science of IT
SQL GETDATE() Function
The GETDATE() Function
The GETDATE() function returns the current system date and time.
SQL GETDATE() Syntax
SELECT GETDATE();
TASKS:
Name Reg_No Courses Course_Code Offered_By
Ali 01 DIP 1001 Mr. A
Basit 02 DBMS 1002 Mr. X
Akram 03 OS 1003 Mr. Y
Asad 04 DBMS 1002 Mr. X
Zeeshan 05 DIP 1001 Mr. A
Muneer 06 OS Mr. Y
Shafqat 07 NM 1004 Mr. H
Ahsan 08 OS 1003 Mr. Y
Ikram 09 DIP Mr. A
Hassan 10 DSP
For the above table perform the following tasks:-
TASK 1:
rd th th
Calculate the number of records for the 3 , 4 and 5 column.
Find distinct number of records for the Course Code=1002 as Total.
Find number of students registered for the course DIP as Total Courses.
TASK 2:
Convert the text valued fields in the above table to the lower case and upper case alphabets.
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 17
Database system Department of computer science of IT
TASK 3:
Using GROUP BY statement, group the courses for the above table.
TASK 4:
Select maximum of the Reg no and smallest valued course code for the above given table.
TASK 5:
Find the length of each record for the first column in the above table as MAXIMUM LENGTH.
TASK 6:
nd
Find the average value for the 2 column.
TASK 7:
Find if the customers "Hansen" or "Nilsen" have a total order of less than 2100 for the
following table:
O_Id OrderPrice Customer
1 1000 Hansen
2 1600 Nilsen
3 700 Hansen
4 300 Hansen
5 2000 Jensen
6 100 Nilsen
Also find if any customer have order of more than 1800.
TASK 8:
Find the total sum (total order) of each customer.
Lab Instructor: Mehk Fatima Page 18
