# [ SQL for Data Science ] {CheatSheet}

1. Basic Data Exploration

● View All Tables: SHOW TABLES;

● Preview Table Structure: DESCRIBE table_name;
● Select Entire Table: SELECT * FROM table_name;
● Select Specific Columns: SELECT column1, column2 FROM table_name;
● Count Total Records: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name;

2. Data Filtering and Sorting

● Filter Rows with Conditions: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE

condition;
● Sort Data: SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY column ASC/DESC;
● Filter and Sort Combined: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE condition
ORDER BY column;
● Limiting Results: SELECT * FROM table_name LIMIT number;
● Filter with Multiple Conditions: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
condition1 AND/OR condition2;

3. Aggregation Functions

● Calculate Average: SELECT AVG(column) FROM table_name;

● Sum a Column: SELECT SUM(column) FROM table_name;
● Find Maximum/Minimum Value: SELECT MAX(column), MIN(column) FROM
table_name;
● Count Distinct Values: SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column) FROM
table_name;
● Group By Aggregations: SELECT column, COUNT(*), AVG(column) FROM
table_name GROUP BY column;

4. Advanced Aggregations

● Using GROUP BY with Conditions: SELECT column, SUM(column) FROM

table_name GROUP BY column HAVING condition;

By: Waleed Mousa

 ● Rollup for Subtotals: SELECT column1, column2, SUM(column3) FROM
table_name GROUP BY column1, column2 WITH ROLLUP;
● CUBE for Cross-Tabulation: SELECT column1, column2, SUM(column3)
FROM table_name GROUP BY CUBE (column1, column2);
● Window Functions (e.g., Running Total): SELECT column, SUM(column)
OVER (ORDER BY column) FROM table_name;
● Ranking within Group: SELECT column, RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY
column1 ORDER BY column2) FROM table_name;

5. Join Operations

● Inner Join Between Tables: SELECT * FROM table1 INNER JOIN table2
ON table1.common_column = table2.common_column;
● Left Join (Including Unmatched Rows): SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT
JOIN table2 ON table1.common_column = table2.common_column;
● Right Join: SELECT * FROM table1 RIGHT JOIN table2 ON
table1.common_column = table2.common_column;
● Full Outer Join: SELECT * FROM table1 FULL OUTER JOIN table2 ON
table1.common_column = table2.common_column;
● Self Join for Hierarchical Data: SELECT t1.column, t2.column FROM
table t1 INNER JOIN table t2 ON t1.id = t2.parent_id;

6. Subqueries and Nested Queries

● Subquery in WHERE Clause: SELECT * FROM table WHERE column IN

(SELECT column FROM another_table);
● Subquery in FROM Clause: SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM table)
subquery;
● Subquery in SELECT Clause: SELECT column, (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM
another_table) FROM table;
● Correlated Subqueries: SELECT * FROM table1 t1 WHERE EXISTS (SELECT
* FROM table2 t2 WHERE t1.id = t2.foreign_id);
● Common Table Expressions (WITH Clause): WITH cte AS (SELECT * FROM
table) SELECT * FROM cte;

7. String Manipulation

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 ● Concatenate Strings: SELECT CONCAT(string1, ' ', string2) FROM
table_name;
● Substring Extraction: SELECT SUBSTRING(string_column, start,
length) FROM table_name;
● Replace Text in a String: SELECT REPLACE(string_column, 'old',
'new') FROM table_name;
● Change String Case: SELECT UPPER(string_column),
LOWER(string_column) FROM table_name;
● Trimming Whitespace: SELECT TRIM(string_column) FROM table_name;

8. Working with Dates

● Selecting Data in a Date Range: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE

date_column BETWEEN 'start_date' AND 'end_date';
● Extract Year, Month, Day: SELECT YEAR(date_column),
MONTH(date_column), DAY(date_column) FROM table_name;
● Date Formatting: SELECT DATE_FORMAT(date_column, '%Y-%m-%d') FROM
table_name;
● Calculating Age from Birthdate: SELECT DATEDIFF(CURDATE(),
birthdate_column) FROM table_name;
● Time Difference between Dates: SELECT TIMEDIFF(date1, date2) FROM
table_name;

9. Data Analysis Techniques

● Finding Percentiles: SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.5) WITHIN GROUP

(ORDER BY column) FROM table_name;
● Linear Regression via SQL: SELECT REGR_SLOPE(y, x),
REGR_INTERCEPT(y, x) FROM table_name;
● Correlation Coefficient: SELECT CORR(column1, column2) FROM
table_name;
● Covariance: SELECT COVAR_POP(column1, column2) FROM table_name;
● Histogram Bin Analysis: SELECT WIDTH_BUCKET(numeric_column, min,
max, num_buckets) FROM table_name;

10. Conditional Logic and Case Statements

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 ● CASE Statement: SELECT CASE WHEN condition THEN result1 ELSE
result2 END FROM table_name;
● IF Statement: SELECT IF(condition, value_if_true, value_if_false)
FROM table_name;
● NULL Handling (IFNULL, COALESCE): SELECT COALESCE(column,
'default_value') FROM table_name;
● Conditional Aggregation: SELECT column, SUM(CASE WHEN condition
THEN value ELSE 0 END) FROM table_name GROUP BY column;

11. Data Cleaning and Preparation

● Removing Duplicates: SELECT DISTINCT * FROM table_name;

● Replacing NULLs with Default Value: SELECT IFNULL(column,
'default_value') FROM table_name;
● Standardize String Format: SELECT UPPER(TRIM(column)) FROM
table_name;
● Handling Missing Data: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column IS NOT
NULL;
● Flagging Data Anomalies: SELECT *, CASE WHEN column NOT IN
(expected_values) THEN 'anomaly' ELSE 'ok' END FROM table_name;

12. Advanced Data Filtering

● Using LIKE for Pattern Matching: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE

column LIKE '%pattern%';
● Filtering with Regular Expressions: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
column REGEXP 'regexp_pattern';
● Filtering with IN for Multiple Values: SELECT * FROM table_name
WHERE column IN ('value1', 'value2');
● Complex Conditions Using AND, OR, NOT: SELECT * FROM table_name
WHERE condition1 AND (condition2 OR condition3) NOT condition4;
● Range Queries with BETWEEN: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column
BETWEEN lower AND upper;

13. Data Transformation

● Arithmetic Operations: SELECT column1 + column2, column1 * column2

FROM table_name;

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 ● Data Type Conversion (CAST, CONVERT): SELECT CAST(column AS
datatype) FROM table_name;
● Normalization (e.g., Min-Max Scaling): SELECT (column -
MIN(column)) / (MAX(column) - MIN(column)) FROM table_name;
● Pivoting Data (CASE or PIVOT in some SQL dialects): SELECT
SUM(CASE WHEN condition THEN value ELSE 0 END) FROM table_name
GROUP BY column;
● Unpivoting Data (UNPIVOT in some SQL dialects): SELECT * FROM
table_name UNPIVOT(value FOR column IN (column1, column2));

14. Joining and Merging Data

● Join Multiple Tables: SELECT * FROM table1 JOIN table2 ON table1.id

= table2.id JOIN table3 ON table1.id = table3.id;
● Left Join with Filtering: SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON
table1.id = table2.id WHERE table2.id IS NULL;
● Join Using Using Clause: SELECT * FROM table1 JOIN table2 USING
(common_column);
● Join with Aggregate Functions: SELECT table1.column,
AVG(table2.column) FROM table1 JOIN table2 ON table1.id = table2.id
GROUP BY table1.column;
● Join with Subqueries: SELECT * FROM table1 JOIN (SELECT id,
COUNT(*) FROM table2 GROUP BY id) sub ON table1.id = sub.id;

15. Advanced Subqueries

● Nested Subqueries: SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM

table) sub1) sub2;
● Subquery as a Column: SELECT id, (SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table2 WHERE
table2.id = table1.id) AS count FROM table1;
● Using EXISTS in Subquery: SELECT * FROM table1 WHERE EXISTS (SELECT
* FROM table2 WHERE table1.id = table2.id);

16. Working with Arrays and JSON

● Query JSON Data: SELECT json_column->>'$.key' FROM table_name;

● Expand JSON Array to Rows: SELECT
json_array_elements_text(json_column) FROM table_name;

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17. Handling Large Datasets

● Efficient Pagination with Keyset: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE id

> last_seen_id ORDER BY id LIMIT page_size;
● Query Partitioning for Parallel Processing: SELECT * FROM
table_name WHERE MOD(id, partition_count) = partition_index;

18. Data Import/Export

● Import Data from CSV: COPY table_name FROM '/path/to/csv_file.csv'

DELIMITER ',' CSV;
● Export Data to CSV: COPY (SELECT * FROM table_name) TO
'/path/to/csv_file.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER;

19. Database and Schema Management

● Create New Schema: CREATE SCHEMA schema_name;

● Set Default Schema: SET search_path TO schema_name;
● List All Schemas: SELECT schema_name FROM
information_schema.schemata;

20. Advanced String Functions

● Regular Expression Substring: SELECT REGEXP_SUBSTR(string_column,

'pattern') FROM table_name;
● String Aggregation: SELECT STRING_AGG(column, ', ') FROM table_name
GROUP BY group_column;
● Split String into Array: SELECT STRING_TO_ARRAY(string_column,
delimiter) FROM table_name;

21. Geospatial Data Queries

● Calculate Distance Between Two Points: SELECT ST_Distance(geom1,

geom2) FROM table_name;
● Find Points Within a Radius: SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
ST_DWithin(geom, reference_geom, radius);

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22. Time Series Data

● Time Series Aggregation: SELECT date_trunc('hour', time_column),

SUM(value) FROM table_name GROUP BY 1;
● Lag and Lead Functions: SELECT time_column, value, LAG(value) OVER
(ORDER BY time_column), LEAD(value) OVER (ORDER BY time_column)
FROM table_name;

23. Advanced Analytics Functions

● Cumulative Distribution: SELECT value, CUME_DIST() OVER (ORDER BY

value) FROM table_name;
● Percentile Calculation: SELECT PERCENTILE_CONT(0.5) WITHIN GROUP
(ORDER BY value) OVER () FROM table_name;

24. Performance Optimization

● Using Materialized Views: CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW view_name AS

SELECT * FROM table_name;
● Index Creation for Faster Queries: CREATE INDEX index_name ON
table_name (column);

25. Dynamic SQL and Stored Procedures

● Execute Dynamic SQL: EXECUTE IMMEDIATE dynamic_sql;

● Create and Call Stored Procedure: CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name
AS BEGIN SQL_statements END; CALL procedure_name();

26. Data Anonymization

● Randomizing Sensitive Data: UPDATE table_name SET column = RANDOM()

* range + offset WHERE condition;
● Masking Personal Data: UPDATE table_name SET email =
REGEXP_REPLACE(email, '@.*', '@example.com');

27. User and Access Management

● Create Database User: CREATE USER username WITH PASSWORD

'password';

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 ● Grant Privileges to User: GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON table_name TO
username;

28. Query Logging and Audit

● Logging Queries for Audit: SET log_statement = 'all';

● Review Query Logs: SELECT * FROM pg_stat_activity WHERE query !=
'<IDLE>';

By: Waleed Mousa