Shrinathji
SQL CREATE DATABASE Statement
SQL CREATE DATABASE Syntax
CREATE DATABASE dbname;
SQL CREATE DATABASE Example
The following SQL statement creates a database called "my_db":
CREATE DATABASE my_db;
The SQL CREATE TABLE Statement
The CREATE TABLE statement is used to create a table in a database.
Tables are organized into rows and columns; and each table must have a name.
SQL CREATE TABLE Syntax
CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type(size),
column_name2 data_type(size),
column_name3 data_type(size),
....
);
The column_name parameters specify the names of the columns of the table.
The data_type parameter specifies what type of data the column can hold (e.g. varchar,
integer, decimal, date, etc.).
The size parameter specifies the maximum length of the column of the table.
Tip: For an overview of the data types available in MS Access, MySQL, and SQL Server, go
to our complete Data Types Reference.
SQL CREATE TABLE Example
Now we want to create a table called "Persons" that contains five columns: PersonID,
LastName, FirstName, Address, and City.
We use the following CREATE TABLE statement:
Example
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
PersonID int,
LastName varchar(255),
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
); The PersonID column is of type int and will hold an integer.
The LastName, FirstName, Address, and City columns are of type varchar and will hold
characters, and the maximum length for these fields is 255 characters.
The empty "Persons" table will now look like this:
PersonID LastName FirstName Address City
SQL Constraints
SQL constraints are used to specify rules for the data in a table.
If there is any violation between the constraint and the data action, the action is aborted by
the constraint.
Constraints can be specified when the table is created (inside the CREATE TABLE
statement) or after the table is created (inside the ALTER TABLE statement).
SQL CREATE TABLE + CONSTRAINT Syntax
CREATE TABLE table_name
(
column_name1 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name2 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name3 data_type(size) constraint_name,
....
);
In SQL, we have the following constraints:
NOT NULL - Indicates that a column cannot store NULL value
UNIQUE - Ensures that each row for a column must have a unique value
PRIMARY KEY - A combination of a NOT NULL and UNIQUE. Ensures that a column (or
combination of two or more columns) have a unique identity which helps to find a particular
record in a table more easily and quickly
FOREIGN KEY - Ensure the referential integrity of the data in one table to match values in
another table
CHECK - Ensures that the value in a column meets a specific condition
DEFAULT - Specifies a default value for a column
SQL NOT NULL Constraint
The NOT NULL constraint enforces a column to NOT accept NULL values.
The NOT NULL constraint enforces a field to always contain a value. This means that you
cannot insert a new record, or update a record without adding a value to this field.
The following SQL enforces the "P_Id" column and the "LastName" column to not accept
NULL values:
Example
CREATE TABLE PersonsNotNull
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
SQL UNIQUE Constraint
The UNIQUE constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.
The UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints both provide a guarantee for uniqueness for a
column or set of columns.
A PRIMARY KEY constraint automatically has a UNIQUE constraint defined on it.
Note that you can have many UNIQUE constraints per table, but only one PRIMARY KEY
constraint per table.
SQL UNIQUE Constraint on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a UNIQUE constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons"
table is created:
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL UNIQUE,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
UNIQUE (P_Id)
)
To allow naming of a UNIQUE constraint, and for defining a UNIQUE constraint on
multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID UNIQUE (P_Id,LastName)
)
SQL UNIQUE Constraint on ALTER TABLE
To create a UNIQUE constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use
the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD UNIQUE (P_Id)
To allow naming of a UNIQUE constraint, and for defining a UNIQUE constraint on
multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID UNIQUE (P_Id,LastName)
To DROP a UNIQUE Constraint
To drop a UNIQUE constraint, use the following SQL:
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP INDEX uc_PersonID
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CONSTRAINT uc_PersonID
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint
The PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table.
Primary keys must contain UNIQUE values.
A primary key column cannot contain NULL values.
Most tables should have a primary key, and each table can have only ONE primary key.
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a PRIMARY KEY on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons"
table is created:
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
PRIMARY KEY (P_Id)
)
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY
constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName)
)
Note: In the example above there is only ONE PRIMARY KEY (pk_PersonID). However,
the VALUE of the primary key is made up of TWO COLUMNS (P_Id + LastName).
SQL PRIMARY KEY Constraint on ALTER TABLE
To create a PRIMARY KEY constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already
created, use the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD PRIMARY KEY (P_Id)
To allow naming of a PRIMARY KEY constraint, and for defining a PRIMARY KEY
constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID PRIMARY KEY (P_Id,LastName)
Note: If you use the ALTER TABLE statement to add a primary key, the primary key
column(s) must already have been declared to not contain NULL values (when the table was
first created).
To DROP a PRIMARY KEY Constraint
To drop a PRIMARY KEY constraint, use the following SQL:
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP PRIMARY KEY
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CONSTRAINT pk_PersonID
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint
A FOREIGN KEY in one table points to a PRIMARY KEY in another table.
Let's illustrate the foreign key with an example. Look at the following two tables:
The "Persons" table:
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 "Orders" table:
O_Id OrderNo P_Id
1 77895 3
2 44678 3
3 22456 2
4 24562 1
Note that the "P_Id" column in the "Orders" table points to the "P_Id" column in the
"Persons" table.
The "P_Id" column in the "Persons" table is the PRIMARY KEY in the "Persons" table.
The "P_Id" column in the "Orders" table is a FOREIGN KEY in the "Orders" table.
The FOREIGN KEY constraint is used to prevent actions that would destroy links between
tables.
The FOREIGN KEY constraint also prevents invalid data from being inserted into the foreign
key column, because it has to be one of the values contained in the table it points to.
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a FOREIGN KEY on the "P_Id" column when the "Orders" table
is created:
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int,
PRIMARY KEY (O_Id),
FOREIGN KEY (P_Id) REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int FOREIGN KEY REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY
constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Orders
(
O_Id int NOT NULL,
OrderNo int NOT NULL,
P_Id int,
PRIMARY KEY (O_Id),
CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders FOREIGN KEY (P_Id)
REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
)
SQL FOREIGN KEY Constraint on ALTER TABLE
To create a FOREIGN KEY constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Orders" table is
already created, use the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Orders
ADD FOREIGN KEY (P_Id)
REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
To allow naming of a FOREIGN KEY constraint, and for defining a FOREIGN KEY
constraint on multiple columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Orders
ADD CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders
FOREIGN KEY (P_Id)
REFERENCES Persons(P_Id)
To DROP a FOREIGN KEY Constraint
To drop a FOREIGN KEY constraint, use the following SQL:
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Orders
DROP FOREIGN KEY fk_PerOrders
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Orders
DROP CONSTRAINT fk_PerOrders
SQL CHECK Constraint
The CHECK constraint is used to limit the value range that can be placed in a column.
If you define a CHECK constraint on a single column it allows only certain values for this
column.
If you define a CHECK constraint on a table it can limit the values in certain columns based
on values in other columns in the row.
SQL CHECK Constraint on CREATE TABLE
The following SQL creates a CHECK constraint on the "P_Id" column when the "Persons"
table is created. The CHECK constraint specifies that the column "P_Id" must only include
integers greater than 0.
MySQL:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CHECK (P_Id>0)
)
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL CHECK (P_Id>0),
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255)
)
To allow naming of a CHECK constraint, and for defining a CHECK constraint on multiple
columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
P_Id int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CONSTRAINT chk_Person CHECK (P_Id>0 AND City='Sandnes')
)
SQL CHECK Constraint on ALTER TABLE
To create a CHECK constraint on the "P_Id" column when the table is already created, use
the following SQL:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CHECK (P_Id>0)
To allow naming of a CHECK constraint, and for defining a CHECK constraint on multiple
columns, use the following SQL syntax:
MySQL / SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
ADD CONSTRAINT chk_Person CHECK (P_Id>0 AND City='Sandnes')
To DROP a CHECK Constraint
To drop a CHECK constraint, use the following SQL:
SQL Server / Oracle / MS Access:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CONSTRAINT chk_Person
MySQL:
ALTER TABLE Persons
DROP CHECK chk_Person
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
The SQL SELECT Statement
The SELECT statement is used to select data from a database.
The result is stored in a result table, called the result-set.
SQL SELECT Syntax
SELECT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name;
and
SELECT * FROM table_name;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo
Avda. de la Mxico
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Constitucin 2222 D.F.
helados
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mxico
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquera Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Christina
5 Berglunds snabbkp Berguvsvgen 8 Lule S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund
SELECT Column Example
The following SQL statement selects the "CustomerName" and "City" columns from the
"Customers" table:
Example
SELECT CustomerName,City FROM Customers;
Try it yourself
SELECT * Example
The following SQL statement selects all the columns from the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers;
he SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement
In a table, a column may contain many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list
the different (distinct) values.
The DISTINCT keyword can be used to return only distinct (different) values.
SQL SELECT DISTINCT Syntax
SELECT DISTINCT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo
Avda. de la Mxico
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Constitucin 2222 D.F.
helados
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mxico
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquera Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Christina
5 Berglunds snabbkp Berguvsvgen 8 Lule S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund
SELECT DISTINCT Example
The following SQL statement selects only the distinct values from the "City" columns from
the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Customers;
Try it yourself
The SQL WHERE Clause
The WHERE clause is used to extract only those records that fulfill a specified criterion.
SQL WHERE Syntax
SELECT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo
Avda. de la Mxico
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Constitucin 2222 D.F.
helados
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mxico
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquera Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Christina
5 Berglunds snabbkp Berguvsvgen 8 Lule S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund
WHERE Clause Example
The following SQL statement selects all the customers from the country "Mexico", in the
"Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Mexico';
Try it yourself
Text Fields vs. Numeric Fields
SQL requires single quotes around text values (most database systems will also allow double
quotes).
However, numeric fields should not be enclosed in quotes:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID=1;
The AND & OR operators are used to filter records based on more than one condition.
The SQL AND & OR Operators
The AND operator displays a record if both the first condition AND the second condition are
true.
The OR operator displays a record if either the first condition OR the second condition is
true.
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo
Avda. de la Mxico
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Constitucin 2222 D.F.
helados
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mxico
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquera Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Christina
5 Berglunds snabbkp Berguvsvgen 8 Lule S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund
AND Operator Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the country "Germany" AND the
city "Berlin", in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
AND City='Berlin';
Try it yourself
OR Operator Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the city "Berlin" OR "Mnchen", in
the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE City='Berlin'
OR City='Mnchen';
Try it yourself
Combining AND & OR
You can also combine AND and OR (use parenthesis to form complex expressions).
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the country "Germany" AND the
city must be equal to "Berlin" OR "Mnchen", in the "Customers" table:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
AND (City='Berlin' OR City='Mnchen');
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set.
The SQL ORDER BY Keyword
The ORDER BY keyword is used to sort the result-set by one or more columns.
The ORDER BY keyword sorts the records in ascending order by default. To sort the records
in a descending order, you can use the DESC keyword.
SQL ORDER BY Syntax
SELECT column_name, column_name
FROM table_name
ORDER BY column_name ASC|DESC, column_name ASC|DESC;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
1 Alfreds Futterkiste Maria Anders Obere Str. 57 Berlin 12209 Germany
Ana Trujillo
Avda. de la Mxico
2 Emparedados y Ana Trujillo 05021 Mexico
Constitucin 2222 D.F.
helados
Antonio Moreno Antonio Mxico
3 Mataderos 2312 05023 Mexico
Taquera Moreno D.F.
4 Around the Horn Thomas Hardy 120 Hanover Sq. London WA1 1DP UK
Christina
5 Berglunds snabbkp Berguvsvgen 8 Lule S-958 22 Sweden
Berglund
ORDER BY Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the
"Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country;
Try it yourself
ORDER BY DESC Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted
DESCENDING by the "Country" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country DESC;
Try it yourself
ORDER BY Several Columns Example
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted by the
"Country" and the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country, CustomerName;
Try it yourself
ORDER BY Several Columns Example 2
The following SQL statement selects all customers from the "Customers" table, sorted
ascending by the "Country" and descending by the "CustomerName" column:
Example
SELECT * FROM Customers
ORDER BY Country ASC, CustomerName DESC;
The SQL INSERT INTO Statement
The INSERT INTO statement is used to insert new records in a table.
SQL INSERT INTO Syntax
It is possible to write the INSERT INTO statement in two forms.
The first form does not specify the column names where the data will be inserted, only their
values:
INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...);
The second form specifies both the column names and the values to be inserted:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1,column2,column3,...)
VALUES (value1,value2,value3,...);
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
Pirkko
87 Wartian Herkku Torikatu 38 Oulu 90110 Finland
Koskitalo
Wellington
88 Paula Parente Rua do Mercado, 12 Resende 08737-363 Brazil
Importadora
White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S.
89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets Suite 3B
Matti
90 Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland
INSERT INTO Example
Assume we wish to insert a new row in the "Customers" table.
We can use the following SQL statement:
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, ContactName, Address, City, PostalCode, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal','Tom B. Erichsen','Skagen 21','Stavanger','4006','Norway');
Try it yourself
The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
Pirkko
87 Wartian Herkku Torikatu 38 Oulu 90110 Finland
Koskitalo
Wellington Rua do Mercado,
88 Paula Parente Resende 08737-363 Brazil
Importadora 12
White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S.
89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets Suite 3B
Matti
90 Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland
Tom B.
92 Cardinal Skagen 21 Stavanger 4006 Norway
Erichsen
Did you notice that we did not insert any number into the CustomerID field?
The CustomerID column is automatically updated with a unique number for each record
in the table.
Insert Data Only in Specified Columns
It is also possible to only insert data in specific columns.
The following SQL statement will insert a new row, but only insert data in the
"CustomerName", "City", and "Country" columns (and the CustomerID field will of course
also be updated automatically):
Example
INSERT INTO Customers (CustomerName, City, Country)
VALUES ('Cardinal', 'Stavanger', 'Norway');
Try it yourself
The selection from the "Customers" table will now look like this:
CustomerID CustomerName ContactName Address City PostalCode Country
Pirkko
87 Wartian Herkku Torikatu 38 Oulu 90110 Finland
Koskitalo
Wellington Rua do Mercado,
88 Paula Parente Resende 08737-363 Brazil
Importadora 12
White Clover 305 - 14th Ave. S.
89 Karl Jablonski Seattle 98128 USA
Markets Suite 3B
Matti
90 Wilman Kala Keskuskatu 45 Helsinki 21240 Finland
Karttunen
91 Wolski Zbyszek ul. Filtrowa 68 Walla 01-012 Poland
92 Cardinal null null Stavanger null Norway
