1

Retrieving Data Using

the SQL SELECT Statement

Copyright 2007, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the

following:
• List the capabilities of SQL SELECT statements
• Execute a basic SELECT statement

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 Lesson Agenda

• Basic SELECT statement

• Arithmetic expressions and NULL values in the SELECT
statement
• Column aliases
• Use of concatenation operator, literal character strings,
alternative quote operator, and the DISTINCT keyword
• DESCRIBE command

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 Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

Projection Selection

Table 1 Table 1

Join

Table 1 Table 2

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 Basic SELECT Statement

SELECT *|{[DISTINCT] column|expression [alias],...}

FROM table;

• SELECT identifies the columns to be displayed.

• FROM identifies the table containing those columns.

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 Selecting All Columns

SELECT *
FROM departments;

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 Selecting Specific Columns

SELECT department_id, location_id

FROM departments;

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 Writing SQL Statements

• SQL statements are not case-sensitive.

• SQL statements can be entered on one or more lines.
• Keywords cannot be abbreviated or split across lines.
• Clauses are usually placed on separate lines.
• Indents are used to enhance readability.
• In SQL Developer, SQL statements can optionally be
terminated by a semicolon (;). Semicolons are required
when you execute multiple SQL statements.
• In SQL*Plus, you are required to end each SQL statement
with a semicolon (;).

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 Column Heading Defaults

• SQL Developer:
– Default heading alignment: Left-aligned
– Default heading display: Uppercase
• SQL*Plus:
– Character and Date column headings are left-aligned.
– Number column headings are right-aligned.
– Default heading display: Uppercase

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 Lesson Agenda

• Basic SELECT statement

• Arithmetic expressions and NULL values in the SELECT
statement
• Column Aliases
• Use of concatenation operator, literal character strings,
alternative quote operator, and the DISTINCT keyword
• DESCRIBE command

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 Arithmetic Expressions

Create expressions with number and date data by using

arithmetic operators.

Operator Description
+ Add
- Subtract
* Multiply
/ Divide

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 Using Arithmetic Operators

SELECT last_name, salary, salary + 300

FROM employees;

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 Operator Precedence

SELECT last_name, salary, 12*salary+100

FROM employees; 1

…
SELECT last_name, salary, 12*(salary+100)
FROM employees;
2

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 Defining a Null Value

• Null is a value that is unavailable, unassigned, unknown, or

inapplicable.
• Null is not the same as zero or a blank space.

SELECT last_name, job_id, salary, commission_pct

FROM employees;

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 Null Values in Arithmetic Expressions

Arithmetic expressions containing a null value evaluate to null.

SELECT last_name, 12*salary*commission_pct

FROM employees;

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 Lesson Agenda

• Basic SELECT statement

• Arithmetic expressions and NULL values in the SELECT
statement
• Column aliases
• Use of concatenation operator, literal character strings,
alternative quote operator, and the DISTINCT keyword
• DESCRIBE command

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 Defining a Column Alias

A column alias:
• Renames a column heading
• Is useful with calculations
• Immediately follows the column name (There can also be
the optional AS keyword between the column name and
alias.)
• Requires double quotation marks if it contains spaces or
special characters, or if it is case-sensitive

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 Using Column Aliases

SELECT last_name AS name, commission_pct comm

FROM employees;

…
SELECT last_name "Name" , salary*12 "Annual Salary"
FROM employees;

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 Lesson Agenda

• Basic SELECT Statement

• Arithmetic Expressions and NULL values in SELECT
statement
• Column Aliases
• Use of concatenation operator, literal character strings,
alternative quote operator, and the DISTINCT keyword
• DESCRIBE command

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 Concatenation Operator

A concatenation operator:
• Links columns or character strings to other columns
• Is represented by two vertical bars (||)
• Creates a resultant column that is a character expression

SELECT last_name||job_id AS "Employees"

FROM employees;

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 Literal Character Strings

• A literal is a character, a number, or a date that is included in

the SELECT statement.
• Date and character literal values must be enclosed within
single quotation marks.
• Each character string is output once for each row returned.

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 Using Literal Character Strings

SELECT last_name ||' is a '||job_id

AS "Employee Details"
FROM employees;

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 Alternative Quote (q) Operator

• Specify your own quotation mark delimiter.

• Select any delimiter.
• Increase readability and usability.

SELECT department_name || ' Department' ||

q'['s Manager Id: ]'
|| manager_id
AS "Department and Manager"
FROM departments;

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 Duplicate Rows

The default display of queries is all rows, including duplicate

rows.
SELECT department_id
FROM employees; 1

…
SELECT DISTINCT department_id
FROM employees;
2

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 Lesson Agenda

• Basic SELECT statement

• Arithmetic expressions and NULL values in the SELECT
statement
• Column aliases
• Use of concatenation operator, literal character strings,
alternative quote operator, and the DISTINCT keyword
• DESCRIBE command

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 Displaying the Table Structure

• Use the DESCRIBE command to display the structure of a

table.
• Or, select the table in the Connections tree and use the
Columns tab to view the table structure.
DESC[RIBE] tablename

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 Using the DESCRIBE Command

DESCRIBE employees

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 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Write a SELECT statement that:
– Returns all rows and columns from a table
– Returns specified columns from a table
– Uses column aliases to display more descriptive column
headings

SELECT *|{[DISTINCT] column|expression [alias],...}

FROM table;

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 Practice 1: Overview

This practice covers the following topics:

• Selecting all data from different tables
• Describing the structure of tables
• Performing arithmetic calculations and specifying column
names

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 Practice 1 – Part 1

1. The following SELECT statement executes successfully:

SELECT last_name, job_id, salary AS Sal
FROM employees;
True/False
2. The following SELECT statement executes successfully:
SELECT *
FROM job_grades;
True/False
3. There are four coding errors in the following statement. Can
you identify them?
SELECT employee_id, last_name
sal x 12 ANNUAL SALARY
FROM employees;

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 Practice 1 - Part 2
Note the following points before you begin with the practices:
• Save all your lab files at the following location: D:\labs\SQL1\labs
• Enter your SQL statements in a SQL Worksheet. To save a script in
SQL Developer, make sure the required SQL worksheet is active and
then from the File menu, select Save As or right-click in the SQL
Worksheet and select Save f il e to save your SQL statement as a
lab_<lessonno>_<stepno>.sql script. When you are modifying an
existing script, make sure you use Save As to save it with a different
filename.
• To run the query, click the Execute Statement icon in the SQL
Worksheet. Alternatively, you can press [F9]. For DML and DDL
statements, use the Run Script icon or press [F5].
• After you have executed the query, make sure that you do not enter
your next query in the same worksheet. Open a new worksheet.

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 Practice 1 - Part 2

Yo u have been hired as a SQL pro grammer fo r Ac me

Corporation. Your f irst task is to create some reports based
on data from the Human Resources tables.

4. Your first task is to determine the structure of the

DEPARTMENTS table and its contents.

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 Practice 1 - Part 2

DEPARTMENTS table contents:

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 Practice 1 - Part 2

5. You need to determine the structure of the EMPLOYEES table.

The HR department wants a query to display the last name, job

code, hire date, and employee number for each employee, with
employee number appearing first. Provide an alias STARTDATE
for the HIRE_DATE column. Save your SQL statement to a file
named lab_01_05.sql so that you can dispatch this file to the HR
department.

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 Practice 1 - Part 2
6. Test your query in the lab_01_05.sql file to ensure that it runs
correctly.

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 Practice 1 - Part 2

7. The HR department needs a query to display all unique job

codes from the EMPLOYEES table.

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 Practice 1 - Part 3
• If you have time, complete the following exercises:
8.The HR department wants more descriptive column headings for
its report on employees. Copy the statement from lab_01_07.sql
to the iSQL*Plus text box. Name the column headings Emp #,
Employee, Job, and Hire Date, respectively. Then run your query
again.

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 Practice 1 - Part 3

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