SQL:Data Definition

SQL Identifiers
Used to identify objects in the database, such as table names, view
names, and columns.
Default characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and the underscore.
Restrictions on identifiers
An identifier can be no longer than 128 characters
An identifier must start with a letter
An identifier cannot contain spaces.
 Creating a Database

Syntax: CREATE DATABASE database_name;

numerous arguments go along with this
command but are database specific
Only some databases require database to be
created and space to be allocated prior to
creation of tables.
Some databases provide graphical user
interfaces to create databases and allocate
space.
Access only allows database to be created
using User Interface
 Data Types
Broad Categories of Data Types
String Data
Numeric Data
Temporal
Large Objects
 String Data

Fixed Length:
Occupies the same length of space in memory no
matter how much data is stored in them.
Syntax:
char(n) where n is the length of the String
e.g. name char(50)
If the variable stored for name is ‘Sanjay’ the extra
43 fields are padded with blanks
 String Data

Variable Length string is specified with maximum

length of characters possible in the string,
however, the allocation is sized to the size of the
data stored in memory.
Syntax:
Varchar(n) – n is the maximum length of data possible for the
type
There may be a restriction in the maximum length
of the data that you can specify in the declaration
which will vary according to the database.
All character data has to be enclosed in single
quotes during specification.
 Numeric Data Types
Store all the data related to purely numeric data.
Some numeric data may also be stored as a character field
e.g. zip codes
Common Numeric Types:
Decimal Floating point number
Float Floating point number
Integer(size) Integer of specified length
Money A number which contains exactly two
digits after the decimal point
Number A standard number field that can
hold a floating point data

Note: Different databases name their numeric fields differently and

may not support all numeric types. They may also support
additional numeric types.
 Temporal Data Types

These represent the dates and time:

Three basic types are supported:
Dates
Times
Date-Time Combinations
 Large Data Objects

These are used for storing data objects like

files and images:
There are two types:
Character Large Objects (clobs)
Binary Large Objects (blobs)
 Specifying Keys-Introduction
Unique keyword is used to specify keys.
This ensures that duplicate rows are not created in the database.
Both Primary keys and Candidate Keys can be specified in the
database.
Once a set of columns has been declared unique any data entered
that duplicates the data in these columns is rejected.
Specifying a single column as unique:
Example
CREATE TABLE Studios
(studio_id INTEGER,
name char(20),
city varchar(50),
state char(2),
UNIQUE (name))
Here the name column has been declared as a candidate key
Specifying Keys-Multiple Columns

Specifying multiple columns as unique:

Example:
CREATE TABLE Studios
(studio_id Number,
name char(20),
city varchar(50),
state char(2),
UNIQUE (name),
UNIQUE(city, state))
Here both name & city/state combination are
declared as candidate keys
 Specifying Keys – Primary Key
Specifying multiple columns as unique:
To specify the Primary Key the Primary Key clause is used

Example:
CREATE TABLE Studios
(studio_id Number,
name char(20),
city varchar(50),
state char(2),
PRIMARY KEY (studio_id),
UNIQUE (name),
UNIQUE(city, state)
)
 Specfying Keys – Single and MultiColumn Keys

Single column keys can be defined at the column level instead of at

the table level at the end of the field descriptions.
MultiColumn keys still need to be defined separately at the table
level

CREATE TABLE Studios

(studio_id Number PRIMARY KEY,
name char(20) UNIQUE,
city varchar(50),
state char(2),
Unique(city, state))

Note: Some databases require the use of Unique Index for

specification of keys.
 Specifying Keys – Foreign Keys
References clause is used to create a relationship between a set of
columns in one table and a candidate key in the table that is being
referenced.

Example:

CREATE TABLE Movies

(movie_title varchar(40),
studio_id Number REFERENCES Studios(studio_id))

Creates a relationship from the Movies table to the Studios table

 Constraints – Disallowing Null Values
Disallowing Null Values:
Null values entered into a column means that the data in not
known.
These can cause problems in Querying the database.
Specifying Primary Key automatically prevents null being
entered in columns which specify the primary key

Not Null clause is used in preventing null values from being

entered in a column.
Example:
CREATE TABLE Studios
( studio_id number PRIMARY KEY,
name char(20) NOT NULL,
city varchar(50) NOT NULL,
state char(2) NOT NULL)

Null clause can be used to explicitly allow null values in a

column also
 Constraints – Value Constraints
Value Constraints:
Allows value inserted in the column to be checked condition in the column
constraint.
Check clause is used to create a constraint in SQL
Example:
CREATE TABLE Movies
(movie_titlevarchar(40) PRIMARY KEY,
studio_id Number,
budget Number check (budget > 50000)
)
Table level constraints can also be defined using the Constraint keyword
Example:
CREATE TABLE Movies
(movie_titlevarchar(40) PRIMARY KEY,
studio_id Number,
budget Number check (budget > 50000),
release_date Date,
release_date_constraint Check (release_date between ’01-Jan-1980’ and ’31-dec-1989))
Such constraints can be activated and deactivated as required.
 Insert Statement
Insert:
Allows you to add new records to the Table
Syntax:
Insert into table_name[(column_list)] values (value_list)
Example:
INSERT INTO studios
VALUES (1, ‘Giant’, ‘Los Angeles’, ‘CA’)

INSERT INTO studios

(studio_city, studio_state, studio_name, studio_id)
VALUES (‘Burbank’, ‘CA’, ‘MPM’, 2)
Notes1: If the columns are not specified as in the first example the
data goes in the order specified in the table
Notes2: There are two ways of inserting Null values
1. If the field has a default value of Null, you can use an Insert
statement that ignores the column where the value is to be Null.
2. You can specify the column in the column list specification and
assign a value of Null to the corresponding value field.
 Select and Insert
Select & Insert:
A select query can be used in the insert statement to get the
values for the insert statement

Example:
INSERT INTO city_state
SELECT studio_city, studio_state FROM studios

This selects the corresponding fields from the studios table

and inserts them into the city_state table.
Example:
INSERT INTO city_state
SELECT Distinct studio_city, studio_state FROM studios

This selects the corresponding fields from the studios table,

deletes the duplicate fields and inserts them into the
city_state table. Thus the final table has distinct rows
 Delete Statement
Delete Statement:
is used to remove records from a table of the database. The
where clause in the syntax is used to restrict the rows deleted
from the table otherwise all the rows from the table are
deleted.

Syntax: DELETE FROM table_name [WHERE Condition]

Example:
DELETE FROM City_State
WHERE state = ‘TX’

Deletes all the rows where the state is Texas keeps all the
other rows.
 Update Statement
Update Statement:
used to make changes to existing rows of the table. It has three parts.
First, you ,must specify which table is going to be updated. The
second part of the statement is the set clause, in which you should
specify the columns that will be updated as well as the values that will
be inserted. Finally, the where clause is used to specify which rows will
be updated.

Syntax:
UPDATE table_name
SET column_name1 = value1, column_name2 = value2, …..
[WHERE Condition]
Example:
UPDATE studios
SET studio_city = ‘New York’, studio_state = ‘NY’
WHERE studio_id = 1

Notes1: If the condition is dropped then all the rows are updated
 Truncate Statement
Truncate Statement:
used to delete all the rows of a table. Delete can also be used to
delete all the rows from the table. The difference is that delete
performs a delete operation on each row in the table and the database
performs all attendant tasks on the way. On the other had the
Truncate statement simply throws away all the rows at once and is
much quicker. The note of caution is that truncate does not do integrity
checks on the way which can lead to inconsistencies on the way. If
there are dependencies requiring integrity checks we should use
delete.

Syntax: TRUNCATE TABLE table_name

Example:
TRUNCATE TABLE studios

This deletes all the rows of the table studios

 Drop Statement

Drop Statement:
used to remove elements from a database, such as
tables, indexes or even users and databases. Drop
command is used with a variety of keywords based on
the need.

Drop Table Syntax: DROP TABLE table_name

Drop Table Example: DROP TABLE studios

Drop Index Syntax: DROP INDEX table_name

Drop Index Example: DROP INDEX movie_index
 Alter Statement
Alter Statement:
used to make changes to the schema of the table. Columns
can be added and the data type of the columns changed as
long as the data in those columns conforms to the data type
specified.

Syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD (column datatype [Default Expression])
[REFERENCES table_name (column_name)’
[CHECK condition]

Example:
ALTER TABLE studios
ADD (revenue Number DEFAULT 0)
 Alter Statement
Add table level constraints:
Syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD ([CONSTRAINT constraint_name CHECK comparison]
[columns REFERENCES table_name (columns)]
Example:
ALTER TABLE studios
ADD (CONSTRAINT check_state CHECK (studio_state in (‘TX’, ‘CA’, ‘WA’))

Modify Columns:
Syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name
MODIFY column [data type]
[Default Expression]
[REFERENCES table_name (column_name)’
[CHECK condition]
Example:
ALTER TABLE People
MODIFY person_union varchar(10)

Notes1: Columns can not be removed from the table using alter. If you
want to remove columns you have to drop the table and then recreate it
without the column that you want to discard
 Alter Statement
Alter Statement:
used to make changes to the schema of the table. Columns
can be added and the data type of the columns changed as
long as the data in those columns conforms to the data type
specified.

Syntax:
ALTER TABLE table_name
ADD (column datatype [Default Expression])
[REFERENCES table_name (column_name)’
[CHECK condition]

Example:
ALTER TABLE studios
ADD (revenue Number DEFAULT 0)
 Creating a View
Format:

CREATE VIEW viewName [(newColumnName [],….)]

AS subselect [WITH [CASCADED|LOCAL]CHECK OPTION]
 Create a horizontal view
Create a view so that the manager at branch B003 can see only the
details for staff who work in his or her branch office.

CREATE VIEW manager3staff

AS SELECT *
FROM staff
WHERE branchNo=‘B003’;