GIFT School of Engineering

and Applied Sciences

Spring 2024

CS-244: Database Systems-Lab

Lab-12 Manual

Reporting Aggregated Data using Group Functions

 Lab-12 Manual 2024

Introduction to Lab
This lab further addresses functions. It focuses on obtaining summary information, such
as averages, for group of rows. It discusses how to group rows in a table into smaller sets
and how to specify the search criteria for group of rows.

The main topics of this lab include:

1. What are group functions?

2. Types of group functions
3. Group functions syntax
4. Using group functions
5. Using the COUNT function
6. Group functions and NULL values
7. Creating groups of data (the GROUP BY clause)
8. GROUP BY clause syntax
9. Using the GROUP BY clause
10. Grouping by more than one column
11. Illegal queries using group functions
12. Excluding group results (the HAVING clause)
13. Nesting group functions
14. Practice SQL Statements
15. SOLUTIONS: Practice SQL Statement
Objectives of this Lab
At the end of this lab, students should be able to:
a) Identify the available group functions
b) Describe the use of group functions.
c) Group data by using the GROUP BY clause
d) Include or exclude grouped rows by using the HAVING clause

Page | 1
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

1. What are Group Functions?

MySQL
Unlike single-row functions, group functions operate on sets of rows to give one result
per group. These sets may be the whole table or the table split into groups.
For example, what is the maximum salary in the employees table?

2. Types of Group Functions

The group functions available are:

AVG
COUNT
MAX MIN
STDDEV
SUM
VARIANCE
Each of the functions accepts an
argument. The following table identifies the options that you can use in the syntax:
Function Description

AVG([DISTINCT|ALL]n) Average value of n, ignoring null values

COUNT({*|[DISTINCT|ALL]expr }) Number of rows, where expr evaluates to

something other than null (count all selected
rows using *, including duplicates and rows with
nulls)

Page | 2
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

MAX([DISTINCT|ALL]expr) Maximum value of expr, ignoring null values

MIN([DISTINCT|ALL]expr) Minimum value of expr, ignoring null values

STDDEV([DISTINCT|ALL]x) Standard deviation of n, ignoring null values

SUM([DISTINCT|ALL]n) Sum values of n, ignoring null values

VARIANCE([DISTINCT|ALL]x) Variance of n, ignoring null values

3. Group Functions Syntax

Guidelines for Using Group Functions

• DISTINCT makes the function consider only non-duplicate values; ALL makes it
consider every value, including duplicates. The default is ALL and therefore does
not need to be specified.
• The data types for the functions with an expr argument may be CHAR, VARCHAR,
NUMBER, or DATE.

• All group functions ignore null values. To substitute a value for null values, use the
IFNULL or COALESCE functions.

4. Using Group Functions

You can use AVG, MIN, MAX, and SUM functions against columns that store numeric data.
MIN and MAX functions can be used for any data type.
Note: The DISTINCT clause is used to suppress counting of duplicate values in the
functions.
Examples of the usage of group functions:

Page | 3
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

1. SELECT AVG(sal), MAX(sal), MIN(sal), SUM(sal) FROM emp;

2. SELECT AVG(sal), MAX(sal), MIN(sal), sum(sal) FROM emp WHERE
job LIKE '%MAN';
3. SELECT AVG(ALL sal) FROM emp;
4. SELECT AVG(DISTINCT sal) FROM emp;
5. SELECT MIN(hiredate), MAX(hiredate) FROM emp;

The above query displays the most junior and most senior employees.

6. SELECT MIN(ALL hiredate), MAX(DISTINCT hiredate) FROM emp;

7. SELECT MIN(DISTINCT hiredate), MAX(DISTINCT hiredate) FROM emp;
8. SELECT MIN(ename), MAX(ename) FROM emp;

The above query displays the employee name that is first and the employee name
that is last in an alphabetized list of all employees.

Note: The AVG, SUM, VARIANCE, and STDDEV functions can be used only with
numeric data types.

5. Using the COUNT Function

The COUNT function has three formats:

COUNT (*)

COUNT (expr)

COUNT (DISTINCT expr)

COUNT (*) returns the number of rows in a table that satisfy the criteria of the SELECT
statement, including duplicate rows and rows containing null values in any of the
columns. If a WHERE clause is included in the SELECT statement, COUNT (*) returns the
number of rows that satisfy the condition in the WHERE clause.

In contrast, COUNT (expr)returns the number of non-null values in the column identified
by expr.
COUNT (DISTINCT expr) returns the number of unique, non-null values in the column
identified by expr.
Examples:

Page | 4
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

1.
2. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp;
3. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE deptno = 10;
4. SELECT COUNT(comm) FROM emp;
5. SELECT COUNT(comm) FROM emp WHERE deptno = 30;
6. SELECT COUNT(deptno) FROM emp;
7. SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT deptno) FROM emp;

8. Group Functions and Null Values

All group functions ignore null values in the column. For example,
SELECT AVG(comm)FROM emp;

In the above query, the average is calculated based only on the rows in the table where a valid
value is stored in the COMM column. The average is calculated as the total commission paid to
all employees divided by the number of employees receiving commission.

The IFNULL function forces group functions to include null values.

SELECT AVG(IFNULL(comm, 0)) FROM emp;

The average is calculated based on all rows in the table, regardless of whether null values
are stored in the COMM column. The average is calculated as the total commission that is
paid to all employees divided by the total number of employees in the company.

9. Creating Groups of Data (the GROUP BY clause)

Page | 5
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

Until now, all group functions have treated the table as one large group of information. At
times, you need to divide the table of information into smaller groups. For example, display
the average salary in EMP table for each department.

This can be done using the GROUP BY clause.

10. GROUP BY Clause Syntax

You can use the GROUP BY clause to divide the rows in a table into groups. You can then
use the group functions to return summary information for each group.

In the syntax, group_by_expression specifies columns whose values determine the basis
for grouping rows.

Guidelines:
 If you include a group function in a SELECT clause, you cannot select individual
results, unless the individual column appears in the GROUP BY clause. You receive
an error message if you fail to include the column in the GROUP BY clause.
 Using a WHERE clause, you can exclude rows before dividing them into groups.
 You cannot use Group function in where clause.
 You must include the non-aggregated columns in the GROUP BY clause. Otherwise
it will either produce error or incorrect result.
 You should not use a column alias in the GROUP BY clause. But in some databases
it’s allowed as well as an extended feature.
 By default, rows are sorted by ascending order of the columns included in the
GROUP BY list. You can override this by using the ORDER BY clause.
11. Using the GROUP BY Clause
When using the GROUP BY clause, make sure that all columns in the SELECT list that are
not group functions are included in the GROUP BY clause. For Example,
1. SELECT deptno, AVG(sal)FROM emp GROUP BY deptno;

2. SELECT deptno, COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE sal > 1200 GROUP BY deptno
3. SELECT AVG(sal)FROM emp GROUP BY deptno;

Page | 6
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

4. SELECT deptno, COUNT(*) FROM emp WHERE sal > 1200 GROUP BY deptno ORDER BY
deptno DESC;

The GROUP BY column does not have to be in the SELECT list as in query-3 above.

You can use the group function in the ORDER BY clause:

SELECT deptno, AVG(sal)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno
ORDER BY AVG(sal);

12. Grouping by More Than One Column (Groups within Groups)

Sometimes you need to see results for groups within groups. For example, display the
results by adding up salaries in the EMP table for each job, grouped by department.

1. SELECT deptno “Dept_ID”, job “Job”, SUM(sal), COUNT(job)FROM emp

GROUP BY deptno, job;
2. SELECT deptno “Dept_ID”, job “Job”, SUM(sal), COUNT(job)FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno, job ORDER BY deptno;

Note: In the GROUP BY clause, the order of columns does matter in terms of how the grouping is
performed, but it doesn’t affect the final result set in terms of distinct groups created.
1. Grouping Behavior:
a) The GROUP BY clause defines how rows are grouped into summary rows.
b) Columns listed first in the GROUP BY clause are grouped first, and then within those
groups, further grouping is done by the subsequent columns.

2. Impact on Aggregation:
a) The order of columns in GROUP BY affects the hierarchy of grouping. For example,
grouping by deptno first and then by job means you first group the rows by deptno, and within
each deptno group, you further group by job.

13. Illegal Queries Using Group Functions

Any column or expression in the SELECT list that is not an aggregate function must be in
a GROUP BY clause. Failure to do so will result in an incorrect result. For example,
SELECT deptno, COUNT(ename) FROM emp;

Page | 7
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

You can correct the result by adding the GROUP BY clause:

SELECT deptno, COUNT(ename)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno;

Also, the WHERE clause cannot be used to restrict groups. For example, the following query will
result in an error:
SELECT deptno, AVG(sal)
FROM emp
WHERE AVG(sal) > 1500
GROUP BY deptno;

You can correct this error by using the HAVING clause to restrict groups:
SELECT deptno, AVG(sal)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno;
HAVING AVG(sal) > 1500

14. Excluding Group Results (the HAVING clause)

In the same way you use the WHERE clause to restrict rows that you select; you use the
HAVING to restrict groups. For example, find the maximum salary per department when
it is greater than $2000.

By using the HAVING clause, we can restrict the groups on the basis of aggregate
function. In the syntax, the group_condition is used to restrict the group of rows returned
to those groups for which the specified condition is true.

Returning to the above given example,

Page | 8
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

SELECT deptno, MAX(sal)

FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno
HAVING MAX(sal) > 2000;

Note: You can use a GROUP BY clause without using a group function in the SELECT list. But
the down side is you wouldn’t know how your groups are formed.

For example,
SELECT AVG(sal)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno
HAVING MAX(sal) > 2000;

And also,
SELECT job, SUM(sal) PAYROLL
FROM emp
WHERE job NOT LIKE ‘%MAN%’
GROUP BY job
HAVING SUM(sal) >= 5000
ORDER BY SUM(sal);

15. Practice SQL Statements

1. Display the highest, lowest, sum, and average salary of all employees. Label the
columns Maximum, Minimum, Sum, and Average respectively. Round your results to
the nearest whole number.
2. Modify the above query to display the minimum, maximum, sum, and average salary
for each job type.

Page | 9
 Lab-12 Manual 2024

3. Write a query to display the number of people with the same job.
4. Determine the number of managers without listing them. Label the column Number
of Managers. Hint: Use the MGR column to determine the number of managers.
5. Write a query that displays the difference between the highest and lowest salaries.
Label the column DIFFERENCE.
6. Display the manager id and the salary of the lowest paid employee for that manager.
Exclude anyone whose manager is not known. Exclude any groups where the
minimum salary is less than $1500. Sort the output in descending order of minimum
salary.
7. Write a query to display each department’s name, location, number of employees, and
the average salary of all employees of that department. Label the columns Name,
Location, Number of People, and Salary respectively.

The End

Page | 10