Chapter Four

Structured query language (SQL)

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Chapter 4 Outline
 SQL Data Definition and Data Types
 Specifying Constraints in SQL
 Basic Retrieval Queries in SQL
 INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE Statements in SQL
 Additional Features of SQL

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Basic SQL
 SQL language
 Considered one of the major reasons for the commercial success of relational
databases
 SQL
 The origin of SQL is relational predicate calculus called tuple calculus (see Ch.8)
which was proposed initially as the language SQUARE.
 SQL Actually comes from the word “SEQUEL” which was the original term used in the paper:
“SEQUEL TO SQUARE” by Chamberlin and Boyce. IBM could not copyright that term, so they
abbreviated to SQL and copyrighted the term SQL.
 Now popularly known as “Structured Query language”.
 SQL is an informal or practical rendering of the relational data model with syntax

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SQL Data Definition, Data Types, Standards
 Terminology:
 Table, row, and column used for relational model terms relation,
tuple, and attribute
 CREATE statement
 Main SQL command for data definition
 The language has features for : Data definition, Data Manipulation,
Transaction control (Transact-SQL, Ch. 20), Indexing (Ch.17), Security
specification (Grant and Revoke- see Ch.30), Active databases (Ch.26),
Multi-media (Ch.26), Distributed databases (Ch.23) etc.

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SQL Standards
 SQL has gone through many standards: starting with SQL-86 or SQL
1.A. SQL-92 is referred to as SQL-2.
 Later standards (from SQL-1999) are divided into core specification and
specialized extensions. The extensions are implemented for different
applications – such as data mining, data warehousing, multimedia etc.
 SQL-2006 added XML features (Ch. 13); In 2008 they added Object-
oriented features (Ch. 12).
 SQL-3 is the current standard which started with SQL-1999. It is not fully
implemented in any RDBMS.

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Schema and Catalog Concepts in SQL
 We cover the basic standard SQL syntax – there are variations in
existing RDBMS systems
 SQL schema
 Identified by a schema name
 Includes an authorization identifier and descriptors for each element
 Schema elements include
 Tables, constraints, views, domains, and other constructs
 Each statement in SQL ends with a semicolon

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Schema and Catalog Concepts in SQL (cont’d.)
 CREATE SCHEMA statement
 CREATE SCHEMA COMPANY AUTHORIZATION ‘Jsmith’;
 Catalog
 Named collection of schemas in an SQL environment
 SQL also has the concept of a cluster of catalogs.

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The CREATE TABLE Command in SQL
 Specifying a new relation
 Provide name of table
 Specify attributes, their types and initial constraints
 Can optionally specify schema:
 CREATE TABLE COMPANY.EMPLOYEE ...
or
 CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE ...

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The CREATE TABLE Command in SQL (cont’d.)
 Base tables (base relations)
 Relation and its tuples are actually created and stored as a file by the
DBMS
 Virtual relations (views)
 Created through the CREATE VIEW statement. Do not correspond to
any physical file.

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COMPANY relational database schema (Fig.
5.7)

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One possible database state for the COMPANY relational
database schema (Fig. 5.6)

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One possible database state for the
COMPANY relational database schema –
continued (Fig. 5.6)

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SQL CREATE TABLE data definition statements
for defining the COMPANY schema from Figure
5.7 (Fig. 6.1)

continued on next slide

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SQL CREATE TABLE data definition statements for defining
the COMPANY schema from Figure 5.7 (Fig. 6.1) -continued

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Attribute Data Types and Domains in SQL
 Basic data types
 Numeric data types
 Integer numbers: INTEGER, INT, and SMALLINT
 Floating-point (real) numbers: FLOAT or REAL, and DOUBLE
PRECISION
 Character-string data types
 Fixed length: CHAR(n), CHARACTER(n)
 Varying length: VARCHAR(n), CHAR VARYING(n), CHARACTER
VARYING(n)

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Attribute Data Types and Domains in SQL
(cont’d.)
 Bit-string data types
 Fixed length: BIT(n)
 Varying length: BIT VARYING(n)
 Boolean data type
 Values of TRUE or FALSE or NULL
 DATE data type
 Ten positions
 Components are YEAR, MONTH, and DAY in the form YYYY-MM-DD
 Multiple mapping functions available in RDBMSs to change date formats

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Attribute Data Types and Domains in SQL
(cont’d.)
 Additional data types
 Timestamp data type
Includes the DATE and TIME fields
 Plus a minimum of six positions for decimal fractions of seconds
 Optional WITH TIME ZONE qualifier
 INTERVAL data type
 Specifies a relative value that can be used to increment or decrement an
absolute value of a date, time, or timestamp
 DATE, TIME, Timestamp, INTERVAL data types can be cast or converted to
string formats for comparison.

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Attribute Data Types and Domains in SQL
(cont’d.)
 Domain
 Name used with the attribute specification
 Makes it easier to change the data type for a domain that is used
by numerous attributes
 Improves schema readability
 Example:
 CREATE DOMAIN SSN_TYPE AS CHAR(9);
 TYPE
 User Defined Types (UDTs) are supported for object-oriented
applications. (See Ch.12) Uses the command: CREATE TYPE

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Specifying Constraints in SQL
Basic constraints:
 Relational Model has 3 basic constraint types that are supported in

SQL:
 Key constraint: A primary key value cannot be duplicated
 Entity Integrity Constraint: A primary key value cannot be null
 Referential integrity constraints : The “foreign key “ must have a
value that is already present as a primary key, or may be null.

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Specifying Attribute Constraints
Other Restrictions on attribute domains:
 Default value of an attribute
DEFAULT <value>
NULL is not permitted for a particular attribute (NOT NULL)
 CHECK clause
Dnumber INT NOT NULL CHECK (Dnumber > 0 AND Dnumber
< 21);

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Specifying Key and Referential Integrity
Constraints
 PRIMARY KEY clause
 Specifies one or more attributes that make up the primary key of a
relation
 Dnumber INT PRIMARY KEY;
 UNIQUE clause
 Specifies alternate (secondary) keys (called CANDIDATE keys in the
relational model).
 Dname VARCHAR(15) UNIQUE;

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Specifying Key and Referential Integrity
Constraints (cont’d.)
 FOREIGN KEY clause
 Default operation: reject update on violation
 Attach referential triggered action clause
 Options include SET NULL, CASCADE, and SET DEFAULT
 Action taken by the DBMS for SET NULL or SET DEFAULT is the same
for both ON DELETE and ON UPDATE
 CASCADE option suitable for “relationship” relations

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Giving Names to Constraints
 Using the Keyword CONSTRAINT
 Name a constraint
 Useful for later altering

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Default attribute values and referential integrity triggered
action specification (Fig. 6.2)

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Specifying Constraints on Tuples Using CHECK
 Additional Constraints on individual tuples within a relation are also
possible using CHECK
 CHECK clauses at the end of a CREATE TABLE statement
 Apply to each tuple individually
 CHECK (Dept_create_date <= Mgr_start_date);

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Basic Retrieval Queries in SQL
 SELECT statement
 One basic statement for retrieving information from a database
 SQL allows a table to have two or more tuples that are identical in
all their attribute values
 Unlike relational model (relational model is strictly set-theory based)
 Multiset or bag behavior
 Tuple-id may be used as a key

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The SELECT-FROM-WHERE Structure of Basic
SQL Queries
 Basic form of the SELECT statement:

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The SELECT-FROM-WHERE Structure of Basic
SQL Queries (cont’d.)
 Logical comparison operators
 =, <, <=, >, >=, and <>
 Projection attributes
 Attributes whose values are to be retrieved
 Selection condition
 Boolean condition that must be true for any retrieved tuple.
Selection conditions include join conditions (see Ch.8) when
multiple relations are involved.

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Basic Retrieval Queries

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Basic Retrieval Queries (Contd.)

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Ambiguous Attribute Names
 Same name can be used for two (or more) attributes in different
relations
 As long as the attributes are in different relations
 Must qualify the attribute name with the relation name to prevent
ambiguity

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Aliasing, and Renaming
 Aliases or tuple variables
 Declare alternative relation names E and S to refer to the
EMPLOYEE relation twice in a query:

Query 8. For each employee, retrieve the employee’s first and last name and the first and last
name of his or her immediate supervisor.
 SELECT E.Fname, E.Lname, S.Fname, S.Lname
FROM EMPLOYEE AS E, EMPLOYEE AS S
WHERE E.Super_ssn=S.Ssn;
 Recommended practice to abbreviate names and to prefix same or
similar attribute from multiple tables.

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Aliasing,Renaming and Tuple Variables (contd.)
 The attribute names can also be renamed
EMPLOYEE AS E(Fn, Mi, Ln, Ssn, Bd, Addr, Sex,
Sal, Sssn, Dno)
 Note that the relation EMPLOYEE now has a variable name E

which corresponds to a tuple variable

 The “AS” may be dropped in most SQL implementations

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Unspecified WHERE Clause
and Use of the Asterisk
 Missing WHERE clause
 Indicates no condition on tuple selection
 Effect is a CROSS PRODUCT
 Result is all possible tuple combinations (or the Algebra operation of
Cartesian Product– see Ch.8) result

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Unspecified WHERE Clause
and Use of the Asterisk (cont’d.)
 Specify an asterisk (*)
 Retrieve all the attribute values of the selected tuples
 The * can be prefixed by the relation name; e.g., EMPLOYEE *

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Tables as Sets in SQL
 SQL does not automatically eliminate duplicate tuples in query results
 For aggregate operations (See sec 7.1.7) duplicates must be accounted for
 Use the keyword DISTINCT in the SELECT clause
 Only distinct tuples should remain in the result

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Tables as Sets in SQL (cont’d.)
 Set operations
 UNION, EXCEPT (difference), INTERSECT
 Corresponding multiset operations: UNION ALL, EXCEPT ALL,
INTERSECT ALL)
 Type compatibility is needed for these operations to be valid

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Substring Pattern Matching and Arithmetic
Operators
 LIKE comparison operator
 Used for string pattern matching
 % replaces an arbitrary number of zero or more
characters
 underscore (_) replaces a single character
 Examples: WHERE Address LIKE ‘%Houston,TX%’;
 WHERE Ssn LIKE ‘_ _ 1_ _ 8901’;
 BETWEEN comparison operator
E.g., in Q14 :
WHERE(Salary BETWEEN 30000 AND 40000)
AND Dno = 5;
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Arithmetic Operations

 Standard arithmetic operators:

 Addition (+), subtraction (–), multiplication (*), and
division (/) may be included as a part of SELECT

 Query 13. Show the resulting salaries if every employee working on

the ‘ProductX’ project is given a 10 percent raise.

SELECT E.Fname, E.Lname, 1.1 * E.Salary AS Increased_sal

FROM EMPLOYEE AS E, WORKS_ON AS W, PROJECT AS P
WHERE E.Ssn=W.Essn AND W.Pno=P.Pnumber AND
P.Pname=‘ProductX’;

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Ordering of Query Results
 Use ORDER BY clause
 Keyword DESC to see result in a descending order of values
 Keyword ASC to specify ascending order explicitly
 Typically placed at the end of the query

ORDER BY D.Dname DESC, E.Lname ASC, E.Fname ASC

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Basic SQL Retrieval Query Block

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INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE Statements in
SQL
 Three commands used to modify the database:
 INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE

 INSERT typically inserts a tuple (row) in a relation (table)

 UPDATE may update a number of tuples (rows) in a relation (table)
that satisfy the condition
 DELETE may also update a number of tuples (rows) in a relation
(table) that satisfy the condition

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INSERT
 In its simplest form, it is used to add one or more tuples to a
relation
 Attribute values should be listed in the same order as the attributes
were specified in the CREATE TABLE command
 Constraints on data types are observed automatically
 Any integrity constraints as a part of the DDL specification are
enforced

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The INSERT Command
 Specify the relation name and a list of values for the tuple. All
values including nulls are supplied.

 The variation below inserts multiple tuples where a new table is

loaded values from the result of a query.

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BULK LOADING OF TABLES
 Another variation of INSERT is used for bulk-loading of several tuples
into tables
 A new table TNEW can be created with the same attributes as T and
using LIKE and DATA in the syntax, it can be loaded with entire data.
 EXAMPLE:

CREATE TABLE D5EMPS LIKE EMPLOYEE

(SELECT E.*
FROM EMPLOYEE AS E
WHERE E.Dno=5)
WITH DATA;

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 DELETE
 Removes tuples from a relation
 Includes a WHERE-clause to select the tuples to be deleted

 Referential integrity should be enforced

 Tuples are deleted from only one table at a time (unless CASCADE is specified

on a referential integrity constraint)

 A missing WHERE-clause specifies that all tuples in the relation are to be

deleted; the table then becomes an empty table

 The number of tuples deleted depends on the number of tuples in the relation

that satisfy the WHERE-clause

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The DELETE Command
 Removes tuples from a relation
 Includes a WHERE clause to select the tuples to be deleted. The
number of tuples deleted will vary.

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UPDATE
 Used to modify attribute values of one or more selected tuples
 A WHERE-clause selects the tuples to be modified
 An additional SET-clause specifies the attributes to be modified
and their new values
 Each command modifies tuples in the same relation
 Referential integrity specified as part of DDL specification is
enforced

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UPDATE (contd.)
 Example: Change the location and controlling department number
of project number 10 to 'Bellaire' and 5, respectively

U5: UPDATE PROJECT

SET PLOCATION = 'Bellaire', DNUM = 5
WHERE PNUMBER=10

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UPDATE (contd.)
 Example: Give all employees in the 'Research' department a 10% raise in
salary.
U6: UPDATE EMPLOYEE
SET SALARY = SALARY *1.1
WHERE DNO IN (SELECT DNUMBER
FROM DEPARTMENT
WHERE DNAME='Research')
 In this request, the modified SALARY value depends on the original SALARY
value in each tuple

 The reference to the SALARY attribute on the right of = refers to the old
SALARY value before modification
 The reference to the SALARY attribute on the left of = refers to the new
SALARY value after modification

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Additional Features of SQL
 Techniques for specifying complex retrieval queries (see Ch.7)
 Writing programs in various programming languages that include SQL
statements: Embedded and dynamic SQL, SQL/CLI (Call Level
Interface) and its predecessor ODBC, SQL/PSM (Persistent Stored
Module) (See Ch.10)
 Set of commands for specifying physical database design parameters,
file structures for relations, and access paths, e.g., CREATE INDEX

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Additional Features of SQL (cont’d.)
 Transaction control commands (Ch.20)
 Specifying the granting and revoking of privileges to users (Ch.30)
 Constructs for creating triggers (Ch.26)
 Enhanced relational systems known as object-relational define
relations as classes. Abstract data types (called User Defined
Types- UDTs) are supported with CREATE TYPE
 New technologies such as XML (Ch.13) and OLAP (Ch.29) are
added to versions of SQL

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Summary
 SQL
 A Comprehensive language for relational database management
 Data definition, queries, updates, constraint specification, and view
definition
 Covered :
 Data definition commands for creating tables
 Commands for constraint specification
 Simple retrieval queries
 Database update commands

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