Database Management System

(DBMS – 204)
Experiment # 03

Single Row Functions

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Maximum Marks Performance = 05 Viva = 05 Total = 10

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Instructor Name: Engr. Adiba Jafar

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OUTCOMES
After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the following:
• Describe various types of functions available in SQL.
• Use character, number, and date functions in SELECT statement.
• Describe the use of conversion functions.

SQL Functions
1. Input Output Function
Function performs action arg 1 arg 2 Result value arg n
Note:
Most of the functions described in this lesson are specific to Oracle Corporation’s version of
SQL.
Two Types of SQL Functions
1. Single-row functions

• Manipulate data items

• Accept arguments and return one value
• Act on each row returned
• Return one result per row
• May modify the data type
• Can be nested
• Accept arguments which can be a column or an expression
function_name[(arg1, arg2,...)]

2. Character Functions
• Case-manipulation functions
Character-manipulation functions
• CONCAT
• UPPER
• SUBSTR
• INITCAP
• LENGTH
• INSTR
• LPAD | RPAD
• TRIM
• REPLACE
Note: The functions discussed in this lesson are only some of the available functions.

Case Manipulation Functions

These functions convert case for character strings.
Function Result
LOWER('SQL Course') sql course
UPPER('SQL Course') SQL COURSE
INITCAP('SQL Course') Sql Course

QUERY
SELECT empno, ename, deptno FROM emp WHERE ename = 'smith';
no rows selected
SELECT empno, ename, deptno FROM emp WHERE LOWER(ename) = 'smith`';
Character-Manipulation Functions
These functions manipulate character strings:
Function RESULT
CONCAT('Hello', 'World') HelloWorld
SUBSTR('HelloWorld',1,5) Hello
LENGTH('HelloWorld') 10
INSTR('HelloWorld', 'W') 6
LPAD(sal,10,'*') *****24000
RPAD(sal, 10, '*') 24000*****
TRIM('H' FROM 'HelloWorld') elloWorld

QUERY
SELECT empno, CONCAT(ename, job) NAME, sal,
LENGTH (ename), INSTR(ename, 'A') "Contains 'a'?"
FROM emp WHERE SUBSTR(job, 1,3) = 'MAN';

Number Functions
• ROUND : Rounds value to specified decimal
ROUND(45.926, 2) 45.93
• TRUNC : Truncates value to specified decimal
TRUNC(45.926, 2) 45.92
• MOD : Returns remainder of division
MOD(1600, 300) 100

QUERY (ROUND)
SELECT ROUND(45.923,2), ROUND(45.923,0),ROUND(45.923,-1)
FROM DUAL;
DUAL is a dummy table you can use to view results
from functions and calculations.

QUERY (TRUNC)
SELECT TRUNC(45.923,2), TRUNC(45.923), TRUNC(45.923,-2) FROM DUAL;

QUERY (MOD FUNCTION)

Calculate the remainder of a salary after it is divided by 5000 for all employees whose job title
is sales representative.
SELECT ename, sal, MOD(sal, 5000) FROM emp WHERE job = 'MANAGER';
Working with Dates
• Oracle database stores dates in an internal numeric format: century, year, month, day,
hours,minutes, seconds.
• The default date display format is DD-MM-YY.
 Allows you to store 21st century dates in the 20 th century by specifying only the
last two digits of the year.
 Allows you to store 20th century dates in the 21st century in the same way.
QUERY
SYSDATE is a function that returns:
•Date
•Time
Example Display the current date using the DUAL table.
SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;

Arithmetic with Dates

• Add or subtract a number to or from a date for a resultant date value.
 date + number Date Adds a number of days to a date
 date - number Date Subtracts a number of days from a date

• Subtract two dates to find the number of days between those dates.
 date - date Number of days Subtracts one date from another

• Add hours to a date by dividing the number of hours by 24.

 date + number/24 Date Adds a number of hours to a date

Using Arithmetic Operators with Dates

SELECT ename AS last_name , (SYSDATE-hiredate)/7 AS WEEKS
FROM emp
WHERE deptno= 20;

Note:SYSDATE is a SQL function that returns the current date and time. Your results may
differ from the example. If a more current date is subtracted from an older date, the difference
is a negative number.
Using Date Functions
• MONTHS_BETWEEN ('01-SEP-95','11-JAN-94')
19.6774194
• ADD_MONTHS ('11-JAN-94',6) '11-JUL-94'
• NEXT_DAY ('01-SEP-95','FRIDAY') '08-SEP-95'
• LAST_DAY('01-FEB-95') '28-FEB-95'

Assume SYSDATE = '25-JUL-95':

• ROUND(SYSDATE,'MONTH') 01-AUG-95
• ROUND(SYSDATE ,'YEAR') 01-JAN-96
• TRUNC(SYSDATE ,'MONTH') 01-JUL-95
• TRUNC(SYSDATE ,'YEAR') 01-JAN-95

Example
Compare the hire dates for all employees who started in 1981. Display the employee number,
hire date, and month started using the ROUND and TRUNC functions.

SELECT empno, hiredate, ROUND(hiredate, 'MONTH'), TRUNC(hiredate, 'MONTH')

FROM emp WHERE hiredate LIKE '%81';
Practice 3, Part 1
This practice is designed to give you a variety of exercises using different functions available
for character,number, and date data types.
Complete questions 1 through 5 of Practice 3, found at the end of this lesson.

Conversion Functions
Data-type conversion
Implicit data-type conversion

Explicit data-type conversion

Note: Although implicit data-type conversion is available, it is recommended that you do
explicit data type conversion to ensure the reliability of your SQL statements.

Implicit Data-Type Conversion

For assignments, the Oracle server can automatically
convert the following:
From To
VARCHAR2 or CHAR NUMBER
VARCHAR2 or CHAR DATE
NUMBER VARCHAR2
DATE VARCHAR2

Note: CHAR to NUMBER conversions succeed only if the character string represents a valid
number.
Explicit Data-Type Conversion
1. TO_NUMBER
2. TO_DATE
3. NUMBER
4. DATE
5. CHARACTER
6. TO_CHAR

Function Purpose
TO_CHAR( number | date ,[ fmt ], Converts a number or date value to a
VARCHAR2 [nlsparams ]) character string with format model fmt.
TO_NUMBER( char,[fmt], Converts a character string containing digits to a
[nlsparams] ) number in the format specified by
the optional format model Fmt . The nlsparams
parameter has the same purpose in this function
as in the TO_CHAR function for number
conversion.
TO_DATE(char ,[ fmt ],[ nlsparams ]) Converts a character string representing a date to
a date value according to the fmt specified. If fmt
is omitted, the format is DD-MON-YY.The
nlsparams parameter has the same purpose in this
function as in the TO_CHAR function for date
conversion.
Note: The list of functions mentioned in this lesson includes only some of the available
conversion functions.

Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates

TO_CHAR(date, ' format_model ')
The format model:
• Must be enclosed in single quotation marks and is case Sensitive.
• Can include any valid date format element.
• Has an fm element to remove padded blanks or suppress leading zeros.
• Is Separated from the date value by a comma.
SELECT empno, TO_CHAR(hiredate, 'MM/YYYY') Hiredate
FROM emp
WHERE ename = 'SMITH';
Elements of the Date Format Model
YYYY Full year in numbers
YEAR Year spelled out
MM Two-digit value for month
MONTH Full name of the month
MON Three-letter abbreviation of the
Month Three-letter abbreviation of the
DY day of the week
DAY Full name of the day of the week
DD Numeric day of the month
Elements of the Date Format Model
• Time elements format the time portion of the date.
HH24:MI:SS AM 15:45:32 PM
• Add character strings by enclosing them in double quotation marks.
DD "of" MONTH 12 of OCTOBER
• Number suffixes spell out numbers. ddspth fourteenth

Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates

SELECT ename, TO_CHAR(hiredate, 'fmDD Month YYYY') HIREDATE FROM emp;
SELECT ename, TO_CHAR(hiredate, 'fmDdspth "of" Month YYYY fmHH:MI:SS AM')
HIREDATE FROM emp;
Notice that the month follows the format model specified: in other words, the first letter is
capitalized and the rest are lowercase.

Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers

TO_CHAR( number, ' format_model ')
These are some of the format elements you can use with the TO_CHAR function to display a
a. number value as a character:
9 Represents a number 0
b. Forces a zero to be displayed $ Places a floating dollar sign
L Uses the floating local currency symbol. Prints a decimal point, Prints a
thousand indicator
c. Element Description Example Result
9 Numeric positions (number of 9s determine display 999999 1234
width)
0 Display leading zeros 099999 001234
$ Floating dollar sign $999999 $1234
L Floating local currency symbol L999999 FF1234
. Decimal point in position specified 999999.99 1234.00
, Comma in position specified 999,999 1,234
MI Minus signs to right (negative values) 999999MI 1234-
PR Parenthesize negative numbers 999999PR <1234>
EEEE Scientific notation (format must specify four Es) 99.999EEEE
1.234E+03
V Multiply by 10 n times ( n = number of 9s after V) 9999V99 123400 B
Display zero values as blank, not 0 B9999.99 1234.00

Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers

SELECT TO_CHAR(sal, '$99,999.00') SAL FROM emp;

Using the TO_NUMBER And TO_DATE Functions

• Convert a character string to a number format
using the TO_NUMBER function:
TO_NUMBER( char [,'format_model'])
• Convert a character string to a date format using the
TO_DATE function:
TO_DATE( char [, 'format_model'])
 • These functions have an fx modifier. This modifier specifies the exact matching for the
character argument and date format model of a TO_DATE function.
Example
Display the names and hiredates of all the employees who joined on May 01, 1981.
Because the fx modifier is used, an exact match is required and the spaces after the
word “May” are not recognized.
SELECT ename, hiredate FROM emp
WHERE hiredate = TO_DATE('May 01, 1981', 'fxMonth DD, YYYY')

Example of RR Date Format

To find employees hired prior to 1982, use the RR format, which produces the same results
whether the command is run in 1982 or now:
SELECT ename, TO_CHAR(hiredate, 'DD-Mon-YYYY')
FROM emp
WHERE hiredate < TO_DATE('01-Jan-82', 'DD-Mon-RR');
SELECT ename, TO_CHAR(hiredate, 'DD -Mon-YYYY')
FROM emp
WHERE TO_DATE(hiredate, 'DD-Mon-YY') < '01-Jan-1982';
no rows selected

Nesting Functions
• Single-row functions can be nested to any level.
• Nested functions are evaluated from deepest level to the least deep level.
F3(F2(F1(col,arg1),arg2),arg3)
Step 1 = Result 1
Step 2 = Result 2
Step 3 = Result 3
Nesting Functions
Single-row functions can be nested to any depth. Nested functions are evaluated from the
innermost level to the outermost level. Some examples follow to show you the flexibility of
these functions.

Example
Display the date of the next Friday that is six months from the hire date. The resulting date
should appear as Friday, August 13th, 1999. Order the results by hire date.
SELECT hiredate,TO_CHAR(NEXT_DAY(ADD_MONTHS(hiredate, 6), 'FRIDAY'),
'fmDay, Month DDth, YYYY')
"Next 6 Month Review"
FROM emp
ORDER BY hiredate;

General Functions
These functions work with any data type and pertain to using null value.
• NVL (expr1, expr2)
• NVL2 (expr1, expr2, expr3)
• NULLIF (expr1, expr2)
•COALESCE (expr1, expr2, ..., exprn)
Function Description
NVL Converts a null value to an actual value
NVL2 If expr1 is not null, NVL2 returns expr2.
NULLIF If expr1 is null, NVL2 returns. The argument can have any
data type. expr3 expr1
COALESCE Compares two expressions and returns null if they are equal,
or the first expression if they are not equal Returns the first
non-null expression in the expression list
NVL Function
• Converts a null to an actual value
• Data types that can be used are date, character,and number.
• Data types must match:
– NVL(commission,0)
– NVL(hiredate,'01-JAN-97')
– NVL(job,'No Job Yet')
NVL Conversions for Various Data Types
Data Type Conversion Example
NUMBER NVL( number_column ,9)
DATE NVL( date_column, '01-JAN-95')
CHAR or VARCHAR2 NVL( character_column , 'Unavailable')

Using the NVL Function

SELECT ename, sal, NVL(comm, 0),
(sal*12) + (sal*12*NVL(comm, 0)) AN_SAL FROM emp;
The NVL Function
To calculate the annual compensation of all employees, you need to multiply the monthly
salary by 12 and then add the commission percentage to it.
SELECT ename, sal, comm, (sal*12) + (sal*12*comm) AN_SAL FROM emp;

Using the NVL2 Function

SELECT ename, sal, comm,
NVL2(comm,'SAL+COMM', 'SAL') income
FROM emp WHERE deptno IN (10, 20);

Using the NULLIF Function

SELECT ename, LENGTH(ename) "expr1",
ename, LENGTH(ename) "expr2",
NULLIF(LENGTH(ename), LENGTH(ename)) result
FROM emp;

SELECT ename, LENGTH(ename) "expr1",

JOB, LENGTH(JOB) "expr2",
NULLIF(LENGTH(ename), LENGTH(JOB)) result
FROM emp;
Note:
The NULLIF function is logically equivalent to the following CASE
expression. The CASE expression is discussed in a subsequent page:
CASE WHEN expr1 = expr 2 THEN NULL ELSE expr1 END

Practice 2, Part 1 (continued)

Write a query that displays the employee’s names with the first letter capitalized and all other
letters lowercase and the length of the names, for all employees whose name starts with J , A ,
or M . Give each column an appropriate label. Sort the results by the employees’ names.

Practice 2, Part 2
For each employee, display the employee’s name, and calculate the number of months
between today and the date the employee was hired. Label the column
MONTHS_WORKED . Order your results by the number of months employed. Round the
number of months up to the closest whole number.
Note:
Your results will differ.

Practice 3, Part 2 (continued)

1. Write a query that produces the following for each employee:
< employee name> earns <salary> monthly but wants <3 times salary >. Label the column
Dream Salaries . If you have time, complete the following exercises:
2. Create a query to display the name and salary for all employees. Format the salary to
be 15 characters long, left-padded with $. Label the column SALARY .
3. Display each employee’s name, hiredate, and salary review date, which is the first
Monday after six months of service. Label the column
REVIEW. Format the dates to appear similar to “Monday, the Thirty-First of July, 2000.”

4. Display the name, hiredate, and day of the week on which the employee started. Label
the column DAY . Order the results by the day of the week starting with Monday.
5. Create a query that displays the employees’ names and commission amounts. If an
employee does not earn commission, put “No Commission.” Label the column
COMM.
6. Create a query that displays the employees’ names and indicates the amounts of their
annual salaries with asterisks. Each asterisk signifies a thousand dollars. Sort the data
in descending order of salary. Label the column
EMPLOYEES_AND_THEIR_SALARIES.