Database Management Systems

- SENG 351 -

CHAPTER 5

Basic SQL

Slide 5- 1
Chapter 5 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

Slide 5- 2
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 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

Slide 5- 3
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),
Indexing, Security specification (Grant and Revoke),
Active databases, Multi-media, Distributed databases
etc.

Slide 5- 4
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

Slide 5- 5
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.

Slide 5- 6
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 ...

Slide 5- 7
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.

Slide 5- 8
COMPANY relational database
schema (Fig. 5.7)

Slide 5- 9
One possible database state for the
COMPANY relational database schema
(Fig. 5.6)

Slide 5- 10
One possible database state for the
COMPANY relational database schema –
continued (Fig. 5.6)

Slide 5- 11
SQL CREATE TABLE data definition statements
for defining the COMPANY schema from Figure
5.7 (Fig. 6.1)

continued on next slide

Slide 5- 12
SQL CREATE TABLE data definition
statements for defining the COMPANY
schema from Figure 5.7 (Fig. 6.1)-continued

Slide 5- 13
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)

Slide 5- 15
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
Slide 5- 16
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.

Slide 5- 17
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. Uses the command: CREATE
TYPE

Slide 5- 18
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.

Slide 5- 19
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);

Slide 5- 20
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;

Slide 5- 21
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

Slide 5- 22
Giving Names to Constraints
 Using the Keyword CONSTRAINT
 Name a constraint
 Useful for later altering

Slide 5- 23
Default attribute values and referential
integrity triggered action specification (Fig.
6.2)

Slide 5- 24
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

Slide 5- 26
The SELECT-FROM-WHERE
Structure of Basic SQL Queries
 Basic form of the SELECT statement:

Slide 5- 27
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.
Slide 5- 28
Basic Retrieval Queries

Slide 5- 29
Basic Retrieval Queries (Contd.)

Slide 5- 30
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

Slide 5- 31
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.

Slide 5- 32
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

Slide 5- 33
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

Slide 5- 34
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 *

Slide 5- 35
Tables as Sets in SQL
 SQL does not automatically eliminate duplicate tuples in
query results
 For aggregate operations duplicates must be accounted
for
 Use the keyword DISTINCT in the SELECT clause
 Only distinct tuples should remain in the result

Slide 5- 36
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

Slide 5- 37
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;

Slide 5- 38
 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’;

Slide 5- 39
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

Slide 5- 40
Basic SQL Retrieval Query Block

Slide 5- 41
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

Slide 5- 42
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

Slide 5- 43
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.

Slide 5- 44
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;

Slide 5- 45
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

Slide 5- 46
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.

Slide 5- 47
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
Slide 5- 48
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

Slide 5- 49
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

Slide 5- 50
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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