Structured Query Language (SQL)

Yogesh K. Meena

CSE, IITGN

January 21, 2025

Yogesh K. Meena (IIT Gandhinagar) Structured Query Language (SQL) January 21, 2025 1 / 19
Structured Query Language (SQL)

Not just a query language, it also provides a way to:

define the structure of the data,
modify data in the database,
specify security constraints.

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A brief history

IBM developed the original version of SQL (Sequel) around 1970s.

Later the name was evolved to SQL.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) published an SQL standard
SQL-86 in 1986.
SQL-89, SQL-92, SQL:1999, SQL:2003, SQL:2006, SQL:2008,
SQL:2011, SQL:2016, and SQL:2019.
Commercial systems offer most, if not all, SQL-92 features, plus varying
feature sets from later standards and special proprietary features.
Not all examples here may work on your particular system.

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Components of SQL

Data-definition language (DDL)

defining relation schemas
deleting relations
modifying relation schemas

Data-manipulation language (DML)

query database
insert tuples
delete tuples
modify tuples

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Components of SQL

Integrity – SQL DDL to specify integrity constraints

View definition – SQL DDL to define views
Transaction control – to specify the beginning and ending of
transactions.
Embedded SQL and dynamic SQL – how SQL statements can be
embedded within C, C++, and Java.
Authorization – SQL DDL to specify access rights to relations and views.

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Domain Types in SQL

char(n): Fixed length character string, with user-specified length n.

varchar(n): Variable length character strings, with user-specified
maximum length n.
int: Integer (a finite subset of the integers that is machine-dependent).
smallint: Small integer (a machine-dependent subset of the integer
domain type).
numeric(p,d): Fixed point number, with user-specified precision of p
digits, with d digits to the right of decimal point. (ex., numeric(3,1), allows
44.5 to be stores exactly, but not 444.5 or 0.32)
real, double precision: Floating point and double-precision floating point
numbers, with machine-dependent precision.
float(n): Floating point number, with user-specified precision of at least n
digits.
null: an absent value
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Recall: Schema Diagrams for University Database

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Create Table Construct

An SQL relation is defined using the create table command:

create table r( A1 D1 , A2 D2 , . . . , An Dn ,
(integrity-constraint1 ),
...,
(integrity-constraintk ))
r is the name of the relation
each Ai is an attribute name in the schema of relation r
Di is the data type of values in the domain of attribute Ai
Example:

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Integrity Constraints in Create Table

not null – Null value is not allowed for that attribute

primary key (A1 , ..., An ) – nonnull and unique
foreign key (Am , ..., An ) references r – (Am , ..., An ) for any tuple in the
relation must correspond to values of the primary key attributes of some
tuple in relation r.
Example:

primary key declaration on an attribute automatically ensures not null

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More Relation Definitions for University Database: example

Yogesh K. Meena (IIT Gandhinagar) Structured Query Language (SQL) January 21, 2025 10 / 19
More Relation Definitions for University Database: example

Note: sec_id can be dropped from primary key above, to ensure a student
cannot be registered for two sections of the same course in the same semester

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More Relation Definitions for University Database: example

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Updates to tables
Populating table
insert into instructor values (‘10211‘, ‘Smith‘, ‘Biology‘, 66000);
The values are specified in the order in which the corresponding attributes
are listed in the relation schema.
Delete tuple
Remove all tuples from the student relation
delete from student;
Delete Table
Deletes tuples as well the schema of the student relation.
drop table student;
Update table
alter table r add A D;
where A is the name of the attribute to be added to relation r and D is the
domain of A.
All exiting tuples in the relation are assigned null as the value for the new
attribute.
alter table r drop A;
where A is the name of an attribute of relation r
Dropping of attributes not supported by many databases.
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The select Clause

The select clause lists the attributes desired in the result of a query:
E.g., find the names of all instructors:
select name
from instructor
NOTE: SQL names are case insensitive (i.e., you may use upper- or
lower-case letters.). E.g., Name ≡ NAME ≡ name
results of ‘select‘ name from instructor?
results of ‘select‘ dept_name from instructor?
SQL allows duplicates in relations as well as in query results. To force the
elimination of duplicates, insert the keyword distinct after select.
– e.g., Find the department names of all instructors, and remove duplicates?

select distinct dept_name

from instructor

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The select Clause (Cont.)

The keyword all specifies that duplicates should not be removed.

select all dept_name
from instructor
An asterisk in the select clause denotes ‘all attributes‘
select*
from instructor
An attribute can be a literal with no from clause
select* ‘437‘
An attribute can be a literal with no from clause
select ‘437‘
An attribute can be a literal with from clause
select ‘A‘
from instructor
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The select Clause (Cont.)

The select clause can contain arithmetic expressions involving the

operation, +, −, ∗, /, and operating on constants or attributes of tuples.
select ID ID, name, salary/12
from instructor
Would return a relation that is the same as the instructor relation, except
that the value of the attribute salary is divided by 12.
Can rename ‘salary/12‘ using the as clause:
select ID, name, salary/12 as monthly_salary

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The where Clause

The where clause specifies conditions that the result must satisfy
E.g., To find all instructors in Comp. Sci. dept
select name
from instructor
where dept_name = ‘Comp. Sci.‘
Comparison results can be combined using the logical connectives and,
or, and not. E.g., To find all instructors in Comp. Sci. dept with salary >
80000
select name
from instructor
where where dept_name = ‘Comp. Sci.‘ and salary > 80000
Comparisons can be applied to results of arithmetic expressions.

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The from Clause

The from clause lists the relations involved in the query

E.g., Find the Cartesian product instructor X teaches
select*
from instructor, teaches
generates every possible instructor – teaches pair, with all attributes from
both relations.
For common attributes (e.g., ID), the attributes in the resulting table are
renamed using the relation name (e.g., instructor.ID)
Cartesian product not very useful directly, but useful combined with
where-clause condition (selection operation in relational algebra).

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Acknowledgments/Contributions

Some of the images utilized in these slides are subject to copyright -

Abraham Silberschatz, Henry Korth, and S. Sudarshan. Database
System Concepts. 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill Education
Contributor 2024-25 - Yogesh K. Meena, IIT Gandhinagar

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