SQL Process

When you are executing an SQL command for any RDBMS, the system determines the best way to carry out your request and
SQL engine figures out how to interpret the task.
There are various components included in this process.
These components are −

 Query Dispatcher
 Optimization Engines
 Classic Query Engine
 SQL Query Engine, etc.
A classic query engine handles all the non-SQL queries, but a SQL query engine won't handle logical files.
Following is a simple diagram showing the SQL Architecture −

SQL Commands

The standard SQL commands to interact with relational databases are CREATE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and DROP. These
commands can be classified into the following groups based on their nature −

DDL - Data Definition Language

Sr.No. Command & Description

1 CREATE
Creates a new table, a view of a table, or other object in the database.

2 ALTER
Modifies an existing database object, such as a table.

3 DROP
Deletes an entire table, a view of a table or other objects in the database.

DML - Data Manipulation Language

Sr.No. Command & Description
 1 SELECT
Retrieves certain records from one or more tables.

2 INSERT
Creates a record.

3 UPDATE
Modifies records.

4 DELETE
Deletes records.

DCL - Data Control Language

Sr.No. Command & Description

1 GRANT
Gives a privilege to user.

2 REVOKE
Takes back privileges granted from user.

 Data Definition Language (DDL) commands are also called data definition commands because they are used to
define data tables.

 Data Manipulation Language (DML) commands are used to manipulate data in existing tables by adding, changing
or removing data. Unlike DDL commands that define how data is stored, DML commands operate in the tables
defined with DDL commands.

 Data Query Language consists of just one command, SELECT, used to get specific data from tables. This
command is sometimes grouped with the DML commands.

 Data Control Language commands are used to grant or revoke user access privileges.

 Transaction Control Language commands are used to change the state of some data -- for example,
to COMMIT transaction changes or to ROLLBACK transaction changes.

What is RDBMS?

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is the basis for SQL, and for all modern database systems
like MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft Access.
A Relational database management system (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational
model as introduced by E. F. Codd.
What is a table?

The data in an RDBMS is stored in database objects which are called as tables. This table is basically a collection of related data
entries and it consists of numerous columns and rows.
Remember, a table is the most common and simplest form of data storage in a relational database. The following program is an
example of a CUSTOMERS table −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

What is a field?

Every table is broken up into smaller entities called fields. The fields in the CUSTOMERS table consist of ID, NAME, AGE,
ADDRESS and SALARY.
A field is a column in a table that is designed to maintain specific information about every record in the table.

What is a Record or a Row?

A record is also called as a row of data is each individual entry that exists in a table. For example, there are 7 records in the above
CUSTOMERS table. Following is a single row of data or record in the CUSTOMERS table −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

A record is a horizontal entity in a table.

What is a column?

A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.
For example, a column in the CUSTOMERS table is ADDRESS, which represents location description and would be as shown
below −

+-----------+
| ADDRESS |
+-----------+
| Ahmedabad |
| Delhi |
| Kota |
| Mumbai |
| Bhopal |
| MP |
| Indore |
+----+------+

What is a NULL value?

A NULL value in a table is a value in a field that appears to be blank, which means a field with a NULL value is a field with no
value.
It is very important to understand that a NULL value is different than a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A field with a
NULL value is the one that has been left blank during a record creation.
SQL Constraints

Constraints are the rules enforced on data columns on a table. These are used to limit the type of data that can go into a table. This
ensures the accuracy and reliability of the data in the database.
Constraints can either be column level or table level. Column level constraints are applied only to one column whereas, table level
constraints are applied to the entire table.
Following are some of the most commonly used constraints available in SQL −
 NOT NULL Constraint − Ensures that a column cannot have a NULL value.
 DEFAULT Constraint − Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
 UNIQUE Constraint − Ensures that all the values in a column are different.
 PRIMARY Key − Uniquely identifies each row/record in a database table.
 FOREIGN Key − Uniquely identifies a row/record in any another database table.
 CHECK Constraint − The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain conditions.
 INDEX − Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

Data Integrity

The following categories of data integrity exist with each RDBMS −

 Entity Integrity − There are no duplicate rows in a table.
 Domain Integrity − Enforces valid entries for a given column by restricting the type, the format, or the range of values.
 Referential integrity − Rows cannot be deleted, which are used by other records.
 User-Defined Integrity − Enforces some specific business rules that do not fall into entity, domain or referential integrity.

Database Normalization
Database normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are two reasons of this normalization
process −
 Eliminating redundant data, for example, storing the same data in more than one table.
 Ensuring data dependencies make sense.
Both these reasons are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensures that data is logically
stored. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that help guide you in creating a good database structure.
Normalization guidelines are divided into normal forms; think of a form as the format or the way a database structure is laid out.
The aim of normal forms is to organize the database structure, so that it complies with the rules of first normal form, then second
normal form and finally the third normal form.
It is your choice to take it further and go to the fourth normal form, fifth normal form and so on, but in general, the third normal form
is more than enough.

 First Normal Form (1NF)

 Second Normal Form (2NF)
 Third Normal Form (3NF)

SQL is followed by a unique set of rules and guidelines called Syntax. This tutorial gives you a quick start
with SQL by listing all the basic SQL Syntax.
All the SQL statements start with any of the keywords like SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, ALTER,
DROP, CREATE, USE, SHOW and all the statements end with a semicolon (;).
The most important point to be noted here is that SQL is case insensitive, which means SELECT and select
have same meaning in SQL statements. Whereas, MySQL makes difference in table names. So, if you are
working with MySQL, then you need to give table names as they exist in the database.
Various Syntax in SQL
All the examples given in this tutorial have been tested with a MySQL server.

SQL SELECT Statement

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQL DISTINCT Clause

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name;

SQL WHERE Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;

SQL AND/OR Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION-1 {AND|OR} CONDITION-2;

SQL IN Clause
SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name IN (val-1, val-2,...val-N);

SQL BETWEEN Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name BETWEEN val-1 AND val-2;

SQL LIKE Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name LIKE { PATTERN };

SQL ORDER BY Clause

SELECT column1, column2....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
ORDER BY column_name {ASC|DESC};

SQL GROUP BY Clause

SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name;

SQL COUNT Clause

SELECT COUNT(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION;
SQL HAVING Clause
SELECT SUM(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION
GROUP BY column_name
HAVING (arithematic function condition);

SQL CREATE TABLE Statement

CREATE TABLE table_name(
column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
.....
columnN datatype,
PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);

SQL DROP TABLE Statement

DROP TABLE table_name;

SQL CREATE INDEX Statement

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name
ON table_name ( column1, column2,...columnN);

SQL DROP INDEX Statement

ALTER TABLE table_name
DROP INDEX index_name;

SQL DESC Statement

DESC table_name;

SQL TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement

ALTER TABLE table_name {ADD|DROP|MODIFY} column_name {data_ype};

SQL ALTER TABLE Statement (Rename)

ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME TO new_table_name;

SQL INSERT INTO Statement

INSERT INTO table_name( column1, column2....columnN)
VALUES ( value1, value2....valueN);

SQL UPDATE Statement

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2....columnN=valueN
[ WHERE CONDITION ];

SQL DELETE Statement

DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE {CONDITION};

SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement

CREATE DATABASE database_name;
SQL DROP DATABASE Statement
DROP DATABASE database_name;

SQL USE Statement

USE database_name;

SQL COMMIT Statement

COMMIT;

SQL ROLLBACK Statement

ROLLBACK;
SQL Data Type is an attribute that specifies the type of data of any object. Each column, variable and
expression has a related data type in SQL. You can use these data types while creating your tables. You can
choose a data type for a table column based on your requirement.
SQL Server offers six categories of data types for your use which are listed below −

Exact Numeric Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO

bigint -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 9,223,372,036,854,775,807

int -2,147,483,648 2,147,483,647

smallint -32,768 32,767

tinyint 0 255

bit 0 1

decimal -10^38 +1 10^38 -1

numeric -10^38 +1 10^38 -1

money -922,337,203,685,477.5808 +922,337,203,685,477.5807

smallmoney -214,748.3648 +214,748.3647

Approximate Numeric Data Types

 DATA TYPE FROM TO

float -1.79E + 308 1.79E + 308

real -3.40E + 38 3.40E + 38

Date and Time Data Types

DATA TYPE FROM TO

datetime Jan 1, 1753 Dec 31, 9999

smalldatetime Jan 1, 1900 Jun 6, 2079

date Stores a date like June 30, 1991

time Stores a time of day like 12:30 P.M.

Note − Here, datetime has 3.33 milliseconds accuracy where as smalldatetime has 1 minute accuracy.

Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No DATA TYPE & Description

.

1 char
Maximum length of 8,000 characters.( Fixed length non-Unicode characters)

varchar
2
Maximum of 8,000 characters.(Variable-length non-Unicode data).

varchar(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters, Variable-length non-Unicode data (SQL
Server 2005 only).

4 text
Variable-length non-Unicode data with a maximum length of 2,147,483,647
 characters.

Unicode Character Strings Data Types

Sr.No DATA TYPE & Description

.

1 nchar
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.( Fixed length Unicode)

nvarchar
2
Maximum length of 4,000 characters.(Variable length Unicode)

nvarchar(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 characters (SQL Server 2005 only).( Variable length
Unicode)

ntext
4
Maximum length of 1,073,741,823 characters. ( Variable length Unicode )

Binary Data Types

Sr.No DATA TYPE & Description

.

1 binary
Maximum length of 8,000 bytes(Fixed-length binary data )

varbinary
2
Maximum length of 8,000 bytes.(Variable length binary data)

varbinary(max)
3 Maximum length of 2E + 31 bytes (SQL Server 2005 only). ( Variable length
Binary data)

image
4
Maximum length of 2,147,483,647 bytes. ( Variable length Binary Data)
Misc Data Types

Sr.No DATA TYPE & Description

.

sql_variant
1
Stores values of various SQL Server-supported data types, except text, ntext,
and timestamp.

timestamp
2 Stores a database-wide unique number that gets updated every time a row gets
updated

uniqueidentifier
3
Stores a globally unique identifier (GUID)

xml
4 Stores XML data. You can store xml instances in a column or a variable (SQL
Server 2005 only).

cursor
5
Reference to a cursor object

table
6
Stores a result set for later processing

What is an Operator in SQL?

An operator is a reserved word or a character used primarily in an SQL statement's WHERE clause to
perform operation(s), such as comparisons and arithmetic operations. These Operators are used to specify
conditions in an SQL statement and to serve as conjunctions for multiple conditions in a statement.

 Arithmetic operators
 Comparison operators
 Logical operators
 Operators used to negate conditions

SQL Arithmetic Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples
 Operator Description Example

Adds values on either side of the operator. a + b will

+ (Addition)
give 30

Subtracts right hand operand from left hand operand. a - b will

- (Subtraction)
give -10

Multiplies values on either side of the operator. a * b will

* (Multiplication)
give 200

Divides left hand operand by right hand operand. b / a will

/ (Division)
give 2

Divides left hand operand by right hand operand and returns b%a
% (Modulus) remainder. will give
0

SQL Comparison Operators

Assume 'variable a' holds 10 and 'variable b' holds 20, then −
Show Examples

Operator Description Example

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if yes then (a = b) is
=
condition becomes true. not true.

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are (a != b)
!=
not equal then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the values of two operands are equal or not, if values are (a <> b)
<>
not equal then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the value of left operand is greater than the value of right (a > b) is
>
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. not true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less than the value of right (a < b) is
<
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. true.

>= Checks if the value of left operand is greater than or equal to the (a >= b)
 value of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is not
true.

Checks if the value of left operand is less than or equal to the value (a <= b)
<=
of right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is true.

Checks if the value of left operand is not less than the value of right (a !< b)
!<
operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is false.

Checks if the value of left operand is not greater than the value of (a !> b)
!>
right operand, if yes then condition becomes true. is true.

SQL Logical Operators

Here is a list of all the logical operators available in SQL.
Show Examples

Sr.No Operator & Description

.

1 ALL
The ALL operator is used to compare a value to all values in another value set.

AND
2 The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL
statement's WHERE clause.

ANY
3 The ANY operator is used to compare a value to any applicable value in the list
as per the condition.

BETWEEN
4 The BETWEEN operator is used to search for values that are within a set of
values, given the minimum value and the maximum value.

EXISTS
5 The EXISTS operator is used to search for the presence of a row in a specified
table that meets a certain criterion.

6 IN
 The IN operator is used to compare a value to a list of literal values that have
been specified.

LIKE
7 The LIKE operator is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard
operators.

NOT

8 The NOT operator reverses the meaning of the logical operator with which it is
used. Eg: NOT EXISTS, NOT BETWEEN, NOT IN, etc. This is a negate
operator.

OR
9 The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's
WHERE clause.

IS NULL
10
The NULL operator is used to compare a value with a NULL value.

UNIQUE
11 The UNIQUE operator searches every row of a specified table for uniqueness (no
duplicates).

An expression is a combination of one or more values, operators and SQL functions that evaluate to a value.
These SQL EXPRESSIONs are like formulae and they are written in query language. You can also use them
to query the database for a specific set of data.

Syntax
Consider the basic syntax of the SELECT statement as follows −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [CONDITION|EXPRESSION];
There are different types of SQL expressions, which are mentioned below −

 Boolean
 Numeric
 Date
Let us now discuss each of these in detail.

Boolean Expressions
SQL Boolean Expressions fetch the data based on matching a single value. Following is the syntax −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE SINGLE VALUE MATCHING EXPRESSION;
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The following table is a simple example showing the usage of various SQL Boolean Expressions −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE SALARY = 10000;
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+-----+---------+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Numeric Expression
These expressions are used to perform any mathematical operation in any query. Following is the syntax −
SELECT numerical_expression as OPERATION_NAME
[FROM table_name
WHERE CONDITION] ;
Here, the numerical_expression is used for a mathematical expression or any formula. Following is a simple
example showing the usage of SQL Numeric Expressions −
SQL> SELECT (15 + 6) AS ADDITION
+----------+
| ADDITION |
+----------+
| 21 |
+----------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

There are several built-in functions like avg(), sum(), count(), etc., to perform what is known as the aggregate
data calculations against a table or a specific table column.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) AS "RECORDS" FROM CUSTOMERS;
+---------+
| RECORDS |
+---------+
| 7 |
+---------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Date Expressions
Date Expressions return current system date and time values −
SQL> SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
+---------------------+
| Current_Timestamp |
+---------------------+
| 2009-11-12 06:40:23 |
+---------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Another date expression is as shown below −

SQL> SELECT GETDATE();;
+-------------------------+
| GETDATE |
+-------------------------+
| 2009-10-22 12:07:18.140 |
+-------------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

The SQL CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a new SQL database.

Syntax
The basic syntax of this CREATE DATABASE statement is as follows −
CREATE DATABASE DatabaseName;
Always the database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example
If you want to create a new database <testDB>, then the CREATE DATABASE statement would be as
shown below −
SQL> CREATE DATABASE testDB;

Make sure you have the admin privilege before creating any database. Once a database is created, you can
check it in the list of databases as follows −
SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD |
| TUTORIALSPOINT |
| mysql |
| orig |
| test |
| testDB |
+--------------------+
7 rows in set (0.00 sec)
The SQL DROP DATABASE statement is used to drop an existing database in SQL schema.

Syntax
The basic syntax of DROP DATABASE statement is as follows −
DROP DATABASE DatabaseName;
Always the database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example
If you want to delete an existing database <testDB>, then the DROP DATABASE statement would be as
shown below −
SQL> DROP DATABASE testDB;

NOTE − Be careful before using this operation because by deleting an existing database would result in loss
of complete information stored in the database.
Make sure you have the admin privilege before dropping any database. Once a database is dropped, you
can check it in the list of the databases as shown below −
SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD |
| TUTORIALSPOINT |
| mysql |
| orig |
| test |
+--------------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

When you have multiple databases in your SQL Schema, then before starting your operation, you would
need to select a database where all the operations would be performed.
The SQL USE statement is used to select any existing database in the SQL schema.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the USE statement is as shown below −
USE DatabaseName;
Always the database name should be unique within the RDBMS.

Example
You can check the available databases as shown below −
SQL> SHOW DATABASES;
+--------------------+
| Database |
+--------------------+
| information_schema |
| AMROOD |
| TUTORIALSPOINT |
| mysql |
| orig |
| test |
+--------------------+
6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now, if you want to work with the AMROOD database, then you can execute the following SQL command
and start working with the AMROOD database.
SQL> USE AMROOD;

Creating a basic table involves naming the table and defining its columns and each column's data type.
The SQL CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a new table.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the CREATE TABLE statement is as follows −
CREATE TABLE table_name(
column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
column3 datatype,
.....
columnN datatype,
PRIMARY KEY( one or more columns )
);
CREATE TABLE is the keyword telling the database system what you want to do. In this case, you want to
create a new table. The unique name or identifier for the table follows the CREATE TABLE statement.
Then in brackets comes the list defining each column in the table and what sort of data type it is. The syntax
becomes clearer with the following example.
A copy of an existing table can be created using a combination of the CREATE TABLE statement and the
SELECT statement. You can check the complete details at Create Table Using another Table.

Example
The following code block is an example, which creates a CUSTOMERS table with an ID as a primary key and
NOT NULL are the constraints showing that these fields cannot be NULL while creating records in this table
−
SQL> CREATE TABLE CUSTOMERS(
ID INT NOT NULL,
NAME VARCHAR (20) NOT NULL,
AGE INT NOT NULL,
ADDRESS CHAR (25) ,
SALARY DECIMAL (18, 2),
PRIMARY KEY (ID)
);

You can verify if your table has been created successfully by looking at the message displayed by the SQL
server, otherwise you can use the DESC command as follows −
SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| ID | int(11) | NO | PRI | | |
| NAME | varchar(20) | NO | | | |
| AGE | int(11) | NO | | | |
| ADDRESS | char(25) | YES | | NULL | |
| SALARY | decimal(18,2) | YES | | NULL | |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
Now, you have CUSTOMERS table available in your database which you can use to store the required
information related to customers.
The SQL DROP TABLE statement is used to remove a table definition and all the data, indexes, triggers,
constraints and permission specifications for that table.
NOTE − You should be very careful while using this command because once a table is deleted then all the
information available in that table will also be lost forever.

Syntax
The basic syntax of this DROP TABLE statement is as follows −
DROP TABLE table_name;

Example
Let us first verify the CUSTOMERS table and then we will delete it from the database as shown below −
SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
| ID | int(11) | NO | PRI | | |
| NAME | varchar(20) | NO | | | |
| AGE | int(11) | NO | | | |
| ADDRESS | char(25) | YES | | NULL | |
| SALARY | decimal(18,2) | YES | | NULL | |
+---------+---------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

This means that the CUSTOMERS table is available in the database, so let us now drop it as shown below.
SQL> DROP TABLE CUSTOMERS;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

Now, if you would try the DESC command, then you will get the following error −
SQL> DESC CUSTOMERS;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'TEST.CUSTOMERS' doesn't exist

Here, TEST is the database name which we are using for our examples.
The SQL INSERT INTO Statement is used to add new rows of data to a table in the database.

Syntax
There are two basic syntaxes of the INSERT INTO statement which are shown below.
INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME (column1, column2, column3,...columnN)
VALUES (value1, value2, value3,...valueN);
Here, column1, column2, column3,...columnN are the names of the columns in the table into which you want
to insert the data.
You may not need to specify the column(s) name in the SQL query if you are adding values for all the
columns of the table. But make sure the order of the values is in the same order as the columns in the table.
The SQL INSERT INTO syntax will be as follows −
INSERT INTO TABLE_NAME VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...valueN);

Example
The following statements would create six records in the CUSTOMERS table.
INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)
VALUES (1, 'Ramesh', 32, 'Ahmedabad', 2000.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (2, 'Khilan', 25, 'Delhi', 1500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (3, 'kaushik', 23, 'Kota', 2000.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (4, 'Chaitali', 25, 'Mumbai', 6500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (5, 'Hardik', 27, 'Bhopal', 8500.00 );

INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY)

VALUES (6, 'Komal', 22, 'MP', 4500.00 );

You can create a record in the CUSTOMERS table by using the second syntax as shown below.
INSERT INTO CUSTOMERS
VALUES (7, 'Muffy', 24, 'Indore', 10000.00 );
All the above statements would produce the following records in the CUSTOMERS table as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Populate one table using another table

You can populate the data into a table through the select statement over another table; provided the other
table has a set of fields, which are required to populate the first table.
Here is the syntax −
INSERT INTO first_table_name [(column1, column2, ... columnN)]
SELECT column1, column2, ...columnN
FROM second_table_name
[WHERE condition];
The SQL SELECT statement is used to fetch the data from a database table which returns this data in the
form of a result table. These result tables are called result-sets.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the SELECT statement is as follows −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN FROM table_name;
Here, column1, column2... are the fields of a table whose values you want to fetch. If you want to fetch all the
fields available in the field, then you can use the following syntax.
SELECT * FROM table_name;

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields of the customers
available in CUSTOMERS table.
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
If you want to fetch all the fields of the CUSTOMERS table, then you should use the following query.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce the result as shown below.

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL WHERE clause is used to specify a condition while fetching the data from a single table or by
joining with multiple tables. If the given condition is satisfied, then only it returns a specific value from the
table. You should use the WHERE clause to filter the records and fetching only the necessary records.
The WHERE clause is not only used in the SELECT statement, but it is also used in the UPDATE, DELETE
statement, etc., which we would examine in the subsequent chapters.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the SELECT statement with the WHERE clause is as shown below.
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]
You can specify a condition using the comparison or logical operators like >, <, =, LIKE, NOT, etc. The
following examples would make this concept clear.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code is an example which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS
table, where the salary is greater than 2000 −
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The following query is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS
table for a customer with the name Hardik.
Here, it is important to note that all the strings should be given inside single quotes (''). Whereas, numeric
values should be given without any quote as in the above example.
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE NAME = 'Hardik';
This would produce the following result −
+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The SQL AND & OR operators are used to combine multiple conditions to narrow data in an SQL statement.
These two operators are called as the conjunctive operators.
These operators provide a means to make multiple comparisons with different operators in the same SQL
statement.

The AND Operator

The AND operator allows the existence of multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the AND operator with a WHERE clause is as follows −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] AND [condition2]...AND [conditionN];
You can combine N number of conditions using the AND operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL
statement, whether it be a transaction or a query, all conditions separated by the AND must be TRUE.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the CUSTOMERS table,
where the salary is greater than 2000 and the age is less than 25 years −
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 AND age < 25;

This would produce the following result −

+----+-------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+-------+----------+
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+-------+----------+
The OR Operator
The OR operator is used to combine multiple conditions in an SQL statement's WHERE clause.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the OR operator with a WHERE clause is as follows −
SELECT column1, column2, columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition1] OR [condition2]...OR [conditionN]
You can combine N number of conditions using the OR operator. For an action to be taken by the SQL
statement, whether it be a transaction or query, the only any ONE of the conditions separated by the OR
must be TRUE.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code block hasa query, which would fetch the ID, Name and Salary fields from the
CUSTOMERS table, where the salary is greater than 2000 OR the age is less than 25 years.
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, SALARY
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY > 2000 OR age < 25;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | SALARY |
+----+----------+----------+
| 3 | kaushik | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+----------+
The SQL UPDATE Query is used to modify the existing records in a table. You can use the WHERE clause
with the UPDATE query to update the selected rows, otherwise all the rows would be affected.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the UPDATE query with a WHERE clause is as follows −
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2...., columnN = valueN
WHERE [condition];
You can combine N number of conditions using the AND or the OR operators.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following query will update the ADDRESS for a customer whose ID number is 6 in the table.
SQL> UPDATE CUSTOMERS
SET ADDRESS = 'Pune'
WHERE ID = 6;

Now, the CUSTOMERS table would have the following records −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | Pune | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to modify all the ADDRESS and the SALARY column values in the CUSTOMERS table, you do
not need to use the WHERE clause as the UPDATE query would be enough as shown in the following code
block.
SQL> UPDATE CUSTOMERS
SET ADDRESS = 'Pune', SALARY = 1000.00;

Now, CUSTOMERS table would have the following records −

+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | Pune | 1000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Pune | 1000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+---------+---------+
The SQL DELETE Query is used to delete the existing records from a table.
You can use the WHERE clause with a DELETE query to delete the selected rows, otherwise all the records
would be deleted.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the DELETE query with the WHERE clause is as follows −
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE [condition];
You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code has a query, which will DELETE a customer, whose ID is 6.
SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE ID = 6;

Now, the CUSTOMERS table would have the following records.

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to DELETE all the records from the CUSTOMERS table, you do not need to use the WHERE
clause and the DELETE query would be as follows −
SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS;

Now, the CUSTOMERS table would not have any record.

The SQL LIKE clause is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard operators. There are two
wildcards used in conjunction with the LIKE operator.

 The percent sign (%)

 The underscore (_)
The percent sign represents zero, one or multiple characters. The underscore represents a single number or
character. These symbols can be used in combinations.
Syntax
The basic syntax of % and _ is as follows −
SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX%'

or

SELECT FROM table_name

WHERE column LIKE '%XXXX%'

or

SELECT FROM table_name

WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX_'

or

SELECT FROM table_name

WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX'

or

SELECT FROM table_name

WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX_'
You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators. Here, XXXX could be any numeric or
string value.

Example
The following table has a few examples showing the WHERE part having different LIKE clause with '%' and
'_' operators −

Sr.No. Statement & Description

1 WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%'

Finds any values that start with 200.

WHERE SALARY LIKE '%200%'

2
Finds any values that have 200 in any position.

WHERE SALARY LIKE '_00%'

3
Finds any values that have 00 in the second and third positions.

WHERE SALARY LIKE '2_%_%'

4
Finds any values that start with 2 and are at least 3 characters in length.
 WHERE SALARY LIKE '%2'
5
Finds any values that end with 2.

WHERE SALARY LIKE '_2%3'

6
Finds any values that have a 2 in the second position and end with a 3.

WHERE SALARY LIKE '2___3'

7
Finds any values in a five-digit number that start with 2 and end with 3.

Let us take a real example, consider the CUSTOMERS table having the records as shown below.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Following is an example, which would display all the records from the CUSTOMERS table, where the
SALARY starts with 200.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%';

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL TOP clause is used to fetch a TOP N number or X percent records from a table.
Note − All the databases do not support the TOP clause. For example MySQL supports the LIMIT clause to
fetch limited number of records while Oracle uses the ROWNUM command to fetch a limited number of
records.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the TOP clause with a SELECT statement would be as follows.
SELECT TOP number|percent column_name(s)
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following query is an example on the SQL server, which would fetch the top 3 records from the
CUSTOMERS table.
SQL> SELECT TOP 3 * FROM CUSTOMERS;

This would produce the following result −

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
If you are using MySQL server, then here is an equivalent example −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
LIMIT 3;

This would produce the following result −

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
If you are using an Oracle server, then the following code block has an equivalent example.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE ROWNUM <= 3;

This would produce the following result −

+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+---------+
The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or
more columns. Some databases sort the query results in an ascending order by default.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the ORDER BY clause is as follows −
SELECT column-list
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition]
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];
You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure whatever column you are using to
sort that column should be in the column-list.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in an ascending order by the NAME
and the SALARY −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY NAME, SALARY;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in the descending order by NAME.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY NAME DESC;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
The SQL GROUP BY clause is used in collaboration with the SELECT statement to arrange identical data
into groups. This GROUP BY clause follows the WHERE clause in a SELECT statement and precedes the
ORDER BY clause.

Syntax
The basic syntax of a GROUP BY clause is shown in the following code block. The GROUP BY clause must
follow the conditions in the WHERE clause and must precede the ORDER BY clause if one is used.
SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name
WHERE [ conditions ]
GROUP BY column1, column2
ORDER BY column1, column2

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table is having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
If you want to know the total amount of the salary on each customer, then the GROUP BY query would be as
follows.
SQL> SELECT NAME, SUM(SALARY) FROM CUSTOMERS
GROUP BY NAME;

This would produce the following result −

+----------+-------------+
| NAME | SUM(SALARY) |
+----------+-------------+
| Chaitali | 6500.00 |
| Hardik | 8500.00 |
| kaushik | 2000.00 |
| Khilan | 1500.00 |
| Komal | 4500.00 |
| Muffy | 10000.00 |
| Ramesh | 2000.00 |
+----------+-------------+
Now, let us look at a table where the CUSTOMERS table has the following records with duplicate names −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Ramesh | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | kaushik | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Now again, if you want to know the total amount of salary on each customer, then the GROUP BY query
would be as follows −
SQL> SELECT NAME, SUM(SALARY) FROM CUSTOMERS
GROUP BY NAME;

This would produce the following result −

+---------+-------------+
| NAME | SUM(SALARY) |
+---------+-------------+
| Hardik | 8500.00 |
| kaushik | 8500.00 |
| Komal | 4500.00 |
| Muffy | 10000.00 |
| Ramesh | 3500.00 |
+---------+-------------+
The SQL DISTINCT keyword is used in conjunction with the SELECT statement to eliminate all the duplicate
records and fetching only unique records.
There may be a situation when you have multiple duplicate records in a table. While fetching such records, it
makes more sense to fetch only those unique records instead of fetching duplicate records.

Syntax
The basic syntax of DISTINCT keyword to eliminate the duplicate records is as follows −
SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2,.....columnN
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition]

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
First, let us see how the following SELECT query returns the duplicate salary records.
SQL> SELECT SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY SALARY;
This would produce the following result, where the salary (2000) is coming twice which is a duplicate record
from the original table.
+----------+
| SALARY |
+----------+
| 1500.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 4500.00 |
| 6500.00 |
| 8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+
Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT query and then see the result.
SQL> SELECT DISTINCT SALARY FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY SALARY;

This would produce the following result where we do not have any duplicate entry.
+----------+
| SALARY |
+----------+
| 1500.00 |
| 2000.00 |
| 4500.00 |
| 6500.00 |
| 8500.00 |
| 10000.00 |
+----------+
The SQL ORDER BY clause is used to sort the data in ascending or descending order, based on one or
more columns. Some databases sort the query results in an ascending order by default.

Syntax
The basic syntax of the ORDER BY clause which would be used to sort the result in an ascending or
descending order is as follows −
SELECT column-list
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition]
[ORDER BY column1, column2, .. columnN] [ASC | DESC];
You can use more than one column in the ORDER BY clause. Make sure that whatever column you are
using to sort, that column should be in the column-list.

Example
Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records −
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example, which would sort the result in an ascending order by NAME and SALARY.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY NAME, SALARY;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The following code block has an example, which would sort the result in a descending order by NAME.
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY NAME DESC;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

To fetch the rows with their own preferred order, the SELECT query used would be as follows −
SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
ORDER BY (CASE ADDRESS
WHEN 'DELHI' THEN 1
WHEN 'BHOPAL' THEN 2
WHEN 'KOTA' THEN 3
WHEN 'AHMEDABAD' THEN 4
WHEN 'MP' THEN 5
ELSE 100 END) ASC, ADDRESS DESC;

This would produce the following result −

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 |
| 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 |
| 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 |
| 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 |
| 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 |
| 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 |
| 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
This will sort the customers by ADDRESS in your ownoOrder of preference first and in a natural order for
the remaining addresses. Also, the remaining Addresses will be sorted in the reverse alphabetical order.