Experiment No.

6
Environment: Microsoft Windows
Tools/ Language: Oracle/SQL

Objective: To implement concept of various functions in SQL.

Theory & Concepts:

Oracle functions:
Functions make the basic query block more powerful and are used to manipulate data values.
Functions accept one or more arguments and return one value. An argument is a user supplied
constant, variable or column reference, which can be passed to a function in the following
format:
function _name (argument1, argument2 ..)
Functions can be used to
 Perform calculations on data
 Modify individual data item
 Manipulate output for group of rows
 Alter date formats for display
 Convert column data types

Single Row Functions:

 Act on each row returned in a query
 Return one result per row
 Expect one or more user arguments
 May be nested

Single row functions can be of following types:

Character functions, Number Functions, Date functions and conversion functions.

ORACLE TABLE

DUAL: Dual table is owned by SYS. SYS owns the data dictionary; in DUAL is a part of
data dictionary. Dual is a small Oracle worktable which consists of only one row and one
column and contains the value x in that column. Besides arithmetic calculations, it also
supports date retrieval and its formatting.

Select 3.14*3*3 from DUAL;

28.26

Select 4/2 from DUAL;

2

DESC DUAL;
Name Null? Type
----------------------------------------- -------- ----------------------------
DUMMY VARCHAR2(1)
Select * from DUAL
D
--
X

Select sysdate from DUAL

SYSDATE
---------
17-FEB-14

(a) Character Functions: accept character data as input and can return both character and
number values.
LOWER (col/value)
UPPER (col/value)
INITCAP (col/value)
SUBSTR (col/value, position, n)
INSTR (col/value, ‘string’)
ASCII (character)
CHR (number)

(b) Number Functions:

ROUND (col/val, n)
TRUNC (col/val, n)
CEIL (col/val)
FLOOR (col/val)
POWER (col/val, n)
SQRT (col/val)
EXP (n)
ABS (col/val)
MOD (value1, value2)

(c) Date Functions: Date functions are used to manipulate and extract values from the date
column of a table.
SYSDATE
ADD_MONTHS (date, count)
LAST_DAY (date)
MONTHS_BETWEEN (date2, date1)
NEXT_DAY (date, ‘day’)

(d) Conversion Functions: Converts one data type into another.

TO_CHAR (input, format): Converts date or number into character string.
TO_DATE (date, format): Converts any date format to default format (dd-mon-yy).
TO_NUMBER (col/value): Converts a string into a number.
ORACLE FUNCTION EXAMPLES

NUMERIC FUNCTIONS

1. ROUND
Select ROUND(SUM(GPA)/COUNT(GPA)) as “Round Average”
from student

Round Average
--------------------
4

Round(n, m) return rounded to m places to the right of a decimal point. If m is omitted then n
is rounded to 0 places.
Select ROUND(15.81,1), round(158.158),round(158.158,-2) from
DUAL
ROUND(15.81,1)
--------------
15.8

2. ABSOLUTE: This function return absolute value of numbers

Select ABS(-15) from DUAL

ABS(-15)
----------
15

3. POWER: Return m raise to n where n must be an integer.

Select POWER(7,3) from DUAL
POWER(7,3)
----------
343

4. SQUARE ROOT: Return the square root of n. If n<0 then NULL.

Select SQRT(25) from DUAL
SQRT(25)
---------
5

select ROUND(sqrt(15),2) from DUAL

ROUND(SQRT(15),2)
-----------------
3.87
 5. EXPONENTIAL
Select EXP(5) from DUAL
EXP(5)
---------
148.413159
6. EXTRACT: Returns a value extracted from a date or an interval. A date can be used
only to extract year month or day while a time span with the time zone use to extract
hours and minutes.
Select extract(month from sysdate)
from DUAL
EXTRACT(MONTHFROMSYSDATE)
-------------------------
2

7. MOD: Return the remainder of first number divided by second number passed as a
parameter
Select MOD(15,7) from DUAL

MOD(15,7)
----------
1
8. TRUNCATE: Returns a truncated number to a certain number of decimal places
TRUNC(number, decimal places)
Select TRUNC(125.815,1) from dual

TRUNC(125.815,1)
----------------
125.8

Select TRUNC(125.815,-2) from dual

TRUNC(125.815,-2)
-----------------
100

9. FLOOR: Returns the largest value that is equal to or less than the number.
Select floor(24.92), floor(3.1) from dual
FLOOR(24.92) FLOOR(3.1)
------------ ----------
24 3

10. CEILING: Return the largest value that is equal to or greater than the number.
Select ceil(24.92), ceil(3.1) from dual
CEIL(24.92) CEIL(3.1)
----------- ----------
25 4
STRING FUNCTIONS:
1. Lower: Returns char, with letters in lower case.
Select LOWER(‘RAJeEv’) from dual
LOWER(
------
Rajeev

2. UPPER: Return char with letters in UPPER case

Select LOWER(‘rAJeEv’)
from dual
LOWER(
------
RAJEEV

3. SUBSTRING:
SUBSTR(string, start_pos, length)
Select SUBSTR(‘Prateek’, 4, 3) from dual
SUB
---
tee

Select SUBSTR(‘Prateek’, 4) from dual

SUB
---
teek

4. INSTR: Returns the location of substring in the string

INSTR(string, string2, start_position, nth appearance)
Select instr(‘Rahul Pradhan’, ‘a’, 2, 3)
from dual
INSTR('RAHULPRADHAN','A',2,3)
-----------------------------
12
Select instr(‘Rahul Pradhan’, ‘a’, 2)as INSTR
from dual

INSTR
---------
2

String: HTC launch a new phone on net

Search t.
Select instr('HTC launch a new phone on net', 't')
from dual
INSTR('HTCLAUNCHANEWPHONEONNET','T')
------------------------------------
29
 5. TRANSLATE
Select translate(‘HTC launch a new phone on net’, ‘net’,
‘web’)as Translate from dual
TRANSLATE
-----------------------------
HTC lauwch a wew phowe ow web
6. LENGTH
Select length(‘Pratyush Mehrotra’) as Length from dual
LENGTH
----------
17

7. TO_CHAR(n,fmt): Converts a number to a character

Select to_char(17475,’$099,999’)as FMT from dual
FMT
---------
$017,475

Select TO_CHAR(sysdate, ‘Month DD, YYYY’) from dual

TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,'M
------------------
February 17, 2014
Select TO_CHAR(date '2014-02-20', 'DD/MM/YYYY') from dual;

TO_CHAR(DA
----------
20/02/2014

8. TO_DATE:
Select to_date(‘23/02/1988’, ‘DD/MM/YYYY’) from DUAL
TO_DATE('
---------
23-FEB-88

9. ADD_MONTHS:
Select add_months(sysdate,4) from dual
ADD_MONTH
---------
17-JUN-14

Select add_months(date '1994-09-20',4) from dual

ADD_MONTH
---------
20-JAN-95
 10. LAST_DAY
Select sysdate, last_day(sysdate) from dual
SYSDATE LAST_DAY(
--------- ---------
17-FEB-14 28-FEB-14
s
11. NEXT_DAY

Select sysdate, next_day(Sysdate, ‘Monday’)

from dual
SYSDATE NEXT_DAY(
--------- ---------
17-FEB-14 24-FEB-14

Select sysdate, next_day(date '2014-09-20', 'sunday')

from dual

SYSDATE NEXT_DAY(
--------- ---------
20-FEB-14 21-SEP-14
 Practical Assignment - 6

Department: Computer Engineering & Applications

Course: B.Tech. (CSE)
Subject: Database Management System Lab (CSE3083)
Year: 2nd Semester: 3rd

SQL Script for this Experiment

BEGIN
FOR cur_rec IN (SELECT object_name, object_type
FROM user_objects
WHERE object_type IN
('TABLE',
'VIEW',
'PACKAGE',
'PROCEDURE',
'FUNCTION',
'SEQUENCE'
))
LOOP
BEGIN
IF cur_rec.object_type = 'TABLE'
THEN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP '
|| cur_rec.object_type
|| ' "'
|| cur_rec.object_name
|| '" CASCADE CONSTRAINTS';
ELSE
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'DROP '
|| cur_rec.object_type
|| ' "'
|| cur_rec.object_name
|| '"';
END IF;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS
THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line ( 'FAILED: DROP '
|| cur_rec.object_type
|| ' "'
|| cur_rec.object_name
|| '"'
);
END;
END LOOP;
END;
/
commit;
drop table College;
drop table Student;
drop table Apply;
create table College(cName varchar2(10) primary key, state
varchar2(10), enrollment int);
create table Student(sID int primary key, sName varchar2(10), GPA
real, sizeHS int);
create table Apply(sID int, cName varchar2(10), major varchar2(20),
decision char(1), primary key(sID, major, cName), constraint sID_fk
Foreign key(sID) references Student, constraint cName_fk Foreign
key(cName) references College);

delete from Student;

delete from College;
delete from Apply;

insert into Student values (123, 'Amy', 3.9, 1000);

insert into Student values (234, 'Bob', 3.6, 1500);
insert into Student values (345, 'Craig', 3.5, 500);
insert into Student values (456, 'Doris', 3.9, 1000);
insert into Student values (567, 'Edward', 2.9, 2000);
insert into Student values (678, 'Fay', 3.8, 200);
insert into Student values (789, 'Gary', 3.4, 800);
insert into Student values (987, 'Helen', 3.7, 800);
insert into Student values (876, 'Irene', 3.9, 400);
insert into Student values (765, 'Jay', 2.9, 1500);
insert into Student values (654, 'Amy', 3.9, 1000);
insert into Student values (543, 'Craig', 3.4, 2000);
insert into College values ('Stanford', 'CA', 15000);
insert into College values ('Berkeley', 'CA', 36000);
insert into College values ('MIT', 'MA', 10000);
insert into College values ('Cornell', 'NY', 21000);
insert into College values ('Harvard', 'MA', 50040);
insert into Apply values (123, 'Stanford', 'CS', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (123, 'Stanford', 'EE', 'N');
insert into Apply values (123, 'Berkeley', 'CS', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (123, 'Cornell', 'EE', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (234, 'Berkeley', 'biology', 'N');
insert into Apply values (345, 'MIT', 'bioengineering', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (345, 'Cornell', 'bioengineering', 'N');
insert into Apply values (345, 'Cornell', 'CS', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (345, 'Cornell', 'EE', 'N');
insert into Apply values (678, 'Stanford', 'history', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (987, 'Stanford', 'CS', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (987, 'Berkeley', 'CS', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (876, 'Stanford', 'CS', 'N');
insert into Apply values (876, 'MIT', 'biology', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (876, 'MIT', 'marine biology', 'N');
insert into Apply values (765, 'Stanford', 'history', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (765, 'Cornell', 'history', 'N');
insert into Apply values (765, 'Cornell', 'psychology', 'Y');
insert into Apply values (543, 'MIT', 'CS', 'N');
commit;
 Student Apply
sID sName GPA sizeHS DoB sID cName major decision
123 Amy 3.9 1000 26-JUN-96 123 Stanford CS Y
234 Bob 3.6 1500 7-Apr-95 123 Stanford EE N
345 Craig 3.5 500 4-Feb-95 123 Berkeley CS Y
456 Doris 3.9 1000 24-Jul-97 123 Cornell EE Y
567 Edward 2.9 2000 21-Dec-96 234 Berkeley biology N
678 Fay 3.8 200 27-Aug-96 345 MIT bioengineering Y
789 Gary 3.4 800 8-Oct-96 345 Cornell bioengineering N
987 Helen 3.7 800 27-Mar-97 345 Cornell CS Y

876 Irene 3.9 400 7-Mar-96 345 Cornell EE N

765 Jay 2.9 1500 8-Aug-98 678 Stanford history Y

26-May-96 987 Stanford CS Y
654 Amy 3.9 1000
27-Aug-98 987 Berkeley CS Y
543 Craig 3.4 2000
876 Stanford CS N
College 876 MIT biology Y
cName state enrollment 876 MIT marine biology N
Stanford CA 15000 765 Stanford history Y
Berkeley CA 36000 765 Cornell history N
MIT MA 10000 765 Cornell psychology Y
Cornell NY 21000 543 MIT CS N
Harvard MA 50040

Write SQL queries for the following:

Q1. Create a new column DoB in Student table. (Datatype will be date)
Q2. Insert DoB for each Student in corresponding table using above instance of Student
table.
Q3. Find average of GPA round off to 2 decimal places.
Q4. Find year of DoB of Student having less than 1000.
Q5. Compute Age of each student. (Hint: take difference between year of sysdate and
Student’s DoB)
Q6. Display name of all Students in uppercase and name of college they applied in lower
case.
Q7. Find fourth alphabet of each student. (Hint: use substring)
Q8. Find sID and sName of student whose sName has string length greater than 3.
Q9. Find floor, ceiling and truncate (to one decimal place) value of average GPA.
Q10. Display details of all students whose sID is even.
Q11. Compute Square Root of 900 and 247.
Q12. Consider the string “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled
peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where the
peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”
Find 6th occurrence of string ‘pick’. (Hint: use INSTR)
Q13. Consider String ‘Satya Nadella’ replace this using the key (Hint: use translate)
a d e l N S t y

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Q14. Display sID, sname and DoB in this format ‘February 26, 2014’
Q15. Convert the text ’26/02/2014’ to date.
Q16. Compute on which date is next Saturday and last day of this month?

Exercise
Q1. Display sID, sname and DoB in this format ‘26th Feburary, 2014’
Q2. Display sID, sname and DoB in this format ‘26/02/2014’
Q3. Add 5 months to DoB of Edward?
Q4. Display last day of DoB of Amy?
Q5. Display next Sunday of DoB of Doris?

Pre Experiment Questions

1. How to do arithmetic calculation in SQL?

2. How to store date in SQL?

Post Experiment Questions

1. When to use User created table or to use DUAL?

2. How can we decide whether to use truncate or round?
3. Which function is use to convert text to date?