Course code: BCT048

2 Retrieve Data using the SQL SELECT

Statement
 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

SQL SELECT Statements
A SELECT statement retrieves information from the database. With a
SELECT statement, you can do the following:

• Projection: Selects the columns in a table that are returned by a

query. Selects a few or as many of the columns as required

• Selection: Selects the rows in a table that are returned by a query.

Various criteria can be used to restrict the rows that are retrieved

• Joins: Brings together data that is stored in different tables by

specifying the link between them

SQL SELECT Statement

Basic SELECT Statement

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

FROM table;
In its simplest form, a SELECT statement must include the following:
• A SELECT clause, which specifies the columns to be displayed
• A FROM clause, which identifies the table containing the columns
that are listed in the SELECT clause
In the syntax:
• SELECT - Is a list of one or more columns (* selects all columns)
• DISTINCT - Suppresses duplicates
• Column | expression - Selects the named column or the expression
• alias - Gives different headings to the selected columns
• FROM table - Specifies the table containing the columns

SQL SELECT Statement

Selecting All Columns

SELECT *
FROM departments;

• You can display all columns of data in a table by following the

SELECT keyword with an asterisk (*)
• You can also display all columns in the table by listing them after
the SELECT keyword

SQL SELECT Statement

Selecting Specific Columns

SELECT location_id, department_id

FROM departments;
• You can use the SELECT statement to display specific
columns of the table by specifying the column names,
separated by commas

SQL SELECT Statement

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 be optionally
terminated by a semicolon (;). Semicolons are
requiredwhen you execute multiple SQL statements

SQL SELECT Statement

Column Heading Defaults

SQL Developer:
• Default heading alignment: Left-aligned
• Default heading display: Uppercase
In SQL Developer, column headings are displayed in
uppercase and are left-aligned.
SELECT last_name, hire_date, salary
FROM employees;

SQL SELECT Statement

 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

Arithmetic expressions

An arithmetic expression can contain column names,

constant numeric values, and the arithmetic operators.
Arithmetic Operators:
• Add: +
• Subtract: -
• Multiply: *
• Divide: /

• An arithmetic expression can contain column names, constant

numeric values, and the arithmetic operators
• You can use arithmetic operators in any clause of a SQL statement
(except the FROM clause)

SQL SELECT Statement

Using Arithmetic Operators
SELECT last_name, salary, salary + 300
FROM employees;

• The Oracle server ignores blank spaces before and

after the arithmetic operator
SQL SELECT Statement
Using Arithmetic Operators
Operator Precedence
• If an arithmetic expression contains more than one operator,
multiplication and division are evaluated first. If operators in an
expression are of the same priority, evaluation is done from left to
right
• You can use parentheses to force the expression that is enclosed by
the parentheses to be evaluated first

Example:
SELECT last_name, salary, 12*salary+commission_pct
FROM employees;

SELECT last_name, salary, 12*(salary+commission_pct)

FROM employees;

SQL SELECT Statement

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 job_id, salary, commission_pct

FROM employees;

• By default, SQL Developer uses the literal, (null), to identify null

values. It can be set to something more relevant to you
(Preferences -> Advanced Parameters -> Display Null values As)

SQL SELECT Statement

Null Values in Arithmetic Expressions

• Arithmetic expressions containing a null value evaluate

to null
SELECT last_name,12*(salary+commission_pct)
FROM employees;

• If any column value in an arithmetic expression is null, the result is

null. For example, if you attempt to perform division by zero, you
get an error. However, if you divide a number by null, the result is a
null or unknown

SQL SELECT Statement

 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

Defining a Column Alias

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

• An alias cannot be referenced in the column list that

contains the alias definition

SQL SELECT Statement

Defining a Column Alias

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

• An alias cannot be referenced in the column list that

contains the alias definition

SQL SELECT Statement

Using Column Aliases
SELECT last_name AS name,commission_pct com
FROM employees;

SELECT last_name "Name" , salary*12 "Annual

Salary"
FROM employees;

SQL SELECT Statement

 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

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;

SQL SELECT Statement

• If you concatenate a null value with a character string,
the result is a character string (LAST_NAME || NULL
results in LAST_NAME)
• You can also concatenate date expressions with other
expressions or columns

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
SQL SELECT Statement
Using Literal Character Strings
SELECT last_name ||' is a '||job_id AS
"Employee Details"
FROM employees;

SELECT last_name ||': 1 Month salary =

'||salary Monthly
FROM employees;

SQL SELECT Statement

Duplicate Rows

The default display of queries is all rows, including

duplicate rows.
SELECT department_id
FROM employees;

SELECT distinct department_id

FROM employees;
• The DISTINCT qualifier affects all the selected columns,
and the result is every distinct combination
• You may also specify the keyword UNIQUE, which is a
synonym for the keyword DISTINCT
SQL SELECT Statement
 Agenda

• Capabilities of SQL SELECT Statements

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

SQL SELECT Statement

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

SQL SELECT Statement

Using the DESCRIBE Command

DESCRIBE employees

• Data types: NUMBER(p,s), VARCHAR2(s), DATE.

SQL SELECT Statement
 Quiz

Identify the SELECT statements that execute successfully:

a) SELECT first_name, last_name, job_id, salary AS ‘yearly sal’

FROM employees;

b) SELECT first_name, last_name, job_id, salary AS yearly sal

FROM employees;

c) SELECT first_name, last_name, job_id, salary AS yearly_sal

FROM employees;

d) SELECT first_name, last_name job_id, salary AS “yearly_sal”

FROM employees;

SQL SELECT Statement

Practice 2

This practice covers the following topics:

• Selecting all data from different tables

• Describing the structure of tables
• Performing arithmetic calculations and specifying column names

SQL SELECT Statement