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---
language: SQL
filename: learnsql.sql
contributors:
- ["Bob DuCharme", "http://bobdc.com/"]
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---
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Structured Query Language (SQL) is an [ISO/IEC 9075](https://www.iso.org/standard/63555.html) standard language for creating and working with databases stored in a set of tables. Implementations usually add their own extensions to the language; [Comparison of different SQL implementations](http://troels.arvin.dk/db/rdbms/) is a good reference on product differences.
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Implementations typically provide a command line prompt where you can enter the commands shown here interactively, and they also offer a way to execute a series of these commands stored in a script file. (Showing that youre done with the interactive prompt is a good example of something that isnt standardized--most SQL implementations support the keywords QUIT, EXIT, or both.)
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Several of these sample commands assume that the [MySQL employee sample database](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/employee/en/) available on [github](https://github.com/datacharmer/test_db) has already been loaded. The github files are scripts of commands, similar to the relevant commands below, that create and populate tables of data about a fictional companys employees. The syntax for running these scripts will depend on the SQL implementation you are using. A utility that you run from the operating system prompt is typical.
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```sql
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-- Comments start with two hyphens. End each command with a semicolon.
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-- SQL is not case-sensitive about keywords. The sample commands here
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-- follow the convention of spelling them in upper-case because it makes
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-- it easier to distinguish them from database, table, and column names.
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-- Create and delete a database. Database and table names are case-sensitive.
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CREATE DATABASE someDatabase;
DROP DATABASE someDatabase;
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-- List available databases.
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SHOW DATABASES;
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-- Use a particular existing database.
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USE employees;
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-- Select all rows and columns from the current database's departments table.
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-- Default activity is for the interpreter to scroll the results on your screen.
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SELECT * FROM departments;
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-- Retrieve all rows from the departments table,
-- but only the dept_no and dept_name columns.
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-- Splitting up commands across lines is OK.
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SELECT dept_no,
dept_name FROM departments;
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-- Retrieve all departments columns, but just 5 rows.
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SELECT * FROM departments LIMIT 5;
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-- Retrieve dept_name column values from the departments
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-- table where the dept_name value has the substring 'en'.
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SELECT dept_name FROM departments WHERE dept_name LIKE '%en%';
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-- Retrieve all columns from the departments table where the dept_name
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-- column starts with an 'S' and has exactly 4 characters after it.
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SELECT * FROM departments WHERE dept_name LIKE 'S____';
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-- Select title values from the titles table but don't show duplicates.
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SELECT DISTINCT title FROM titles;
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-- Same as above, but sorted (case-sensitive) by the title values.
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SELECT DISTINCT title FROM titles ORDER BY title;
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-- Show the number of rows in the departments table.
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SELECT COUNT(*) FROM departments;
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-- Show the number of rows in the departments table that
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-- have 'en' as a substring of the dept_name value.
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SELECT COUNT(*) FROM departments WHERE dept_name LIKE '%en%';
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-- A JOIN of information from multiple tables: the titles table shows
-- who had what job titles, by their employee numbers, from what
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-- date to what date. Retrieve this information, but instead of the
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-- employee number, use the employee number as a cross-reference to
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-- the employees table to get each employee's first and last name
-- instead. (And only get 10 rows.)
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SELECT employees.first_name, employees.last_name,
titles.title, titles.from_date, titles.to_date
FROM titles INNER JOIN employees ON
employees.emp_no = titles.emp_no LIMIT 10;
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-- List all the tables in all the databases. Implementations typically provide
-- their own shortcut command to do this with the database currently in use.
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SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_TYPE='BASE TABLE';
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-- Create a table called tablename1, with the two columns shown, for
-- the database currently in use. Lots of other options are available
-- for how you specify the columns, such as their datatypes.
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CREATE TABLE tablename1 (fname VARCHAR(20), lname VARCHAR(20));
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-- Insert a row of data into the table tablename1. This assumes that the
-- table has been defined to accept these values as appropriate for it.
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INSERT INTO tablename1 VALUES('Richard','Mutt');
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-- In tablename1, change the fname value to 'John'
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-- for all rows that have an lname value of 'Mutt'.
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UPDATE tablename1 SET fname='John' WHERE lname='Mutt';
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-- Delete rows from the tablename1 table
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-- where the lname value begins with 'M'.
DELETE FROM tablename1 WHERE lname LIKE 'M%';
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-- Delete all rows from the tablename1 table, leaving the empty table.
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DELETE FROM tablename1;
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-- Remove the entire tablename1 table.
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DROP TABLE tablename1;
```
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## Further Reading
* [Codecademy - SQL](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-sql) A good introduction to SQL in a "learn by doing it" format.
* [Database System Concepts](https://www.db-book.com) book's Chapter 3 - Introduction to SQL has an in depth explanation of SQL concepts.