What is SQL?
SQL (pronounced "ess-que-el") stands for Structured Query Language. SQL is used to
communicate with a database. According to ANSI (American National Standards Institute), it is the
standard language for relational database management systems. SQL statements are used to perform
tasks such as update data on a database, or retrieve data from a database. Some common relational
database management systems that use SQL are: Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, Access,
Ingres, etc. Although most database systems use SQL, most of them also have their own additional
proprietary extensions that are usually only used on their system. However, the standard SQL
commands such as "Select", "Insert", "Update", "Delete", "Create", and "Drop" can be used to
accomplish almost everything that one needs to do with a database. This tutorial will provide you with
the instruction on the basics of each of these commands as well as allow you to put them to practice
using the SQL Interpreter.
Table Basics
A relational database system contains one or more objects called tables. The data or
information for the database are stored in these tables. Tables are uniquely identified by their names
and are comprised of columns and rows. Columns contain the column name, data type, and any other
attributes for the column. Rows contain the records or data for the columns. Here is a sample table
called "weather".
city, state, high, and low are the columns. The rows contain the data for this table:
Weather
City State high low
Phoenix Arizona 105 90
Tucson Arizona 101 92
Flagstaff Arizona 88 69
San Diego California 77 60
New
Albuquerque 80 72
Mexico
Selecting Data
The select statement is used to query the database and retrieve selected data that match the criteria
that you specify. Here is the format of a simple select statement:
select "column1"
[,"column2",etc]
from "tablename"
[where "condition"];
[] = optional
The column names that follow the select keyword determine which columns will be
returned in the results. You can select as many column names that you'd like, or you can use a
"*" to select all columns.
The table name that follows the keyword from specifies the table that will be queried to
retrieve the desired results.
The where clause (optional) specifies which data values or rows will be returned or
displayed, based on the criteria described after the keyword where.
Conditional selections used in the where clause:
= Equal
> Greater than
< Less than
>= Greater than or equal
<= Less than or equal
<> Not equal to
LIKE *See note below
The LIKE pattern matching operator can also be used in the conditional selection of the
where clause. Like is a very powerful operator that allows you to select only rows that are
"like" what you specify. The percent sign "%" can be used as a wild card to match any
possible character that might appear before or after the characters specified. For example:
select first, last, city
from empinfo
where first LIKE 'Er%';
This SQL statement will match any first names that start with 'Er'. Strings must be in
single quotes.
Or you can specify,
select first, last
from empinfo
where last LIKE '%s';
This statement will match any last names that end in a 's'.
select * from empinfo
where first = 'Eric';
This will only select rows where the first name equals 'Eric' exactly.
Sample Table: empinfo
first last Id Age city state
John Jones 99980 45 Payson Arizona
Mary Jones 99982 25 Payson Arizona
Eric Edwards 88232 32 San Diego California
Mary Ann Edwards 88233 32 Phoenix Arizona
Ginger Howell 98002 42 Cottonwood Arizona
Sebastian Smith 92001 23 Gila Bend Arizona
Gus Gray 22322 35 Bagdad Arizona
Mary Ann May 32326 52 Tucson Arizona
Erica Williams 32327 60 Show Low Arizona
Leroy Brown 32380 22 Pinetop Arizona
Elroy Cleaver 32382 22 Globe Arizona
Enter the following sample select statements in the SQL Interpreter Form at the bottom of
this page. Before you press "submit", write down your expected results. Press "submit", and
compare the results.
select first, last, city from empinfo;
select last, city, age from empinfo
where age > 30;
select first, last, city, state from empinfo
where first LIKE 'J%';
select * from empinfo;
select first, last, from empinfo
where last LIKE '%s';
select first, last, age from empinfo
where last LIKE '%illia%';
select * from empinfo where first = 'Eric';
Select statement exercises
Enter select statements to:
1. Display the first name and age for everyone that's in the table.
2. Display the first name, last name, and city for everyone that's not from Payson.
3. Display all columns for everyone that is over 40 years old.
4. Display the first and last names for everyone whose last name ends in an "ay".
5. Display all columns for everyone whose first name equals "Mary".
6. Display all columns for everyone whose first name contains "Mary".
