SQL Basic
SQL HOMESQL Intro
SQL Syntax
SQL Select
SQL Distinct
SQL Where
SQL And & Or
SQL Order By
SQL Insert
SQL Update
SQL Delete
SQL Demo
SQL Try ItSQL Advanced
SQL TopSQL Like
SQL Wildcards
SQL In
SQL Between
SQL Alias
SQL Joins
SQL Inner Join
SQL Left Join
SQL Right Join
SQL Full Join
SQL Union
SQL Select Into
SQL Create DB
SQL Create Table
SQL Constraints
SQL Not Null
SQL Unique
SQL Primary Key
SQL Foreign Key
SQL Check
SQL Default
SQL Create Index
SQL Drop
SQL Alter
SQL Increment
SQL Views
SQL Dates
SQL Nulls
SQL isnull()
SQL Data Types
SQL Functions
SQL FunctionsSQL avg()
SQL count()
SQL first()
SQL last()
SQL max()
SQL min()
SQL sum()
SQL Group By
SQL Having
SQL ucase()
SQL lcase()
SQL mid()
SQL len()
SQL round()
SQL now()
SQL format()
SQL Quick Ref
SQL Hosting
SQL Summary
SQL Quiz
SQL QuizSQL Syntax
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Database Tables
A database most often contains one or more tables. Each table is identified by a name (e.g. "Customers" or "Orders"). Tables contain records (rows) with data.
Below is an example of a table called "Persons":
| P_Id | LastName | FirstName | Address | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hansen | Ola | Timoteivn 10 | Sandnes |
| 2 | Svendson | Tove | Borgvn 23 | Sandnes |
| 3 | Pettersen | Kari | Storgt 20 | Stavanger |
The table above contains three records (one for each person) and five columns (P_Id, LastName, FirstName, Address, and City).
SQL Statements
Most of the actions you need to perform on a database are done with SQL statements.
The following SQL statement will select all the records in the "Persons" table:
| SELECT * FROM Persons |
In this tutorial we will teach you all about the different SQL statements.
Keep in Mind That...
- SQL is not case sensitive
Semicolon after SQL Statements?
Some database systems require a semicolon at the end of each SQL statement.
Semicolon is the standard way to separate each SQL statement in database systems that allow more than one SQL statement to be executed in the same call to the server.
We are using MS Access and SQL Server 2000 and we do not have to put a semicolon after each SQL statement, but some database programs force you to use it.
SQL DML and DDL
SQL can be divided into two parts: The Data Manipulation Language (DML) and the Data Definition Language (DDL).
The query and update commands form the DML part of SQL:
- SELECT - extracts data from a database
- UPDATE - updates data in a database
- DELETE - deletes data from a database
- INSERT INTO - inserts new data into a database
The DDL part of SQL permits database tables to be created or deleted. It also define indexes (keys), specify links between tables, and impose constraints between tables. The most important DDL statements in SQL are:
- CREATE DATABASE - creates a new database
- ALTER DATABASE - modifies a database
- CREATE TABLE - creates a new table
- ALTER TABLE - modifies a table
- DROP TABLE - deletes a table
- CREATE INDEX - creates an index (search key)
- DROP INDEX - deletes an index
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