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SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide, 3rd Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

About SQL
About This Book
What You'll Need

1. DBMS Specifics

Running SQL Programs
Microsoft Access
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle
IBM DB2
MySQL
PostgreSQL

2. The Relational Model

Tables, Columns, and Rows
Primary Keys
Foreign Keys
Relationships
Normalization
The Sample Database
Creating the Sample Database

3. SQL Basics

SQL Syntax
SQL Standards and Conformance
Identifiers
Data Types
Character String Types
Binary Large Object Type
Exact Numeric Types
Approximate Numeric Types
Boolean Type
Datetime Types
Interval Types
Unique Identifiers
Other Data Types
Nulls

4. Retrieving Data from a Table

Retrieving Columns with SELECT and FROM
Creating Column Aliases with AS
Eliminating Duplicate Rows with DISTINCT
Sorting Rows with ORDER BY
Filtering Rows with WHERE
Combining and Negating Conditions with AND, OR, and NOT
Matching Patterns with LIKE
Range Filtering with BETWEEN
List Filtering with IN
Testing for Nulls with IS NULL

5. Operators and Functions

Creating Derived Columns
Performing Arithmetic Operations
Determining the Order of Evaluation
Concatenating Strings with ||
Extracting a Substring with SUBSTRING()
Changing String Case with UPPER() and LOWER()
Trimming Characters with TRIM()
Finding the Length of a String with CHARACTER_LENGTH()
Finding Substrings with POSITION()
Performing Datetime and Interval Arithmetic
Getting the Current Date and Time
Getting User Information
Converting Data Types with CAST()
Evaluating Conditional Values with CASE
Checking for Nulls with COALESCE()
Comparing Expressions with NULLIF()

6. Summarizing and Grouping Data

Using Aggregate Functions
Creating Aggregate Expressions
Finding a Minimum with MIN()
Finding a Maximum with MAX()
Calculating a Sum with SUM()
Calculating an Average with AVG()
Counting Rows with COUNT()
Aggregating Distinct Values with DISTINCT
Grouping Rows with GROUP BY
Filtering Groups with HAVING

7. Joins

Qualifying Column Names
Creating Table Aliases with AS
Using Joins
Creating Joins with JOIN or WHERE
Creating a Cross Join with CROSS JOIN
Creating a Natural Join with NATURAL JOIN
Creating an Inner Join with INNER JOIN
Creating Outer Joins with OUTER JOIN
Creating a Self-Join

8. Subqueries

Understanding Subqueries
Subquery Syntax
Subqueries vs. Joins
Simple and Correlated Subqueries
Qualifying Column Names in Subqueries
Nulls in Subqueries
Using Subqueries as Column Expressions
Comparing a Subquery Value by Using a Comparison Operator
Testing Set Membership with IN
Comparing All Subquery Values with ALL
Comparing Some Subquery Values with ANY
Testing Existence with EXISTS
Comparing Equivalent Queries

9. Set Operations

Combining Rows with UNION
Finding Common Rows with INTERSECT
Finding Different Rows with EXCEPT

10. Inserting, Updating, and Deleting Rows

Displaying Table Definitions
Inserting Rows with INSERT
Updating Rows with UPDATE
Deleting Rows with DELETE

11. Creating, Altering, and Dropping Tables

Creating Tables
Understanding Constraints
Creating a New Table with CREATE TABLE
Forbidding Nulls with NOT NULL
Specifying a Default Value with DEFAULT
Specifying a Primary Key with PRIMARY KEY
Specifying a Foreign Key with FOREIGN KEY
Forcing Unique Values with UNIQUE
Adding a Check Constraint with CHECK
Creating a Temporary Table with CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE
Creating a New Table from an Existing One with CREATE TABLE AS
Altering a Table with ALTER TABLE
Dropping a Table with DROP TABLE

12. Indexes

Creating an Index with CREATE INDEX
Dropping an Index with DROP INDEX

13. Views

Creating a View with CREATE VIEW
Retrieving Data Through a View
Updating Data Through a View
Dropping a View with DROP VIEW

14. Transactions

Executing a Transaction

15. SQL Tricks

Calculating Running Statistics
Generating Sequences
Finding Sequences, Runs, and Regions
Limiting the Number of Rows Returned
Assigning Ranks
Calculating a Trimmed Mean
Picking Random Rows
Handling Duplicates
Creating a Telephone List
Retrieving Metadata
Working with Dates
Calculating a Median
Finding Extreme Values
Changing Running Statistics Midstream
Pivoting Results
Working with Hierarchies

Index