1

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

SQL, Structured Query Language, is a programming language designed to manage data stored in relational
databases. SQL operates through simple, declarative statements. This keeps data accurate and secure, and it
helps maintain the integrity of databases, regardless of size.

SQL is a standard language for storing, manipulating and retrieving data in databases.

What is SQL?
• SQL stands for Structured Query Language
• SQL lets you access and manipulate databases
• SQL became a standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986, and of the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987

What Can SQL do?

• SQL can execute queries against a database
• SQL can retrieve data from a database
• SQL can insert records in a database
• SQL can update records in a database
• SQL can delete records from a database
• SQL can create new databases
• SQL can create new tables in a database
• SQL can create stored procedures in a database
• SQL can create views in a database
• SQL can set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

RDBMS

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System.

RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems such as MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle,
MySQL, and Microsoft Access.
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The data in RDBMS is stored in database objects called tables. A table is a collection of related data entries
and it consists of columns and rows.
Look at the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;
Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the Customers table consist of
CustomerID, CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode and Country. A field is a column in a
table that is designed to maintain specific information about every record in the table.

A record, also called a row, is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example, there are 91 records in
the above Customers table.
A record is a horizontal entity in a table.
A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.

Database Tables

A database most often contains one or more tables. Each table is identified by a name (e.g. "Customers" or
"Orders"). Tables contain records (rows) with data.
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database (included in MS Access and MS SQL
Server).
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerI CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCo Countr
D de y

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berli 12209 Germa

n ny

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la Méxi 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución co
helados 2222 D.F.

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Moreno Mataderos Méxi 05023 Mexico

Taquería 2312 co
 3
D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Lond WA1 1DP UK
Sq. on

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berglund Berguvsvägen Lule S-958 22 Swede

8 å n
The table above contains five records (one for each customer) and seven columns (CustomerID,
CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, and Country).

SQL Statements

Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements.
The following SQL statement selects all the records in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;

Keep in Mind That...

• SQL keywords are NOT case sensitive: select is the same as SELECT
In this tutorial we will write all SQL keywords in upper-case.

Semicolon after SQL Statements?

Some database systems require a semicolon at the end of each SQL statement.
Semicolon is the standard way to separate each SQL statement in database systems that allow more than one
SQL statement to be executed in the same call to the server.

Some of The Most Important SQL Commands

• SELECT - extracts data from a database
• UPDATE - updates data in a database
• DELETE - deletes data from a database
• INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database
• CREATE DATABASE - creates a new database
• ALTER DATABASE - modifies a database
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• CREATE TABLE - creates a new table
• ALTER TABLE - modifies a table
• DROP TABLE - deletes a table
• CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key)
• DROP INDEX - deletes an index

The SQL SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.

The data returned is stored in a result table, called the result-set.

SELECT Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;
Here, column1, column2, ... are the field names of the table you want to select data from. If you want to select
all the fields available in the table, use the following syntax:
SELECT * FROM table_name;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

Futterkiste

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados Constitución D.F.
2222

3 Antonio Antonio Mataderos México 05023 Mexico

Moreno Moreno 2312 D.F.
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Taquería

4 Around the Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover London WA1 1DP UK

Horn Sq.

5 Berglunds Christina Berguvsvägen Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

snabbköp Berglund 8

SELECT Column Example

The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, City FROM Customers;

SELECT * Example

The following SQL statement selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.
Inside a table, a column often contains many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list the
different (distinct) values.
The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

SELECT DISTINCT Syntax

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;
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Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

Futterkiste

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados Constitución D.F.
2222

3 Antonio Antonio Mataderos México 05023 Mexico

Moreno Moreno 2312 D.F.
Taquería

4 Around the Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover London WA1 1DP UK

Horn Sq.

5 Berglunds Christina Berguvsvägen Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

snabbköp Berglund 8

SELECT Example

The following SQL statement selects all (and duplicate) values from the "Country" column in the "Customers"
table:
Example
SELECT Country FROM Customers;
Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT statement and see the result.

SELECT DISTINCT Examples

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The following SQL statement selects only the DISTINCT values from the "Country" column in the "Customers"
table:
Example
SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;
The following SQL statement lists the number of different (distinct) customer countries:
Example
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Country) FROM Customers;

Here is the workaround for MS Access:

Example
SELECT Count(*) AS DistinctCountries
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers);

The SQL WHERE Clause

The WHERE clause is used to filter records.

The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified condition.

WHERE Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

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2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico
Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

WHERE Clause Example

The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the country "Mexico", in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Mexico';

Text Fields vs. Numeric Fields

SQL requires single quotes around text values (most database systems will also allow double quotes).
However, numeric fields should not be enclosed in quotes:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID=1;
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Operators in The WHERE Clause

The following operators can be used in the WHERE clause:
Operator Description

= Equal

<> Not equal. Note: In some versions of SQL this operator may be written as !=

> Greater than

< Less than

>= Greater than or equal

<= Less than or equal

BETWEEN Between an inclusive range

LIKE Search for a pattern

IN To specify multiple possible values for a column

The SQL AND, OR and NOT Operators

The WHERE clause can be combined with AND, OR, and NOT operators.
The AND and OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition:
• The AND operator displays a record if all the conditions separated by AND is TRUE.
• The OR operator displays a record if any of the conditions separated by OR is TRUE.
The NOT operator displays a record if the condition(s) is NOT TRUE.
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AND Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 AND condition2 AND condition3 ...;
OR Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR condition3 ...;
NOT Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE NOT condition;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund
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AND Example

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany" AND city is "Berlin":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' AND City='Berlin';

OR Example

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where city is "Berlin" OR "München":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City='Berlin' OR City='München';

NOT Example

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT "Germany":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE NOT Country='Germany';

Combining AND, OR and NOT

You can also combine the AND, OR and NOT operators.

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is "Germany" AND city must be
"Berlin" OR "München" (use parenthesis to form complex expressions):
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Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany' AND (City='Berlin' OR City='München');

The following SQL statement selects all fields from "Customers" where country is NOT "Germany" and NOT "USA":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE NOT Country='Germany' AND NOT Country='USA';

The SQL ORDER BY Keyword

The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set in ascending or descending order.
The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records in descending order,
use the DESC keyword.

ORDER BY Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column1, column2, ... ASC|DESC;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
 13
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

ORDER BY Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;

ORDER BY DESC Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted DESCENDING by the
"Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;

ORDER BY Several Columns Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the "Country" and the
"CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;
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ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2

The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted ascending by the "Country"
and descending by the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;

The SQL INSERT INTO Statement

The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.

INSERT INTO Syntax

It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two ways.
The first way specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2, column3, ...)

VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);
If you are adding values for all the columns of the table, you do not need to specify the column names in the
SQL query. However, make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table. The
INSERT INTO syntax would be as follows:
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INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2, value3, ...);

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

89 White Clover Markets Karl Jablonski 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite 3B Seattle 98128 USA

90 Wilman Kala Matti Karttunen Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68

INSERT INTO Example

The following SQL statement inserts a new record in the "Customers" table:
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Tom B. Erichsen', 'Skagen 21', 'Stavanger', '4006', 'Norway');

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

89 White Clover Karl Jablonski 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite Seattle 98128 USA
Markets 3B
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90 Wilman Kala Matti Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

92 Cardinal Tom B. Erichsen Skagen 21 Stavanger 4006 Norway

Did you notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field?
The CustomerID column is an auto-increment field and will be generated automatically when a new record is
inserted into the table.

Insert Data Only in Specified Columns

It is also possible to only insert data in specific columns.

The following SQL statement will insert a new record, but only insert data in the "CustomerName", "City", and
"Country" columns (CustomerID will be updated automatically):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Stavanger', 'Norway');

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

89 White Clover Karl Jablonski 305 - 14th Ave. S. Suite Seattle 98128 USA
Markets 3B

90 Wilman Kala Matti Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland

Karttunen

91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland

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92 Cardinal null null Stavanger null Norway

What is a NULL Value?

A field with a NULL value is a field with no value.

If a field in a table is optional, it is possible to insert a new record or update a record without adding a value to
this field. Then, the field will be saved with a NULL value.

Note: It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different from a zero value or a field that contains
spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has been left blank during record creation!

How to Test for NULL Values?

It is not possible to test for NULL values with comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>.
We will have to use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators instead.

IS NULL Syntax

SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NULL;
IS NOT NULL Syntax
SELECT column_names
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;

Demo Database

Assume we have the following "Persons" table:

ID LastName FirstName Address City
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1 Doe John 542 W. 27th Street New York

2 Bloggs Joe London

3 Roe Jane New York

4 Smith John 110 Bishopsgate London

Suppose that the "Address" column in the "Persons" table is optional. If a record is inserted with no value for
"Address", the "Address" column will be saved with a NULL value.

The IS NULL Operator

The following SQL statement uses the IS NULL operator to list all persons that have no address:
SELECT LastName, FirstName, Address FROM Persons
WHERE Address IS NULL;
The result-set will look like this:
LastName FirstName Address

Bloggs Joe

Roe Jane
Tip: Always use IS NULL to look for NULL values.

The IS NOT NULL Operator

The following SQL statement uses the IS NOT NULL operator to list all persons that do have an address:
SELECT LastName, FirstName, Address FROM Persons
WHERE Address IS NOT NULL;
The result-set will look like this:
LastName FirstName Address

Doe John 542 W. 27th Street

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Smith John 110 Bishopsgate

The SQL UPDATE Statement

The UPDATE statement is used to modify the existing records in a table.

UPDATE Syntax
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, ...
WHERE condition;

Note: Be careful when updating records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the UPDATE statement.
The WHERE clause specifies which record(s) that should be updated. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records in
the table will be updated!

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

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Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

UPDATE Table

The following SQL statement updates the first customer (CustomerID = 1) with a new contact person and a new
city.
Example

UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName = 'Alfred Schmidt', City= 'Frankfurt'
WHERE CustomerID = 1;

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Alfred Schmidt Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
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5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

UPDATE Multiple Records

It is the WHERE clause that determines how many records that will be updated.
The following SQL statement will update the contactname to "Juan" for all records where country is "Mexico":
Example
UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan'
WHERE Country='Mexico';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Alfred Schmidt Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Juan Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Juan Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund
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Update Warning!

Be careful when updating records. If you omit the WHERE clause, ALL records will be updated!
Example
UPDATE Customers
SET ContactName='Juan';

The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Juan Obere Str. 57 Frankfurt 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Juan Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Juan Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería D.F.

4 Around the Horn Juan 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Juan Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

The SQL DELETE Statement

The DELETE statement is used to delete existing records in a table.

DELETE Syntax
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
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Note: Be careful when deleting records in a table! Notice the WHERE clause in the DELETE statement. The
WHERE clause specifies which record(s) should be deleted. If you omit the WHERE clause, all records in the table
will be deleted!

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

SQL DELETE Example

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The following SQL statement deletes the customer "Alfreds Futterkiste" from the "Customers" table:

Example
DELETE FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName='Alfreds Futterkiste';

The SQL MIN() and MAX() Functions

The MIN() function returns the smallest value of the selected column.
The MAX() function returns the largest value of the selected column.

MIN() Syntax
SELECT MIN(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

MAX() Syntax
SELECT MAX(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:
ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

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4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

MIN() Example

The following SQL statement finds the price of the cheapest product:
Example
SELECT MIN(Price) AS SmallestPrice
FROM Products;

MAX() Example

The following SQL statement finds the price of the most expensive product:
Example
SELECT MAX(Price) AS LargestPrice
FROM Products;

The SQL COUNT(), AVG() and SUM() Functions

The COUNT() function returns the number of rows that matches a specified criteria.
The AVG() function returns the average value of a numeric column.
The SUM() function returns the total sum of a numeric column.

COUNT() Syntax
SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
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AVG() Syntax
SELECT AVG(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

SUM() Syntax
SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Products" table in the Northwind sample database:
ProductID ProductName SupplierID CategoryID Unit Price

1 Chais 1 1 10 boxes x 20 bags 18

2 Chang 1 1 24 - 12 oz bottles 19

3 Aniseed Syrup 1 2 12 - 550 ml bottles 10

4 Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning 2 2 48 - 6 oz jars 22

 27
5 Chef Anton's Gumbo Mix 2 2 36 boxes 21.35

COUNT() Example

The following SQL statement finds the number of products:

Example
SELECT COUNT(ProductID)
FROM Products;

AVG() Example

The following SQL statement finds the average price of all products:
Example
SELECT AVG(Price)
FROM Products;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "OrderDetails" table in the Northwind sample database:
OrderDetailID OrderID ProductID Quantity

1 10248 11 12

2 10248 42 10

3 10248 72 5

4 10249 14 9

5 10249 51 40
 28

SUM() Example

The following SQL statement finds the sum of the "Quantity" fields in the "OrderDetails" table:

Example
SELECT SUM(Quantity)
FROM OrderDetails;

The SQL LIKE Operator

The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search for a specified pattern in a column.
There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:
• % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters
• _ - The underscore represents a single character
Note: MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_).
The percent sign and the underscore can also be used in combinations!

LIKE Syntax
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE columnN LIKE pattern;
Tip: You can also combine any number of conditions using AND or OR operators.
Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:
LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that start with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that end with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%' Finds any values that have "or" in any position
 29
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%' Finds any values that have "r" in the second position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE Finds any values that start with "a" and are at least 3 characters in
'a_%_%' length

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that start with "a" and ends with "o"

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

SQL LIKE Examples

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName starting with "a":
 30
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%';

he following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName ending with "a":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "or" in any position:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that have "r" in the second position:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%';
he following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that starts with "a" and are at least 3
characters in length:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a_%_%';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a ContactName that starts with "a" and ends with "o":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o';

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a CustomerName that does NOT start with "a":
 31
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerName NOT LIKE 'a%';

SQL Wildcard Characters

A wildcard character is used to substitute any other character(s) in a string.

Wildcard characters are used with the SQL LIKE operator. The LIKE operator is used in a WHERE clause to search
for a specified pattern in a column.
There are two wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator:
• % - The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters
• _ - The underscore represents a single character
Note: MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_).
In MS Access and SQL Server you can also use:
• [charlist] - Defines sets and ranges of characters to match
• [^charlist] or [!charlist] - Defines sets and ranges of characters NOT to match
The wildcards can also be used in combinations!
Here are some examples showing different LIKE operators with '%' and '_' wildcards:
LIKE Operator Description

WHERE CustomerName LIKE 'a%' Finds any values that starts with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%a' Finds any values that ends with "a"

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '%or%' Finds any values that have "or" in any position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE '_r%' Finds any values that have "r" in the second position

WHERE CustomerName LIKE Finds any values that starts with "a" and are at least 3 characters in
'a_%_%' length

WHERE ContactName LIKE 'a%o' Finds any values that starts with "a" and ends with "o"
 32

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

Using the % Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "ber":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 'ber%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City containing the pattern "es":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '%es%';
 33

Using the _ Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with any character, followed by "erlin":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '_erlin';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "L", followed by any character,
followed by "n", followed by any character, followed by "on":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE 'L_n_on';

Using the [charlist] Wildcard

The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "b", "s", or "p":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[bsp]%';
The following SQL statement selects all customers with a City starting with "a", "b", or "c":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[a-c]%';

Using the [!charlist] Wildcard

The two following SQL statements select all customers with a City NOT starting with "b", "s", or "p":
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City LIKE '[!bsp]%';
Or:
 34
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City NOT LIKE '[bsp]%';

SQL JOIN

A JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column between them.
Let's look at a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID OrderDate

10308 2 1996-09-18

10309 37 1996-09-19

10310 77 1996-09-20
Then, look at a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Germany

 35
2 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados Ana Trujillo Mexico

3 Antonio Moreno Taquería Antonio Moreno Mexico

Notice that the "CustomerID" column in the "Orders" table refers to the "CustomerID" in the "Customers" table.
The relationship between the two tables above is the "CustomerID" column.
Then, we can create the following SQL statement (that contains an INNER JOIN), that selects records that have
matching values in both tables:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderDate
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID=Customers.CustomerID;
and it will produce something like this:
OrderID CustomerName OrderDate

10308 Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados 9/18/1996

10365 Antonio Moreno Taquería 11/27/1996

10383 Around the Horn 12/16/1996

10355 Around the Horn 11/15/1996

10278 Berglunds snabbköp 8/12/1996

Different Types of SQL JOINs

Here are the different types of the JOINs in SQL:

• (INNER) JOIN: Returns records that have matching values in both tables
• LEFT (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records from the left table, and the matched records from the right table
• RIGHT (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records from the right table, and the matched records from the left table
• FULL (OUTER) JOIN: Return all records when there is a match in either left or right table
 36

SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

The INNER JOIN keyword selects records that have matching values in both tables.

INNER JOIN Syntax

SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
INNER JOIN table2 ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

And a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
 37
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

SQL INNER JOIN Example

The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer information:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID;

Note: The INNER JOIN keyword selects all rows from both tables as long as there is a match between the
columns. If there are records in the "Orders" table that do not have matches in "Customers", these orders will not
be shown!

JOIN Three Tables

The following SQL statement selects all orders with customer and shipper information:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Customers.CustomerName, Shippers.ShipperName
FROM ((Orders
INNER JOIN Customers ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID)
INNER JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID);
 38

SQL LEFT JOIN Keyword

The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all records from the left table (table1), and the matched records from the right
table (table2). The result is NULL from the right side, if there is no match.
LEFT JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;
Note: In some databases LEFT JOIN is called LEFT OUTER JOIN.

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.
And a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2
 39

SQL LEFT JOIN Example

The following SQL statement will select all customers, and any orders they might have:
Example
SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderID
FROM Customers
LEFT JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerID = Orders.CustomerID
ORDER BY Customers.CustomerName;
Note: The LEFT JOIN keyword returns all records from the left table (Customers), even if there are no matches in
the right table (Orders).

SQL RIGHT JOIN Keyword

The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all records from the right table (table2), and the matched records from the left
table (table1). The result is NULL from the left side, when there is no match.
RIGHT JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
RIGHT JOIN table2 ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;
 40
Note: In some databases RIGHT JOIN is called RIGHT OUTER JOIN.

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3

10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2
And a selection from the "Employees" table:
EmployeeID LastName FirstName BirthDate Photo

1 Davolio Nancy 12/8/1968 EmpID1.pic

2 Fuller Andrew 2/19/1952 EmpID2.pic

3 Leverling Janet 8/30/1963 EmpID3.pic

SQL RIGHT JOIN Example

The following SQL statement will return all employees, and any orders they might have placed:
Example
SELECT Orders.OrderID, Employees.LastName, Employees.FirstName
FROM Orders
RIGHT JOIN Employees ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
ORDER BY Orders.OrderID;
 41
Note: The RIGHT JOIN keyword returns all records from the right table (Employees), even if there are no matches
in the left table (Orders).

SQL FULL OUTER JOIN Keyword

The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword return all records when there is a match in either left (table1) or right (table2)
table records.
Note: FULL OUTER JOIN can potentially return very large result-sets!
FULL OUTER JOIN Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table1
FULL OUTER JOIN table2 ON table1.column_name = table2.column_name;

Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.
And a selection from the "Orders" table:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10308 2 7 1996-09-18 3
 42
10309 37 3 1996-09-19 1

10310 77 8 1996-09-20 2

SQL FULL OUTER JOIN Example

The following SQL statement selects all customers, and all orders:
SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderID
FROM Customers
FULL OUTER JOIN Orders ON Customers.CustomerID=Orders.CustomerID
ORDER BY Customers.CustomerName;

A selection from the result set may look like this:

CustomerName OrderID

Alfreds Futterkiste

Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados 10308

Antonio Moreno Taquería 10365

10382

10351
Note: The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword returns all the rows from the left table (Customers), and all the rows from
the right table (Orders). If there are rows in "Customers" that do not have matches in "Orders", or if there are
rows in "Orders" that do not have matches in "Customers", those rows will be listed as well.

SQL UNION Example

The following SQL statement selects all the different cities (only distinct values) from "Customers" and "Suppliers":
 43
Example
SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;
Note: If some customers or suppliers have the same city, each city will only be listed once, because UNION
selects only distinct values. Use UNION ALL to also select duplicate values!

SQL UNION ALL Example

The following SQL statement selects all cities (duplicate values also) from "Customers" and "Suppliers":
Example
SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION ALL
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

SQL UNION With WHERE

The following SQL statement selects all the different German cities (only distinct values) from "Customers" and
"Suppliers":
Example
SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
 44
UNION
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

SQL UNION ALL With WHERE

The following SQL statement selects all German cities (duplicate values also) from "Customers" and "Suppliers":
Example
SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION ALL
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

Another UNION Example

The following SQL statement lists all customers and suppliers:

Example
SELECT 'Customer' As Type, ContactName, City, Country
FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT 'Supplier', ContactName, City, Country
FROM Suppliers;

The SQL GROUP BY Statement

The GROUP BY statement is often used with aggregate functions (COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, AVG) to group the
result-set by one or more columns.
 45

GROUP BY Syntax
SELECT column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE condition
GROUP BY column_name(s)
ORDER BY column_name(s);

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country

1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany

2 Ana Trujillo Ana Trujillo Avda. de la México 05021 Mexico

Emparedados y Constitución 2222 D.F.
helados

3 Antonio Moreno Antonio Mataderos 2312 México 05023 Mexico

Taquería Moreno D.F.

4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK

5 Berglunds snabbköp Christina Berguvsvägen 8 Luleå S-958 22 Sweden

Berglund

SQL GROUP BY Examples

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country:
 46
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country;

The following SQL statement lists the number of customers in each country, sorted high to low:
Example
SELECT COUNT(CustomerID), Country
FROM Customers
GROUP BY Country
ORDER BY COUNT(CustomerID) DESC;

Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Orders" table in the Northwind sample database:
OrderID CustomerID EmployeeID OrderDate ShipperID

10248 90 5 1996-07-04 3

10249 81 6 1996-07-05 1
 47
10250 34 4 1996-07-08 2
And a selection from the "Shippers" table:
ShipperID ShipperName

1 Speedy Express

2 United Package

3 Federal Shipping

GROUP BY With JOIN Example

The following SQL statement lists the number of orders sent by each shipper:
Example
SELECT Shippers.ShipperName, COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders FROM Orders
LEFT JOIN Shippers ON Orders.ShipperID = Shippers.ShipperID
GROUP BY ShipperName;

SQL Comments

Comments are used to explain sections of SQL statements, or to prevent execution of SQL statements.
Note: The examples in this chapter will not work in Firefox and Microsoft Edge!
Comments are not supported in Microsoft Access databases. Firefox and Microsoft Edge are using Microsoft
Access database in our examples.

Single Line Comments

Single line comments start with --.

Any text between -- and the end of the line will be ignored (will not be executed).
The following example uses a single-line comment as an explanation:
 48
Example
--Select all:
SELECT * FROM Customers;
The following example uses a single-line comment to ignore the end of a line:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers -- WHERE City='Berlin';
The following example uses a single-line comment to ignore a statement:
Example
--SELECT * FROM Customers;
SELECT * FROM Products;

Multi-line Comments

Multi-line comments start with /* and end with */.

Any text between /* and */ will be ignored.
The following example uses a multi-line comment as an explanation:
Example
/*Select all the columns
of all the records
in the Customers table:*/
SELECT * FROM Customers;
The following example uses a multi-line comment to ignore many statements:
Example
/*SELECT * FROM Customers;
SELECT * FROM Products;
SELECT * FROM Orders;
SELECT * FROM Categories;*/
SELECT * FROM Suppliers;
To ignore just a part of a statement, also use the /* */ comment.
The following example uses a comment to ignore part of a line:
Example
SELECT CustomerName, /*City,*/ Country FROM Customers;
 49
The following example uses a comment to ignore part of a statement:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE (CustomerName LIKE 'L%'
OR CustomerName LIKE 'R%' /*OR CustomerName LIKE 'S%'
OR CustomerName LIKE 'T%'*/ OR CustomerName LIKE 'W%')
AND Country='USA'
ORDER BY CustomerName;