January 1, 2020/#database

Basic SQL Commands - The

List of Database Queries and
Statements You Should Know

Beau Carnes
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. SQL commands are the
instructions used to communicate with a database to perform tasks, functions,
and queries with data.

SQL commands can be used to search the database and to do other functions
like creating tables, adding data to tables, modifying data, and dropping tables.

Here is a list of basic SQL commands (sometimes called clauses) you should
know if you are going to work with SQL.

SELECT and FROM

The SELECT part of a query determines which columns of the data to show in the
results. There are also options you can apply to show data that is not a table
column.

The example below shows three columns SELECTed FROM the “student” table and
one calculated column. The database stores the studentID, FirstName, and
LastName of the student. We can combine the First and the Last name columns
to create the FullName calculated column.

SELECT studentID, FirstName, LastName, FirstName + ' ' + LastName AS

FullNameFROM student;

+-----------+-------------------+------------
+------------------------+
| studentID | FirstName | LastName | FullName
|

+-----------+-------------------+------------
+------------------------+

| 1 | Monique | Davis | Monique Davis

|

| 2 | Teri | Gutierrez | Teri Gutierrez

|

| 3 | Spencer | Pautier | Spencer Pautier

|

| 4 | Louis | Ramsey | Louis Ramsey

|

| 5 | Alvin | Greene | Alvin Greene

|

| 6 | Sophie | Freeman | Sophie Freeman

|

| 7 | Edgar Frank "Ted" | Codd | Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd

|

| 8 | Donald D. | Chamberlin | Donald D. Chamberlin

|

| 9 | Raymond F. | Boyce | Raymond F. Boyce

|
+-----------+-------------------+------------
+------------------------+

9 rows in set (0.00 sec)

CREATE TABLE
CREATE TABLEdoes just what it sounds like: it creates a table in the database. You
can specify the name of the table and the columns that should be in the table.

CREATE TABLE table_name (

column_1 datatype,

column_2 datatype,

column_3 datatype);

ALTER TABLE
ALTER TABLE changes the structure of a table. Here is how you would add a
column to a database:

ALTER TABLE table_nameADD column_name datatype;

CHECK
The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a
column.

If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only certain values
for this column. If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values
in certain columns based on values in other columns in the row.

The following SQL creates a CHECK constraint on the “Age” column when the
“Persons” table is created. The CHECK constraint ensures that you can not have
any person below 18 years.

CREATE TABLE Persons (

 ID int NOT NULL,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255),

Age int,

CHECK (Age>=18));

To allow naming of a CHECK constraint, and for defining a CHECK constraint on

multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:

CREATE TABLE Persons (

ID int NOT NULL,

LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,

FirstName varchar(255),

Age int,

City varchar(255),

CONSTRAINT CHK_Person CHECK (Age>=18 AND City='Sandnes'));

WHERE
(AND, OR, IN, BETWEEN, and LIKE)

The WHERE clause is used to limit the number of rows returned.

As an example, first we will show you a SELECT statement and
results without a WHERE statement. Then we will add a WHERE statement that uses
all five qualifiers above.

SELECT studentID, FullName, sat_score, rcd_updated FROM student;

+-----------+------------------------+-----------
+---------------------+

| studentID | FullName | sat_score | rcd_updated

|

+-----------+------------------------+-----------
+---------------------+

| 1 | Monique Davis | 400 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |

| 2 | Teri Gutierrez | 800 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |

| 3 | Spencer Pautier | 1000 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |

| 4 | Louis Ramsey | 1200 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |

| 5 | Alvin Greene | 1200 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |

| 6 | Sophie Freeman | 1200 | 2017-08-16

15:34:50 |
| 7 | Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd | 2400 | 2017-08-16
15:35:33 |

| 8 | Donald D. Chamberlin | 2400 | 2017-08-16

15:35:33 |

| 9 | Raymond F. Boyce | 2400 | 2017-08-16

15:35:33 |

+-----------+------------------------+-----------
+---------------------+

9 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now, we'll repeat the SELECT query but we'll limit the rows returned using
a WHERE statement.

STUDENT studentID, FullName, sat_score, recordUpdatedFROM studentWHERE

(studentID BETWEEN 1 AND 5 OR studentID = 8)

AND

sat_score NOT IN (1000, 1400);

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+

| studentID | FullName | sat_score | rcd_updated

|

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+
| 1 | Monique Davis | 400 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50
|

| 2 | Teri Gutierrez | 800 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 4 | Louis Ramsey | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 5 | Alvin Greene | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 8 | Donald D. Chamberlin | 2400 | 2017-08-16 15:35:33

|

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+

5 rows in set (0.00 sec)

UPDATE
To update a record in a table you use the UPDATE statement.

Use the WHERE condition to specify which records you want to update. It is
possible to update one or more columns at a time. The syntax is:

UPDATE table_nameSET column1 = value1,

column2 = value2, ...WHERE condition;

Here is an example updating the Name of the record with Id 4:

UPDATE PersonSET Name = “Elton John”WHERE Id = 4;

You can also update columns in a table by using values from other tables. Use
the JOIN clause to get data from multiple tables. The syntax is:

UPDATE table_name1SET table_name1.column1 = table_name2.columnA

table_name1.column2 = table_name2.columnBFROM table_name1JOIN

table_name2 ON table_name1.ForeignKey = table_name2.Key

Here is an example updating Manager of all records:

UPDATE PersonSET Person.Manager = Department.ManagerFROM PersonJOIN

Department ON Person.DepartmentID = Department.ID

GROUP BY
GROUP BY allows you to combine rows and aggregate data.

Here is the syntax of GROUP BY :

SELECT column_name, COUNT(*)FROM table_nameGROUP BY column_name;

HAVING
HAVING allows you to filter the data aggregated by the GROUP BY clause so that the
user gets a limited set of records to view.

Here is the syntax of HAVING:

SELECT column_name, COUNT(*)FROM table_nameGROUP BY column_nameHAVING

COUNT(*) > value;

AVG()
“Average” is used to calculate the average of a numeric column from the set of
rows returned by a SQL statement.

Here is the syntax for using the function:

SELECT groupingField, AVG(num_field)FROM table1GROUP BY groupingField

Here’s an example using the student table:

SELECT studentID, FullName, AVG(sat_score) FROM student GROUP BY
studentID, FullName;

AS
AS allows you to rename a column or table using an alias.

SELECT user_only_num1 AS AgeOfServer, (user_only_num1 -

warranty_period) AS NonWarrantyPeriod FROM server_table

This results in output as below.

+-------------+------------------------+

| AgeOfServer | NonWarrantyPeriod |

+-------------+------------------------+

| 36 | 24 |

| 24 | 12 |

| 61 | 49 |

| 12 | 0 |

| 6 | -6 |

| 0 | -12 |

| 36 | 24 |

| 36 | 24 |
| 24 | 12 |

+-------------+------------------------+

You can also use AS to assign a name to a table to make it easier to reference
in joins.

SELECT ord.product, ord.ord_number, ord.price, cust.cust_name,

cust.cust_number FROM customer_table AS cust

JOIN order_table AS ord ON cust.cust_number = ord.cust_number

This results in output as below.

+-------------+------------+-----------+-----------------
+--------------+

| product | ord_number | price | cust_name |

cust_number |

+-------------+------------+-----------+-----------------
+--------------+

| RAM | 12345 | 124 | John Smith | 20

|

| CPU | 12346 | 212 | Mia X | 22

|

| USB | 12347 | 49 | Elise Beth | 21

|

| Cable | 12348 | 0 | Paul Fort | 19

|
 | Mouse | 12349 | 66 | Nats Back | 15
|

| Laptop | 12350 | 612 | Mel S | 36

|

| Keyboard| 12351 | 24 | George Z | 95

|

| Keyboard| 12352 | 24 | Ally B | 55

|

| Air | 12353 | 12 | Maria Trust | 11

|

+-------------+------------+-----------+-----------------
+--------------+

ORDER BY
ORDER BY gives us a way to sort the result set by one or more of the items in
the SELECT section. Here is an SQL sorting the students by FullName in
descending order. The default sort order is ascending (ASC) but to sort in the
opposite order (descending) you use DESC.

SELECT studentID, FullName, sat_scoreFROM studentORDER BY FullName DESC;

COUNT
COUNT will count the number of rows and return that count as a column in the
result set.

Here are examples of what you would use COUNT for:

 Counting all rows in a table (no group by required)

 Counting the totals of subsets of data (requires a Group By section of the
statement)
This SQL statement provides a count of all rows. Note that you can give the
resulting COUNT column a name using “AS”.

SELECT count(*) AS studentCount FROM student;

DELETE
DELETE is used to delete a record in a table.

Be careful. You can delete all records of the table or just a few. Use
the WHERE condition to specify which records you want to delete. The syntax is:

DELETE FROM table_nameWHERE condition;

Here is an example deleting from the table Person the record with Id 3:

DELETE FROM PersonWHERE Id = 3;

INNER JOIN
JOIN, also called Inner Join, selects records that have matching values in two
tables.

SELECT * FROM A x JOIN B y ON y.aId = x.Id

LEFT JOIN
A LEFT JOIN returns all rows from the left table, and the matched rows from the
right table. Rows in the left table will be returned even if there was no match in
the right table. The rows from the left table with no match in the right table will
have null for right table values.

SELECT * FROM A x LEFT JOIN B y ON y.aId = x.Id

RIGHT JOIN
A RIGHT JOIN returns all rows from the right table, and the matched rows from
the left table. Opposite of a left join, this will return all rows from the right
table even where there is no match in the left table. Rows in the right table that
have no match in the left table will have null values for left table columns.

SELECT * FROM A x RIGHT JOIN B y ON y.aId = x.Id

FULL OUTER JOIN
A FULL OUTER JOIN returns all rows for which there is a match in either of the
tables. So if there are rows in the left table that do not have matches in the right
table, those will be included. Also, if there are rows in the right table that do
not have matches in the left table, those will be included.

SELECT Customers.CustomerName, Orders.OrderIDFROM CustomersFULL OUTER JOIN

OrdersON Customers.CustomerID=Orders.CustomerIDORDER BY
Customers.CustomerName

INSERT
INSERT is a way to insert data into a table.

INSERT INTO table_name (column_1, column_2, column_3) VALUES (value_1,

'value_2', value_3);

LIKE
LIKE is used in a WHERE or HAVING (as part of the GROUP BY) to limit the selected rows
to the items when a column has a certain pattern of characters contained in it.

This SQL will select students that have FullName starting with “Monique” or
ending with “Greene”.

SELECT studentID, FullName, sat_score, rcd_updatedFROM student WHERE

FullName LIKE 'Monique%' OR

FullName LIKE '%Greene';

+-----------+---------------+-----------+---------------------+

| studentID | FullName | sat_score | rcd_updated |

+-----------+---------------+-----------+---------------------+

| 1 | Monique Davis | 400 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50 |

| 5 | Alvin Greene | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50 |

+-----------+---------------+-----------+---------------------+

2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

You can place NOT before LIKE to exclude the rows with the string pattern instead
of selecting them. This SQL excludes records that contain “cer Pau” and “Ted”
in the FullName column.

SELECT studentID, FullName, sat_score, rcd_updatedFROM student WHERE

FullName NOT LIKE '%cer Pau%' AND FullName NOT LIKE '%"Ted"%';

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+

| studentID | FullName | sat_score | rcd_updated

|

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+

| 1 | Monique Davis | 400 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 2 | Teri Gutierrez | 800 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 4 | Louis Ramsey | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|

| 5 | Alvin Greene | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50

|
| 6 | Sophie Freeman | 1200 | 2017-08-16 15:34:50
|

| 8 | Donald D. Chamberlin | 2400 | 2017-08-16 15:35:33

|

| 9 | Raymond F. Boyce | 2400 | 2017-08-16 15:35:33

|

+-----------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------
+

7 rows in set (0.00 sec)