The SQL SELECT Statement
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set.
SQL SELECT Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name
and
SELECT * FROM table_name
Note: SQL is not case sensitive. SELECT is the same as select.
An SQL SELECT Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select the content of the columns named "LastName" and "FirstName" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT LastName,FirstName FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this: LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari
SELECT * Example
Now we want to select all the columns from the "Persons" table. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons
Tip: The asterisk (*) is a quick way of selecting all columns! The result-set will look like this:
P_Id 1 2 3
LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen
FirstName Ola Tove Kari
Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20
City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Navigation in a Result-set
Most database software systems allow navigation in the result-set with programming functions, like: Move-ToFirst-Record, Get-Record-Content, Move-To-Next-Record, etc.
The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement
In a table, some of the columns may contain duplicate values. This is not a problem, however, sometimes you will want to list only the different (distinct) values in a table. The DISTINCT keyword can be used to return only distinct (different) values.
SQL SELECT DISTINCT Syntax
SELECT DISTINCT column_name(s) FROM table_name
SELECT DISTINCT Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select only the distinct values from the column named "City" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Persons
The result-set will look like this: City Sandnes Stavanger
WHERE CLAUSE:
The WHERE clause is used to filter records.
The WHERE Clause
The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.
SQL WHERE Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name WHERE column_name operator value
WHERE Clause Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select only the persons living in the city "Sandnes" from the table above. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE City='Sandnes'
The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Quotes Around Text Fields
SQL uses single quotes around text values (most database systems will also accept double quotes). Although, numeric values should not be enclosed in quotes. For text values:
This is correct: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' This is wrong: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName=Tove
For numeric values:
This is correct: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year=1965 This is wrong: SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE Year='1965'
Operators Allowed in the WHERE Clause
With the WHERE clause, the following operators can be used: Operator = <> > < >= <= BETWEEN LIKE IN Equal Not equal Greater than Less than Greater than or equal Less than or equal Between an inclusive range Search for a pattern If you know the exact value you want to return for at least one of the columns Description
Note: In some versions of SQL the <> operator may be written as !=
SQL AND & OR Operators
The AND & OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition.
The AND & OR Operators
The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition and the second condition is true. The OR operator displays a record if either the first condition or the second condition is true.
AND Operator Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" AND the last name equal to "Svendson": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' AND LastName='Svendson'
The result-set will look like this:
P_Id 2
LastName Svendson
FirstName Tove
Address Borgvn 23
City Sandnes
OR Operator Example
Now we want to select only the persons with the first name equal to "Tove" OR the first name equal to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola'
The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 2 LastName Hansen Svendson FirstName Ola Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes
Combining AND & OR
You can also combine AND and OR (use parenthesis to form complex expressions). Now we want to select only the persons with the last name equal to "Svendson" AND the first name equal to "Tove" OR to "Ola": We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Svendson' AND (FirstName='Tove' OR FirstName='Ola')
The result-set will look like this: P_Id 2 LastName Svendson FirstName Tove Address Borgvn 23 City Sandnes
SQL ORDER BY Keyword
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set.
The ORDER BY Keyword
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by a specified column. The ORDER BY keyword sort the records in ascending order by default.
If you want to sort the records in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword.
SQL ORDER BY Syntax
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name ORDER BY column_name(s) ASC|DESC
ORDER BY Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Tom Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Vingvn 23 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the persons by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName
The result-set will look like this: P_Id 1 4 3 2 LastName Hansen Nilsen Pettersen Svendson FirstName Ola Tom Kari Tove Address Timoteivn 10 Vingvn 23 Storgt 20 Borgvn 23 City Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
ORDER BY DESC Example
Now we want to select all the persons from the table above, however, we want to sort the persons descending by their last name. We use the following SELECT statement:
SELECT * FROM Persons ORDER BY LastName DESC
The result-set will look like this: P_Id 2 3 4 1 LastName Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Hansen FirstName Tove Kari Tom Ola Address Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Vingvn 23 Timoteivn 10 City Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
SQL INSERT INTO Statement
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.
The INSERT INTO Statement
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert a new row in a table.
SQL INSERT INTO Syntax
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two forms. The first form doesn't specify the column names where the data will be inserted, only their values:
INSERT INTO table_name VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)
The second form specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3,...) VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...)
SQL INSERT INTO Example
We have the following "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger
Now we want to insert a new row in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
INSERT INTO Persons VALUES (4,'Nilsen', 'Johan', 'Bakken 2', 'Stavanger')
The "Persons" table will now look like this: P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Insert Data Only in Specified Columns
It is also possible to only add data in specific columns. The following SQL statement will add a new row, but only add data in the "P_Id", "LastName" and the "FirstName" columns:
INSERT INTO Persons (P_Id, LastName, FirstName) VALUES (5, 'Tjessem', 'Jakob')
The "Persons" table will now look like this: P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
SQL UPDATE Statement
The UPDATE statement is used to update records in a table.
The UPDATE Statement
The UPDATE statement is used to update existing records in a table.
SQL UPDATE Syntax
UPDATE table_name SET column1=value, column2=value2,... WHERE some_column=some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be updated!
SQL UPDATE Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Now we want to update the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table. We use the following SQL statement:
UPDATE Persons SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes' WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'
The "Persons" table will now look like this: P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 Nissestien 67 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
SQL UPDATE Warning
Be careful when updating records. If we had omitted the WHERE clause in the example above, like this:
UPDATE Persons SET Address='Nissestien 67', City='Sandnes'
The "Persons" table would have looked like this: P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 Nissestien 67 City Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes Sandnes
SQL DELETE Statement
The DELETE statement is used to delete records in a table.
The DELETE Statement
The DELETE statement is used to delete rows in a table.
SQL DELETE Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value
Note: Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE syntax. The WHERE clause specifies which record or records that should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records will be deleted!
SQL DELETE Example
The "Persons" table: P_Id 1 2 3 4 5 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen Tjessem FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Jakob Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 Nissestien 67 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger Sandnes
Now we want to delete the person "Tjessem, Jakob" in the "Persons" table.
We use the following SQL statement:
DELETE FROM Persons WHERE LastName='Tjessem' AND FirstName='Jakob'
The "Persons" table will now look like this: P_Id 1 2 3 4 LastName Hansen Svendson Pettersen Nilsen FirstName Ola Tove Kari Johan Address Timoteivn 10 Borgvn 23 Storgt 20 Bakken 2 City Sandnes Sandnes Stavanger Stavanger
Delete All Rows
It is possible to delete all rows in a table without deleting the table. This means that the table structure, attributes, and indexes will be intact:
DELETE FROM table_name or DELETE * FROM table_name
Note: Be very careful when deleting records. You cannot undo this statement!
