SQL QURIES

SQL - Data Types

SQL recognizes 4 general types of data. As the database designer you will be
selecting which type of data that can be placed in each table column. Before we look
at each type of table column we will elaborate on specific data types and how they are
handled in SQL.

Character Strings - ('Words or numbers')

Numbers - (3, 3.423, -17)
Booleans - (True / False)
Nulls - (empty fields)

SQL - NULL Values

A null value may be the most foreign to new programmers. Stating that a value
has a null value indicates that nothing exists in that table field. When the table is
created you may either allow a table to have a null value or may disallow null values
for each table column.

SQL Code:
CREATE TABLE weekly_payroll
(employee_id VARCHAR(10) PRIMARY KEY,
total_hours INT NULL,
hourly_rate MONEY NOT NULL,);

SQL - Numeric Data

Dates, time stamps, integers, and money are all numeric data types. The
advantage of working with numbers is that SQL has built in functions such as the
AVG() or SUM() functions that will return the average or the sum of a numeric
column.

Numbers:
rate_of_pay
27
26.66
28.40

SQL - Boolean Data

Boolean values are either yes/no (true/false) types of data. Others use a 1/0 (1 for
yes 0 for no) approach. Either something is or something is not.
Boolean Values:
admin
1
1
0

SQL - Character Strings

Character strings are sentences, symbols, or a combination of both. Math functions

can not be performed with character strings.

Character Strings:
employee_id
TS_0036
TS_0078
CL_1099

Tips

Dates and times should always be set to "NOT NULL" since time always exists.
Character Strings are sometimes referred to as varchar(s).

SQL - Commands

SQL commands can be categorized into three distinct groups. Each type of
command plays an essential role while working with your database. One analogy
might be to think of each SQL Command as a possible tool in your tool shed. Certain
duties require specific tools and the more tools you have in your shed, the greater the
chances that you will have the exact tool you need for the appropriate job.

SQL - What is a Clause

Clauses were mentioned briefly in the SQL Queries lesson. To briefly recap, they
are the commands issued during a query. SELECT, INSERT, ADD, DROP, CREATE, etc
are all clauses that begin each SQL Query and execute some sort of action upon your
database.

SQL - What is a Function

There are a number of functions built into SQL that can add column values for you,
average column values, or even change lowercase to uppercase strings. These
functions are used directly inside of your queries and are excellent tools for you to
use.
SQL Code:
Count() function

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_one;

The query above will return a numeric value representing the number of rows that
have been inserted into your database. We will be covering this function as well as
many others as this tutorial continues.

SQL - What is an Operator

Operators are a means by which SQL can manipulate numbers and strings or test
for equality. They come in four flavors including: Arithmatic, Range, Equality, and
Logical. As your skills with SQL grow, you may want the language to start performing
some basic arithmatic for you or perhaps you wish to select a range of rows with a
numeric column value larger than 5. This becomes possible with operators.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_one WHERE column_one > 5;

Operators are used in expressions or conditional statements. they show equality,

inequality, or a combination of both. Mathematical operators are found in every
computer language and may be familiar to you. SQL operators follow the same rules
you may have learned in a math class or know from previous programming
experience.

Operators come in three flavors, mathematical, logical, or range operations.

Mathematical operators add, subtract, multiply, divide, and compare equality of
numbers and strings. There are two logical operators, AND / OR. Range operators
include the infamous < and > symbols used to compare equality. Take note of the
following tables for future reference.

SQL Arithmetic Operators:

Operator Example Result Definition
+ 7+7 = 14 Addition
- 7-7 =0 Subtraction
* 7*7 = 49 Multiplication
/ 7/7 =1 Division
% 7%7 =0 Modulus
 Modulus may be the only unfamiliar term on the chart. this term describes the
result when one number is divided by another number resulting in a remainder. For
example 4 % 3 would result with a value of 1 since 1 is left over after 4 is divided by
3.

SQL Range Operators:

Operator Example Defined Result
< 7<4 7 less than 4? False
> 7>4 greater than 4? True
<= 7 <= 11 Is 7 less than or equal to 11? True
>= 7 >= 11 Is 7 greater than or equal to 11? False

SQL Equality Operators:

Operator Example Defined Result
= 5=5 Is 5 equal to 5? True
<> 7 <> 2 Is 7 not equal to 2? True

SQL Logical Operators:

Operator Defined Example
AND Associates two values using AND if (($x AND $y) == 5)...
OR Associates two values using OR if (($x OR $y) == 5)...

SQL - Expressions

In the programming world an expression is a special statement that returns a

value. SQL is no exception to this standard rule.

SQL - Expression Types

Expressions in SQL generally fall into one of four categories including: Boolean,
Numeric, Character, and/or Date Expressions.

SQL Code:
SELECT column_one FROM table_name;

The simplest form of an expression appears as column_one of our table. Select is

our clause telling our database what we want to do, and column_one acts as the
defined expression returning each row of that particular column.

Expressions after the where clause might appear more familiar to programmers.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_one = 'some value';

The latter example returns rows of the specified column containing 'some value'.
Using expressions like the one above gives you precise control over what results will
be returned. More information on the where clause is available at SQL Where.

SQL - Boolean Expressions

A boolean expression in any programming language returns a true/false result.

Returning to the previous example containing the where clause.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_one = 'some value';

The logic behind this query is that each row is being tested for 'some value' to
appear in our column_one. Each time a match is found (testing true), that row is
selected and returned for our viewing pleasure.

SQL - Numeric Expression

A numeric expression simply returns a numeric value. There are some built in
functions that we will be examining in greater detail later on. Using one of the
following functions is perhaps the easiest way to demonstrate the return of a number:

AVG() -- Returns the average of a stated column.

COUNT() -- Returns a count of the number of rows of a given column.
SUM() -- Returns the sum of a given column.

SQL Code:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name;

Our expression above returns a numeric value representing the number of rows
that have been inserted into your table thus far. Please be aware that the AVG(),
COUNT(), and SUM() only return results for integer table columns. Using one of these
functions with a varchar column will result in an error message.

SQL - Character Expressions

Character expressions are used to test for values of a string. Often these
expressions will appear in a where clause as follows.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
column_one LIKE '%string';

Here we have used the percent(%) symbol to signify the start of our string. SQL
tests our expression against column_one and returns all the rows and columns where
column_one contains our string.

This might come across easier if we use a live example. Say we have created a
table with employee information. In this table we have set up a column a last_name
column. The query above will come in handy if we were wanting to pull all the
employees with a last_name that begins with a "T". Now if we plug in our hypothetical
situation into our code, we should have something like the following.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE
last_name LIKE '%T';

Keep in mind that SQL is case sensitive, using a lowercase t would not yield results
for a last_name that has been capitalized.

SQL - Date Expressions

Date expressions come in three flavors. These expressions are very straight
forward, simply type in any of those listed below and SQL will return exactly what you
have requested.

Current_Date -- Returns the current date.

Current_Time -- Returns the current time.
Current_Timestamp -- Returns the current timestamp.

These expressions can also be placed into your tables as column values for any
given row with an insert statement. We will be looking more indepth at the insert
clause, however here is a glimpse of what is to come.

SQL Code:
INSERT INTO table_name(column_one,column_two,)
Values(Current_Date,Current_Timestamp);

This statement inserts a new row into our imaginary table with the current date
value for column one and the current timestamp value for columne_two.

SQL - Create
 A database is nothing more than an empty shell, like a vacant warehouse. It offers
no real functionality what so ever, other than holding a name. Tables are the next tier
of our tree offering a wide scope of functionality. If you follow our warehouse
example, a SQL table would be the physical shelving inside our vacant warehouse.
Depending on the situation, your goods may require reorganization, reshelving, or
removal. SQL tables can be manipulated in this same way or in any fashion the
situation calls for.

SQL - Create Database

We first need to build our warehouse, or create our database. The create clause is
straight forward. Here we have a one line script using the create clause to create a
database we named business. The exact number of databases a SQL program can
handles is entirely up to the manufacturer, visit your sites manufacturer if you would
like to have specifics.

SQL Code:
CREATE DATABASE business;

We will be using this database for the remainder of the tutorial.

SQL - Create Table

Our emtpy shell of a database will do nothing standing alone, next we create our
tables to store and organize our data. We use the same create clause and follow the
same syntax above. Tables, however, are fairly complex. In our script we must also
include parameters for each table column as well as name each one. Naming your
table columns can be as simple or complicated as desired. SQL programs are case
sensitive, keep this in mind as you will be calling on our table columns by name a
great deal as you enhance your SQL knowledge. Also, most programs do not support
spaces in column names, you must use the underscore (_).

Column types specify what type of data can be placed inside a table column
ranging from numbers, paragraphs, or brief strings. For example, setting a column
type to an int value means your database will ONLY accept an interger value for this
column type.

Column Types:
Column
Description Syntax
Type
int Accepts integer values only tinyint, int
varchar(char limit
varchar Accepts any symbol, character, or number
value)
text/blob Accepts paragraph style data including line returns text, blob
 and page breaks

Int, varchar, and text are the 3 most common types of columns. Text and int
columns have 3 flavors tiny, medium, and large. Every SQL program has its unique
sizes, but for this tutorial we will be using medium sized column fields for each
exercise. Later on as your database exapands it becomes extremely important to not
overdue the size of your column fields. Using the correct size field will dramatically
increase performance including query speeds.

Now create the table.

SQL Code:
CREATE TABLE employees
(
id INT(3) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
Lastname VARCHAR(50),
Firstname VARCHAR(25),
Title VARCHAR(10) DEFAULT 'crew' NULL
);

Above is our table, the first column simply numbers each row that will be added to
the table up to a maximum of 3 digits wide (999) automatically(auto_increment). Our
second line is a varchar meaning it will hold numbers, digits, or symbols, which is
perfect for short names of people. The last column has a specified default value of
"crew" so that if we add a new crew member we can simply place a default value.

We do not always have to specify a default value or state weather each column
may have a NULL value, By default, most table columns will allow null values to be
recorded but certain table columns will not allow a null value to be inserted. We
recommend reading up on each column type available to you from your database
manufacturer.

SQL - Primary Key

A primary key is a property given to a table column that distinguishes that record
apart from each. For each record in the table the primary key acts like a driver's
license number, only one number exists for each person. The same principle applys
here. Any table can only be given one auto increment field and as such it is forced to
be the primary key of the table. Therefore in our following examples we use the 'id'
field as our primary key.

The alter clause is used to add or drop primary keys and indexes. To change a
primary key you must drop the first one, then add your desired primary as shown
below. More about the alter clause later.
SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE 'employees' DROP PRIMARY KEY,
ADD PRIMARY KEY ('id');

SQL - Indexes

SQL automatically creates some indexes based on column types and attributes. An
index can also be given to a table column to optimize speeds. When a query is
executed searching for a specific column value, SQL will start at the top of the table
and search each and every record until it finds matches. This becomes a performance
issue when a table holds a vast amount of records. By adding an index to columns,
SQL will no longer search the entire table, it will pinpoint your index columns and
search those first. The downside to indexing is that it enlarges the disk space
consumed by a table on your webserver. Use indexes when you notice a drop in your
query speeds.

SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE 'employees' ADD INDEX ('id');
or
ALTER TABLE `employees` DROP INDEX `Lastname`;

The insert clause has one function; to insert data into a table. Insert populates
each table column with a value. Rows are inserted one right after another into the
coresponding column.

SQL Code:
INSERT INTO employees (Lastname,Firstname,Title)
VALUES(Johnson,David,crew);

Above we have a single line example of the insert syntax. Since our 'id' column is
set up to auto increment, we can omit this field from our script. Our SQL program
automatically begins counting starting with one, when the auto increment attribute is
added to an interger field.

Display:
id Lastname Firstname Title
1 Johnson David crew

SQL - Insert defaults and nulls

 We mentioned setting up default or null values for table columns. Simply placing
the word default or null, in place of a value is the solution.

SQL Code:
INSERT INTO employees (Lastname,Firstname,Title)
VALUES('Hively','Jessica',DEFAULT);
or
INSERT INTO employees (Lastname,Firstname,Title)
VALUES('Hively','Jessica',NULL);

SQL - Inserting multilpe values

Here's an example of how to insert more than one record at a time. Many web
developers will use the single example above along with HTML forms to continually
insert and update their SQL tables.

SQL Code:
INSERT INTO employees VALUES
(DEFAULT,'Hicks','Freddy','crew'),
(DEFAULT,'Harris','Joel','crew'),
(DEFAULT,'Davis','Julie','manager');

We use a default value for the id field so that it will continue to auto increment for
each new record. Using this method you must have some value for each table column.

SQL - Insert into multiple tables

This concept isn't widely supported by open source database programs, however
they do offer alternative methods to achieve the same goal. The idea is to insert
similar record values into 2 or more tables with one statement. Using the example
from above, we want to place Julie's information into our manager table as well as the
general employee table.

SQL Code:
INSERT ALL INTO employees (Lastname,Firstname,Title)
VALUES('Davis','Julie','manager')
INTO manager (training,salary)
VALUES ('yadayada','22500');

SQL - Select
 In SQL, queries begin with the select clause. A typical query statement needs only
two parts, we select what from where. The what will represent columns of your table
you wish to select and the where represents the table name of your data table.

To avoid typing a list of every single column in your table, you can use the astric
(*) to select all table columns from a table. However, query speeds are very important
and always selecting every table column can dramatically decrease your SQL
performance. As good practice, it is best to only select the table columns that you
wish to use or display.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees;

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
1 Johnson David crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
10 Harris Joel crew
11 Davis Julie manager

Our result should print every table column and every bit of data stored in each row
thus far.

SQL Code:
SELECT Lastname,Firstname FROM employees;

SQL Table:
Lastname Firstname
Johnson David
Hively Jessica
Hicks Freddy
Harris Joel
Davis Julie

SQL - Select Multiple Tables

Multiple columns from different tables can also be selected. The syntax is relatively
the same, the difference being when you choose that table column you wish to select,
you must now name the table of the desired table column.
 The period is necessary to differentiate between the table name and the column
name, other than that all the same query rules apply.

SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Fisrtname, employees.Lastname, crew.experience FROM
employees, crew;

SQL - Select Functions

We havn't mentioned anything about SQL Functions yet and we will eventually
cover them in greater detail, for the moment we would like to introduce this concept
of using a selection query with a function. For instance we can query our database
program for the current_timestamp or retrieve the number of rows in our table using
the COUNT() function.

SQL Code:
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

This will return a server timestamp representing the date and time of when the
query was executed, more on this toward the end of the tutorial.

SQL Code:
SELECT COUNT(Lastname) FROM employees;

We will dive deeper into detail as the tutorial progresses, but be aware of this
concept of selecting date by means of calling a function as it will prove more useful
later on.

SQL - Order By

The order by statement allows for table column assortment. It allows for ascending
or descending lists of your table column values permitting SQL to reorder your table
rows for the purpose of viewing.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY Lastname;
SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
11 Davis Julie manager
10 Harris Joel crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
1 Johnson David crew

The above example resorts our rows of data alphabetically by lastname. Here is
another example ordering by two different columns First we alphabatize our job titles
and again we order by lastname.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY Title,Lastname;

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
10 Harris Joel crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
1 Johnson David crew
11 Davis Julie manager

Hint: It is possible to order by a column you do not wish to display such as an ID

field. Also notice at the bottom of each query display will be the number of rows
affected by your query. This number will also be displayed anytime an insert, select,
update, or delete statement is properly executed by your SQL program.

Distinct is used to retrieve rows of your database that have unique values for a
given column. For example say we have a table of employees and in this table of
employees we have several job titles from janitors to CEOs. We would like to know
just how many distinct job titles we have.

SQL Code:
SELECT DISTINCT job_titles FROM employees;

Our statement will return the number of rows with a distinct value for our column
(job_titles).

SQL - Distinct Multiple Columns

 Using the distinct function with more than one column yields some substantial
results. SQL will return the rows with distinct or unique combinations of those
columns. Assume this same employee table has another column including the salary
of each employee. With the use of the distinct function we can pull a list of unique job
titles - salaries.

SQL Code:
SELECT DISTINCT job_titles, salary FROM employees;

SQL has returned all the rows with unique combinations of job titles and salaries.
Any duplicate combinations of job titles and salaries will be ignored. For example if we
had two CEOs in the table making the same salary each year, only one row would be
returned but if we had two CEOs with different salaries, both rows would be returned.

SQL - Where

The where clause sets a conditional statement for your queries. Your server will
query the database searching for rows that meet your specific where condition. A
typical query will have the following syntax.

A conditional statement has 2 parts, the left side is your table column and the right
side is the condition to be met. Example:WHERE table_column(s) = condition.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE Title = 'crew' ORDER BY Lastname;

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
10 Harris Joel crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
1 Johnson David crew

All the known typical operators can be used in the conditional statements, for a
complete list backtrack to SQL Operators

SQL - Where multiple conditionals

SQL also supports multiple conditional statements within one script by using the
AND or OR operators. Continuing the example from above we can select only those
employees that worked 36 or more hours for the week, perhaps meaning they are full
time employees.
SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname,
employees.Firstname,
employees.Title,
payroll.Hours
FROM employees,payroll
WHERE employees.Lastname = payroll.Lastname
AND payroll.Hours => '36'
ORDER BY employees.Lastname;

As you can see, the where clause is a very powerful tool used to quickly pull rows
from one table or many.

SQL - In

In is a special kind of operator for use in your where clauses. Recall that in a
where expression only one value is allowed to be sent through the query. With the in
operator one can send multiple values in the where clause.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_name
WHERE some_column IN('value1','value2','value3');

The rows returned will have one of the values listed (value1, value2, or value3) in
brackets as the value for the specified column (column_one).

SQL - In Subqueries

To better understand the power of this function, let's use an example involving a
subquery. Say we have a database with the following tables.

employees logbook
user_id last first user_id timestamp
0045 Davis Julie 0045 000000002345
0067 Smith John 0045 000000045666
0098 Hodgensen Bruce 0098 000000076444

Now above we have an employees table giving us a user_id along with a first and
last name of employees we have working in the office. The second table might be a
log type table that keeps track of who accessed the database and at what time. This a
security check. A standard operating procedure if many people will be accessing the
database.
 What we want to know is the last name and first name of those that accessed the
database. To do this we may use a subquery like in the example below.

SQL Code:
SELECT first,last FROM employees WHERE user_id IN
(Select user_id FROM logbook);

The subquery highlighted in red selects all the values of user_id in the logbook and
returns those to the previous in statement. The result is a complete listing of the
names of the employees that have accessed the database and have been recorded
inside the logbook table. The good news is that this feat was accomplished without
having to know the user_ids of every employee in the office. This definatly adds some
depth to your SQL knowledge thus far.

SQL - Between

Between is a special operator appearing in a where statement. It allows for the

selection of a range of values between one value and another.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE column_one
BETWEEN value1 AND value2;

Be aware that the values you specify will also return results. For example if we
were looking for values between 5 and 10, all rows would be retrieved where our
column value is 5,6,7,8,9, or 10.

SQL - In Between (Subqueries)

This next example requires that you are familiar with the previous lesson, SQL In.
You may recall that the In operator allows the where clause to return more than one
single value for a column. Below are two tables. The employee table only stores
personal information about employees while the logbook records when and who
accessed our database.

employees logbook
user_id last first user_id timestamp
0045 Davis Julie 0045 000000002345
0048 Thomas David 0045 000000045666
0067 Smith John 0048 000000055767
0098 Hodgensen Bruce 0098 000000076444
 Say we were thinking ahead when issuing user_ids and coordinated each user_id
number with a department. For example our data security department employees will
be numbered 004X, where X represents any number 0-9 (So data security employees
are numbered 0040-0049). Since we konw this information it will prove useful if we
want to track down database users by department.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE user_id IN
(SELECT user_id FROM logbook WHERE user_id BETWEEN 0040 AND 0049);

SQL will now retrieve exactly what we need. A listing of all the data security
employees (user_id 004X) that have accessed the database thus far.

The alter clause changes a table by adding, removing, or modifying an existing

table column.

The following example adds a new column to our table.

SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE employees
ADD dob varchar(10);

SQL Table:
id Lastname Firstname Title dob
1 Johnson David crew

Now we will remove the same column from the table.

SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE employees
DROP dob;

id Lastname Firstname Title

1 Johnson David crew

SQL - Alter Columns

Alter is used again when changing attributes of the table cloumns. For instance if
we wanted to change a table column name or change a column from a varchar to an
interger type.

SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE 'employees' CHANGE 'ID' 'id' TINYINT ( 3 )
NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT;

Above we changed 'ID' to 'id' because SQL is case sensative and this will remove a
potential bug issue. After we have selected a new name, we list the new attributes to
be given to the altered column.

The update clause updates column values of a table. Update requires a conditional
statement to select the row to be updated.

SQL Code:
UPDATE employees
SET Lastname = 'Fletcher', Firstname = 'Ron'
WHERE id = '11';

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
11 Fletcher Ron manager

Here we changed record 11, our manager, to a new manager.

SQL - Updating Multiple Rows

With the use of expressions and operators, update allows for the manipulation of
several rows at once.

SQL Code:
UPDATE employees
SET Title = UPPER(Title);

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
1 Johnson David CREW
2 Hively Jessica CREW
9 Hicks Freddy CREW
10 Harris Joel CREW
11 Davis Julie MANAGER

Using the UPPER expression we changed our Title field to all capital letters. Update
also supports the use of subqueries.
SQL - Delete

Entire rows can be deleted from a table using the delte clause.

SQL Code:
DELETE FROM employees
WHERE id='4';

We could use the above code to delete an employee using their unique employee
number that has been assigned by the auto_increment field.

SQL - Deleting Multiple Rows

Delete is not limited to one row at a time. We may use all of our known SQL
operators as well as subqueries to delete any or all rows that apply to our conditional.

SQL Code:
DELETE FROM employees
WHERE id <= '999';

The above example would delete every row from our table since we had previously
limited our "id" field when we set up the table. Predicates, expressions, subqueries,
and operators can be used to delete any rows you would like to remove from your
table.

SQL - Truncate

We can clear an entire table using a truncate statement. Truncate quickly clears all
rows of a table without deleting the table itself. If you are following along, we don't
recommend that you run this script because you will essentially undo all of your
inserts and have only empty table field to show for it, but it is a handy statement to
know and use when the time is right.

SQL Code:
TRUNCATE TABLE employees;

SQL - Predicates
 Predicates follow the where clause. Predicates allow the searching through
database records to recover specific strings and ranges or characters. Rows will be
returned if they match the predicate condition.

SQL - Like; Not Like

Like is a means of quering data in your database by keyword or keyletter means.

After a where clause, use LIKE to match a character or a string. SQL retrieves all rows
containing all or part of the string placed within the parameters. Generally, a percent
sign (%) is used to define the start and ending or your string. Escape characters can
be used for special situations.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE Lastname LIKE '%H%';

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
10 Harris Joel crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
2 Hively Jessica crew

Our example will retrieve any and all rows with a capital letter H in the lastname
field. Case sensitivity is important in this situation.

On a contrary note, use the Not Like predicate to find all rows that do not match
the string.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE Lastname NOT LIKE '%H%';

SQL Table:
ID Lastname Firstname Title
1 Johnson David crew
11 Davis Julie manager

SQL - Predicates Escaping Characters

Say you want to find a percent character(%) in your database, or all rows
associated with one. SQL Server and Oracle, require an additional statement over
MySQL. With Oracle and SQL Server, you must specify the character used to escape.
Here's code example.
SQL Code:

Oracle/SQL Server

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE Lastname LIKE '%\%%' ESCAPE '\';

MySQL

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE Lastname LIKE '%\%%'

MySQL has a built in default escape character the backslash (\). MySQL also
supports the escape predicate allowing you to change your escape character exactly
as it is done in the other programs.

SQL - Between

Between is a predicate to call a range of numeric values such as 1-20 or the like.
Its syntax follows the same as above.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE id BETWEEN 1 AND 4;

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
ID Title
e e
1 Johnson David crew
2 Hively Jessica crew

Between is essentially replacing your range operators. Always start your ranges
with the lowest number first.

SQL - Limit

The limit predicate allows you to limit the number of rows selected.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees LIMIT 2;

SQL Table:
 Lastnam Firstnam
ID Title
e e
1 Johnson David crew
2 Hively Jessica crew

SQL - Inner Join

The join clause combines columns of one table to that of another to create a single
table. Join matches up a column with one table to a column in another table. A join
query does not alter either table, but temporarily combines data from each table to be
viewed as a single table. There are three types of join statements, inner, left, and
right.

We will be using our employees table from previous examples, and a new table to
track sales of each employee called invoices.

Our invoices table is set up with 3 fields, EmployeeID, Sale, and Price. If we were a
business owner we now have a means to track what was sold, and by whom and we
can bring this information together using an inner join clause.

Inner Join: An inner join returns all rows that result in a match such as the
example above.

SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname, employees.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees
INNER JOIN invoices
ON employees.id = invoices.EmployeeID

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
Sale Price
e e
Johnson David HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Hively Jessica 1.49
DRK
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99

We haven't changed or updated any information in either of our tables but we were
able to fashion together a new table using a conditional that matches one table
column to another.

SQL - Left Join

 A Left join returns all rows of the left of the conditional even if there is no right
column to match.

SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname, employees.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees
LEFT JOIN invoices
ON employees.id = invoices.EmployeeID

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
Sale Price
e e
Johnson David HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Hively Jessica 1.49
DRK
Hicks Freddy
Harris Joel
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99

This would be a great way to track sales per person per day if the invoice table had
a date field as well.

SQL - Right Join

A right join will display rows on the right side of the conditional that may or may
not have a match.

SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname, employees.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees
RIGHT JOIN invoices
ON employees.id = invoices.EmployeeID

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
Sale Price
e e
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99
Davis Julie CD SLD 3.99
Johnson David HOT DOG 1.99
HOT DOG 1.99
 LG SFT
Hively Jessica 1.49
DRK
LG SFT
1.49
DRK

This would happen generally if perhaps nobody recieved credit for the sale or the
sale was credited to the store by default.

SQL - Union

The union clause places two serarate queries together forming one table. A union
works best when using two tables with similar columns because each cloumn must
have the same data type.

Say we had another table called employees2 with the names and information of
employees from our second store. With 2 queries, we can combine the tables into a
list of all employees.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees
UNION
SELECT * FROM employees2;

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
ID Title
e e
1 Johnson David crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
10 Harris Joel crew
manage
11 Davis Julie
r
101Yazzow Jim crew
102Anderson Craig crew
103Carlson Kevin crew
104Maines Brad crew

The result is a complete listing every employee from store 1 and 2.

The next example shows a more practical means of using a union clause. Here we
will select all of our employees from both tables, and join them with our invoices table
to generate a complete list of sales from both stores on a given day.
SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname, employees.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees
INNER JOIN invoices
ON employees.id = invoices.EmployeeID
UNION
SELECT employees2.Lastname, employees2.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees2
INNER JOIN invoices
ON employees2.id = invoices.EmployeeID;

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
Sale Price
e e
Johnson David HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Hively Jessica 1.49
DRK
Davis Julie CK SLD 3.99
Yazzow Jim HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Carlson Kevin 1.49
DRK

Here we combined a join query with the union clause to create one table.

SQL - Union All

Union all selects all rows from each table and combines them into a single table.
The difference between Union and Union all is that Union all will not eliminate
duplicate rows, instead it just pulls all rows from all tables fitting your query specifics
and combines them into a table.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM employees2;

SQL Table:
Lastnam Firstnam
ID Title
e e
1 Johnson David crew
2 Hively Jessica crew
9 Hicks Freddy crew
10 Harris Joel crew
manage
11 Davis Julie
r
101Yazzow Jim crew
102Anderson Craig crew
103Carlson Kevin crew
manage
11 Davis Julie
r
104Maines Brad crew

SQL Code:
SELECT employees.Lastname, employees.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees
INNER JOIN invoices
ON employees.id = invoices.EmployeeID
UNION ALL
SELECT employees2.Lastname, employees2.Firstname, invoices.Sale, invoices.Price
FROM employees2
INNER JOIN invoices
ON employees2.id = invoices.EmployeeID;

SQL Table:
Lastna Firstna
Sale Price
me me
Johnson David HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Hively Jessica 1.49
DRK
Davis Julie CK SLD 3.99
manag
11 Davis Julie
er
Yazzow Jim HOT DOG 1.99
LG SFT
Carlson Kevin 1.49
DRK
manag
11 Davis Julie
er
manag
11 Davis Julie
er

SQL - Subqueries
 MySQL offers a very limited support for subqueries, however Oracle and DB2 fully
support them. Subqueries are Select queries placed within an existing SQL statement.
They may exist in any of the following types of SQL statements.

Select
Insert
Update
Delete
Set
Do

Subqueries are great for answering very specific questions regarding your data
inside your database. For instance, as the employer you may notice employee number
101 had a great day yesterday with sales. Just given this information we can use a
subquery to pull the employee lastname and first name from our database.

SQL Code:
SELECT * FROM employees
WHERE id =
(SELECT EmployeeID FROM invoices WHERE EmployeeID='1');

SQL Table:
Lastna Firstna
id Title
me me
MANAGE
11Davis Julie
R

Here we have pulled our employee information from the employees table by only
knowing the employee number from the invoices table.

SQL - Subquery Inserts

Subqueries can be used to pull old data from your database and insert it into new
tables. For instance if we opened up a third store and we wanted to place the same
manager over 3 stores we could do this by pulling the manager's information using a
subquery and then inserting the records. Also note that this form of insert will insert
all cases where the subquery is true, therefore several rows may or may not be
inserted depending upon how your table is set up.

SQL Code:
INSERT INTO employees3
(id,Lastname,Firstname,Title)
(SELECT id,Lastname,Firstname,Title
FROM employees WHERE Title='manager');
 With complete mastery of a subqueries you can now see the power of the SQL
language. The language is capable of nearly all things imaginable.

SQL - Dates

Unfortunately, every SQL platform has its own version of date functions, the few
listed work in DB2, Oracle, and MySQL. Microsoft SQL Server users should skip to our
SQL Datepart lesson.

SQL - Timestamp

A timestamp servers as the catch all for dates and times. Retrieving a timestamp is
very simple and the result can be converted or manipulated in nearly every way
imaginable.

SQL Code:
SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

Return a Timestamp:
2004-06-22 10:33:11.840

Keep in mind that each platform of SQL (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, etc...) may
return dates and times which are formatted differently.

SQL - Date Functions

As we just mentioned, it is possible to breakdown timestamps into their individual

pieces using any of the following date functions.

SQL Code:
SELECT MONTH(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);

Return a Month:
6
SQL Code:
SELECT DAY(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);

Return a Day:
22

There are many more functions available, including functions to extract

milliseconds, names of the months, names of each week day, etc. Each SQL platform
varies in the actual naming of date functions. Here's a few c\The following is a list of
other date functions available to most platforms of SQL with the exception of MS's
SQL Server.

SQL Function Code:

SELECT DATE(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns a date (2004-06-22)

SELECT TIME(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns the time (10:33:11.840)

SELECT DAYOFWEEK(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns a numeric value (1-7)

SELECT DAYOFMONTH(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns a day of month (1-31)

SELECT DAYOFYEAR(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns the day of the year (1-365)

SELECT MONTHNAME(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);
- returns the month name (January - December

SELECT DAYNAME(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP);
- returns the name of the day (Sunday - Saturday)

SELECT WEEK(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP); - returns number of the week (1-53)

Timestamps are often the easiest to work with, but we certainly are not limited to
using only the current_timestamp as our parameter. We can send any date, time, or
timestamp to the function which then returns our result.

SQL Code:
SELECT MONTHNAME('2004-11-27');

Return a Month Name:

MONTHNAME('2004-
11-27')
November

Date functions can also be performed on table columns similarly to numeric and
mathematical functions such as SUM() or AVG().

SQL Code:
SELECT DAYOFYEAR(column_name) FROM table_name WHERE name = 'Joe';

SQL will return a numeric result from 1 - 365 representing the day of the year that
Joe's record was created/inserted.
 We can expand this concept one step further with the use of a subquery. Say we
have a table with a column named timestamp. In this table column are timestamps of
when each record was entered and we would like to know what was the numeric day
of the year that a record was entered.

SQL Code:
SELECT DAYOFYEAR(
(SELECT DATE(timestamp) FROM employees WHERE name = 'James Bond')
);

Above you can see how it is possible to combine several date functions as well as a
subquery to return very specific information about Mr. James Bond.

SQL - Inserting Date Data

Date data exists as numbers, strings, and timestamps. Built into most platforms
are several date column types such as DATE or TIMESTAMP. By setting the default
value to the current date or timestamp, the table column will automatically be filled
with a current date/timestamp as each record is inserted.

Here's the code to add a timestamp column to an existing table.

SQL Code:
ALTER TABLE `orders` ADD `order_date`
TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP NOT NULL;

Now each time an order is placed in our make believe business, a timestamp of
that order is also recorded.

A date or timestamp table column will only allow date data types to be inserted as
values so be sure to convert any strings or numbers to dates and timestamps before
trying to insert them.

Tips

Each platform has some sort of special date, time, or timestamp table column
which will automatically post the current_dates/times/timestamps.

SQL - Case
 In SQL case works with either the select or update clauses. It provides when-then-
else functionality (WHEN this_happens THEN do_this) also known as conditional statements.

employee_n admi
ame n
Ted 0
Terry 0
Trish 1

As you can see, we have a list of a few employees and then an admin column with
boolean (true/false) values for their administration rights (admin). A zero means they
are not an admin a 1 mean they are.

SQL Code:
SELECT employee_name
CASE admin
WHEN 1 THEN 'yes'
ELSE 'no'
END 'admin'
FROM employees;

SQL Case:
employee_n admi
ame n
Ted no
Terry no
Trish yes

In short all we really did is replace 1's and 0's with the words 'yes' and 'no'.

SQL - Case (update)

Case functions additionally allow for the updating of records within your table. For
example, we could update the prices of items in our online store, but more
importantly we could update very specific records because of the conditional logic
allowed by case.

quanti pric
item
ty e
goldfis
12 1.00
h
guppy 24 0.50
blow 1 5.00
fish

Let's say we wanted to have a sale to clean out some of our overstock. We'll go
ahead and take 25% off of all our items that we currently have 20 or more of (>20).
Then we'll take 10% off the items that we have 10-20 of (between 10 and 20) and
everything else we will discount only 5%.

SQL Code:
UPDATE inventory SET price = price *
CASE
WHEN quantity > 20 THEN 0.75
WHEN quantity BETWEEN 10 AND 20 THEN 0.90
ELSE 0.95
END;

SQL Case:
quanti pric
item
ty e
goldfis
12 .9
h
0.37
guppy 24
5
blow
1 4.75
fish

What is Normalization?
Normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database.

There are two goals of the normalization process: eliminating redundant data (for
example, storing the same data in more than one table) and ensuring data
dependencies make sense (only storing related data in a table). Both of these are
worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a database consumes and ensure
that data is logically stored.

The Normal Forms

The database community has developed a series of guidelines for ensuring that
databases are normalized. These are referred to as normal forms and are numbered
from one (the lowest form of normalization, referred to as first normal form or 1NF)
through five (fifth normal form or 5NF). In practical applications, you'll often see 1NF,
2NF, and 3NF along with the occasional 4NF. Fifth normal form is very rarely seen and
won't be discussed in this article.

Before we begin our discussion of the normal forms, it's important to point out that
they are guidelines and guidelines only. Occasionally, it becomes necessary to stray
from them to meet practical business requirements. However, when variations take
 place, it's extremely important to evaluate any possible ramifications they could have
on your system and account for possible inconsistencies. That said, let's explore the
normal forms.

First Normal Form (1NF)

First normal form (1NF) sets the very basic rules for an organized database:
Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table.
Create separate tables for each group of related data and identify each row with
a unique column or set of columns (the primary key).

Second Normal Form (2NF)

Second normal form (2NF) further addresses the concept of removing duplicative
data:
Meet all the requirements of the first normal form.
Remove subsets of data that apply to multiple rows of a table and place them in
separate tables.
Create relationships between these new tables and their predecessors through
the use of foreign keys.

Third Normal Form (3NF)

Third normal form (3NF) goes one large step further:
Meet all the requirements of the second normal form.
Remove columns that are not dependent upon the primary key.

Fourth Normal Form (4NF)

Finally, fourth normal form (4NF) has one additional requirement:
Meet all the requirements of the third normal form.
A relation is in 4NF if it has no multi-valued dependencies.

Remember, these normalization guidelines are cumulative. For a database to be in

2NF, it must first fulfill all the criteria of a 1NF database.