Using Column Aliases
SELECT last_name AS name, commission_pct comm
FROM employees;
SELECT last_name "Name" , salary*12 "Annual Salary"
FROM employees;
1-1 Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.
START
1-2 Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.
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
by 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
• Choose any delimiter
• Increase readability and usability
SELECT department_name ||
q'[, it's assigned 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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Start m2
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SQL and iSQL*Plus Interaction
SQL statements
Oracle
server
Internet
browser
iSQL*Plus Query results
commands
Formatted report
Client
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SQL Statements Versus
iSQL*Plus Commands
SQL iSQL*Plus
• A language • An environment
• ANSI standard • Oracle-proprietary
• Keyword cannot be • Keywords can be
abbreviated abbreviated
• Statements manipulate • Commands do not allow
data and table definitions manipulation of values in
in the database the database
• Runs on a browser
• Centrally loaded; does not
have to be implemented
on each machine
SQL iSQL*Plus
statements commands
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Overview of iSQL*Plus
After you log in to iSQL*Plus, you can:
• Describe table structures
• Enter, execute, and edit SQL statements
• Save or append SQL statements to files
• Execute or edit statements that are stored in
saved script files
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Logging In to iSQL*Plus
From your browser environment:
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iSQL*Plus Environment
8 9
1
6
2 3 4 5
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Displaying Table Structure
Use the iSQL*Plus DESCRIBE command to display the
structure of a table:
DESC[RIBE] tablename
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Displaying Table Structure
DESCRIBE employees
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Interacting with Script Files
SELECT last_name, hire_date, salary
FROM employees;
1
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Interacting with Script Files
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Interacting with Script Files
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Interacting with Script Files
D:\TEMP\emp_data.sql
2
3
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iSQL*Plus History Page
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iSQL*Plus History Page
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Setting iSQL*Plus Preferences
2
3
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Setting the Output Location Preference
2
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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
• Use the iSQL*Plus environment to write, save, and
execute SQL statements and iSQL*Plus
commands
SELECT *|{[DISTINCT] column|expression [alias],...}
FROM table;
1-24 Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.
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
• Using iSQL*Plus
1-25 Copyright © 2004, Oracle. All rights reserved.
