Module 2: SQL Queries

What is SQL?
• Structured Query Language

• The standard for relational database

management systems (RDBMS)

• RDBMS: A database management system that

manages data as a collection of tables in
which all relationships are represented by
common values in related tables
 History of SQL
• 1970–E. F. Codd develops relational database concept
• 1974-1979–System R with Sequel (later SQL) created at IBM
Research Lab
• 1979–Oracle markets first relational DB with SQL
• 1981 – SQL/DS first available RDBMS system on DOS/VSE
• Others followed: INGRES (1981), IDM (1982), DG/SGL (1984),
Sybase (1986)
• 1986–ANSI SQL standard released
• 1989, 1992, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008–Major ANSI standard
updates
• Current–SQL is supported by most major database vendors

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 Standardized Relational Language

• Reduced training costs

• Productivity
• Application portability
• Application longevity
• Reduced dependence on a single vendor
• Cross-system communication

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 Why SQL?
• SQL is a very-high-level language.
– Say “what to do” rather than “how to do it.”
– Avoid a lot of data-manipulation details needed
in procedural languages like C++ or Java.
• Database management system figures out
“best” way to execute query.
– Called “query optimization.”

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Select-From-Where Statements
SELECT desired attributes
FROM one or more tables
WHERE condition about tuples of
the tables

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 Our Running Example
• All our SQL queries will be based on the following
database schema.
– Underline indicates key attributes.
Beers(name, manf)
Bars(name, addr, license)
Drinkers(name, addr, phone)
Likes(drinker, beer)
Sells(bar, beer, price)
Frequents(drinker, bar)

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 Example

• Using Beers(name, manf), what beers are made

by Anheuser-Busch?
SELECT name
FROM Beers
WHERE manf = ’Anheuser-Busch’;

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 Result of Query
name
Bud
Bud Lite
Michelob
...
The answer is a relation with a single attribute,
name, and tuples with the name of each beer
by Anheuser-Busch, such as Bud.
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 Meaning of Single-Relation Query
• Begin with the relation in the FROM clause.
• Apply the selection indicated by the WHERE
clause.
• Apply the extended projection indicated by
the SELECT clause.

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 Operational Semantics

name manf

Bud Anheuser-Busch Include t.name

in the result, if so

Check if
Anheuser-Busch

Tuple-variable t
loops over all
tuples
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 Operational Semantics --- General
• Think of a tuple variable visiting each tuple
of the relation mentioned in FROM.
• Check if the “current” tuple satisfies the
WHERE clause.
• If so, compute the attributes or expressions
of the SELECT clause using the components
of this tuple.

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 * In SELECT clauses

• When there is one relation in the FROM clause,

* in the SELECT clause stands for “all attributes
of this relation.”
• Example: Using Beers(name, manf):
SELECT *
FROM Beers
WHERE manf = ’Anheuser-Busch’;

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 Result of Query:
name manf
Bud Anheuser-Busch
Bud Lite Anheuser-Busch
Michelob Anheuser-Busch
... ...

Now, the result has each of the attributes

of Beers.
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 Renaming Attributes

• If you want the result to have different attribute

names, use “AS <new name>” to rename an
attribute.
• Example: Using Beers(name, manf):
SELECT name AS beer, manf
FROM Beers
WHERE manf = ’Anheuser-Busch’

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 Result of Query:
beer manf
Bud Anheuser-Busch
Bud Lite Anheuser-Busch
Michelob Anheuser-Busch
... ...

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 Expressions in SELECT Clauses

• Any expression that makes sense can appear

as an element of a SELECT clause.
• Example: Using Sells(bar, beer, price):
SELECT bar, beer,
price*114 AS priceInYen
FROM Sells;

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 Result of Query
bar beer priceInYen
Joe’s Bud 285
Sue’s Miller 342
… … …

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 Example: Constants as Expressions

• Using Likes(drinker, beer):

SELECT drinker,
’likes Bud’ AS whoLikesBud
FROM Likes
WHERE beer = ’Bud’;

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 Result of Query
drinker whoLikesBud
Sally likes Bud
Fred likes Bud
… …

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 Example: Information Integration
• We often build “data warehouses” from the
data at many “sources.”
• Suppose each bar has its own relation
Menu(beer, price) .
• To contribute to Sells(bar, beer, price) we need
to query each bar and insert the name of the
bar.

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 Information Integration --- (2)

• For instance, at Joe’s Bar we can issue the

query:
SELECT ’Joe’’s Bar’, beer, price
FROM Menu;

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 Complex Conditions in WHERE
Clause

• Boolean operators AND, OR, NOT.

• Comparisons =, <>, <, >, <=, >=.
– And many other operators that produce boolean-
valued results.

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 Example: Complex Condition

• Using Sells(bar, beer, price), find the price Joe’s

Bar charges for Bud:

SELECT price
FROM Sells
WHERE bar = ’Joe’’s Bar’ AND
beer = ’Bud’;
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 Patterns

• A condition can compare a string to a

pattern by:
– <Attribute> LIKE <pattern> or <Attribute> NOT
LIKE <pattern>
• Pattern is a quoted string with % = “any
string”; _ = “any character.”

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 Example: LIKE

• Using Drinkers(name, addr, phone) find the

drinkers with exchange 555:

SELECT name
FROM Drinkers
WHERE phone LIKE ’%555-_ _ _ _’;

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 NULL Values

• Tuples in SQL relations can have NULL as a

value for one or more components.
• Meaning depends on context. Two common
cases:
– Missing value : e.g., we know Joe’s Bar has some
address, but we don’t know what it is.
– Inapplicable : e.g., the value of attribute spouse
for an unmarried person.

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 Comparing NULL’s to Values

• The logic of conditions in SQL is really 3-

valued logic: TRUE, FALSE, UNKNOWN.
• Comparing any value (including NULL itself)
with NULL yields UNKNOWN.
• A tuple is in a query answer iff the WHERE
clause is TRUE (not FALSE or UNKNOWN).

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 Three-Valued Logic

• To understand how AND, OR, and NOT work

in 3-valued logic, think of TRUE = 1, FALSE =
0, and UNKNOWN = ½.
• AND = MIN; OR = MAX, NOT(x) = 1-x.
• Example:
TRUE AND (FALSE OR NOT(UNKNOWN)) =
MIN(1, MAX(0, (1 - ½ ))) =
MIN(1, MAX(0, ½ )) = MIN(1, ½ ) = ½.
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 Surprising Example
• From the following Sells relation:
bar beer price
Joe’s Bar Bud NULL
SELECT bar
FROM Sells
WHERE price < 2.00 OR price >= 2.00;
UNKNOWN UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN
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 Reason: 2-Valued Laws != 3-
Valued Laws
• Some common laws, like commutativity of
AND, hold in 3-valued logic.
• But not others, e.g., the law of the excluded
middle : p OR NOT p = TRUE.
– When p = UNKNOWN, the left side is MAX( ½, (1
– ½ )) = ½ != 1.

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 Multirelation Queries
• Interesting queries often combine data from
more than one relation.
• We can address several relations in one query
by listing them all in the FROM clause.
• Distinguish attributes of the same name by
“<relation>.<attribute>” .

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 Example: Joining Two Relations
• Using relations Likes(drinker, beer) and
Frequents(drinker, bar), find the beers liked by
at least one person who frequents Joe’s Bar.
SELECT beer
FROM Likes, Frequents
WHERE bar = ’Joe’’s Bar’ AND
Frequents.drinker =
Likes.drinker;

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 Formal Semantics
• Almost the same as for single-relation
queries:
1. Start with the product of all the relations in the
FROM clause.
2. Apply the selection condition from the WHERE
clause.
3. Project onto the list of attributes and
expressions in the SELECT clause.

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 Operational Semantics
• Imagine one tuple-variable for each relation in
the FROM clause.
– These tuple-variables visit each combination of
tuples, one from each relation.
• If the tuple-variables are pointing to tuples
that satisfy the WHERE clause, send these
tuples to the SELECT clause.

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 Example

drinker bar drinker beer

tv1 tv2
Sally Bud
Sally Joe’s

Likes
Frequents
check
for Joe
to output

check these
are equal

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 Explicit Tuple-Variables

• Sometimes, a query needs to use two

copies of the same relation.
• Distinguish copies by following the relation
name by the name of a tuple-variable, in
the FROM clause.
• It’s always an option to rename relations
this way, even when not essential.

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 Example: Self-Join
• From Beers(name, manf), find all pairs of
beers by the same manufacturer.
– Do not produce pairs like (Bud, Bud).
– Produce pairs in alphabetic order, e.g. (Bud,
Miller), not (Miller, Bud).
SELECT b1.name, b2.name
FROM Beers b1, Beers b2
WHERE b1.manf = b2.manf AND
b1.name < b2.name;
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 Subqueries
• A parenthesized SELECT-FROM-WHERE
statement (subquery ) can be used as a
value in a number of places, including
FROM and WHERE clauses.
• Example: in place of a relation in the FROM
clause, we can use a subquery and then
query its result.
– Must use a tuple-variable to name tuples of
the result.
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 Example: Subquery in FROM

• Find the beers liked by at least one person who

frequents Joe’s Bar. Drinkers who
frequent Joe’s Bar
SELECT beer
FROM Likes, (SELECT drinker
FROM Frequents
WHERE bar = ’Joe’’s Bar’)JD
WHERE Likes.drinker = JD.drinker;
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Subqueries That Return One Tuple
• If a subquery is guaranteed to produce one
tuple, then the subquery can be used as a
value.
– Usually, the tuple has one component.
– A run-time error occurs if there is no tuple or
more than one tuple.

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 Example: Single-Tuple Subquery
• Using Sells(bar, beer, price), find the bars
that serve Miller for the same price Joe
charges for Bud.
• Two queries would surely work:
1. Find the price Joe charges for Bud.
2. Find the bars that serve Miller at that price.

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 Query + Subquery Solution
SELECT bar
FROM Sells
WHERE beer = ’Miller’ AND
price = (SELECT price
FROM Sells
The price at WHERE bar = ’Joe’’s Bar’
which Joe
sells Bud AND beer = ’Bud’);

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 The IN Operator
• <tuple> IN (<subquery>) is true if and only if
the tuple is a member of the relation
produced by the subquery.
– Opposite: <tuple> NOT IN (<subquery>).
• IN-expressions can appear in WHERE clauses.

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 Example: IN
• Using Beers(name, manf) and Likes(drinker,
beer), find the name and manufacturer of each
beer that Fred likes.
SELECT *
FROM Beers
WHERE name IN (SELECT beer
The set of FROM Likes
beers Fred
likes WHERE drinker = ’Fred’);

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Remember These From Lecture #1?
SELECT a
FROM R, S
WHERE R.b = S.b;

SELECT a
FROM R
WHERE b IN (SELECT b FROM S);

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 IN is a Predicate About R’s Tuples
SELECT a
FROM R Two 2’s

WHERE b IN (SELECT b FROM S);

a b b c (1,2) satisfies
1 2 2 5 the condition;
1 is output once.
One loop, over 3 4 2 6
the tuples of R R S

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 This Query Pairs Tuples from R, S
SELECT a
FROM R, S
WHERE R.b = S.b;

a b b c (1,2) with (2,5)

1 2 2 5 and (1,2) with
(2,6) both satisfy
Double loop, over 3 4 2 6 the condition;
the tuples of R and S R S 1 is output twice.

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 The Exists Operator
• EXISTS(<subquery>) is true if and only if the
subquery result is not empty.
• Example: From Beers(name, manf) , find those
beers that are the unique beer by their
manufacturer.

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 Example: EXISTS
SELECT name
Notice scope rule: manf refers
FROM Beers b1 to closest nested FROM with
a relation having that attribute.
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT *
Set of
beers FROM Beers Notice the
with the SQL “not
same
WHERE manf = b1.manf AND equals”
manf as operator
b1, but
name <> b1.name);
not the
same
beer 50
 The Operator ANY

• x = ANY(<subquery>) is a boolean condition that

is true iff x equals at least one tuple in the
subquery result.
– = could be any comparison operator.
• Example: x >= ANY(<subquery>) means x is not
the uniquely smallest tuple produced by the
subquery.
– Note tuples must have one component only.
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 The Operator ALL

• x <> ALL(<subquery>) is true iff for every

tuple t in the relation, x is not equal to t.
– That is, x is not in the subquery result.
• <> can be any comparison operator.
• Example: x >= ALL(<subquery>) means
there is no tuple larger than x in the
subquery result.

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 Example: ALL
• From Sells(bar, beer, price), find the beer(s)
sold for the highest price.
SELECT beer
FROM Sells price from the outer
Sells must not be
WHERE price >= ALL( less than any price.
SELECT price
FROM Sells);

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Union, Intersection, and Difference
• Union, intersection, and difference of relations
are expressed by the following forms, each
involving subqueries:
– (<subquery>) UNION (<subquery>)
– (<subquery>) INTERSECT (<subquery>)
– (<subquery>) EXCEPT (<subquery>)

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 Example: Intersection

• Using Likes(drinker, beer), Sells(bar, beer,

price), and Frequents(drinker, bar), find the
drinkers and beers such that:
1. The drinker likes the beer, and
2. The drinker frequents at least one bar that sells
the beer.

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Notice trick:
subquery is
really a stored Solution
table.
The drinker frequents
(SELECT * FROM Likes) a bar that sells the
beer.
INTERSECT
(SELECT drinker, beer
FROM Sells, Frequents
WHERE Frequents.bar = Sells.bar
);

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 Bag Semantics
• Although the SELECT-FROM-WHERE statement
uses bag semantics, the default for union,
intersection, and difference is set semantics.
– That is, duplicates are eliminated as the operation
is applied.

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 Motivation: Efficiency

• When doing projection, it is easier to avoid

eliminating duplicates.
– Just work tuple-at-a-time.
• For intersection or difference, it is most
efficient to sort the relations first.
– At that point you may as well eliminate the
duplicates anyway.

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 Controlling Duplicate Elimination
• Force the result to be a set by SELECT
DISTINCT . . .
• Force the result to be a bag (i.e., don’t
eliminate duplicates) by ALL, as in ...
UNION ALL . . .

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 Example: DISTINCT
• From Sells(bar, beer, price), find all the
different prices charged for beers:
SELECT DISTINCT price
FROM Sells;
• Notice that without DISTINCT, each price
would be listed as many times as there were
bar/beer pairs at that price.

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 Example: ALL

• Using relations Frequents(drinker, bar) and

Likes(drinker, beer):
(SELECT drinker FROM Frequents)
EXCEPT ALL
(SELECT drinker FROM Likes);
• Lists drinkers who frequent more bars than they
like beers, and does so as many times as the
difference of those counts.

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 Join Expressions
• SQL provides several versions of (bag) joins.
• These expressions can be stand-alone queries
or used in place of relations in a FROM clause.

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 Products and Natural Joins

• Natural join:
R NATURAL JOIN S;
• Product:
R CROSS JOIN S;
• Example:
Likes NATURAL JOIN Sells;
• Relations can be parenthesized subqueries, as well.

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 Theta Join
• R JOIN S ON <condition>
• Example: using Drinkers(name, addr) and
Frequents(drinker, bar):
Drinkers JOIN Frequents ON
name = drinker;
gives us all (d, a, d, b) quadruples such that
drinker d lives at address a and frequents bar
b.
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