Let's go into detail about the most fundamental SQL operations: SELECT, WHERE, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE, with examples to clarify each.
1. SELECT: Retrieving Data from a Database
The SELECT
statement is used to retrieve data from one or more tables in a database.
Syntax:
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;
Example:
Let’s assume we have a table called employees
:
id | name | position | salary |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Alice | Manager | 70000 |
2 | Bob | Developer | 50000 |
3 | Charlie | Designer | 40000 |
To retrieve all employee data:
SELECT * FROM employees;
Result 1:
id | name | position | salary --------------------------------- 1 | Alice | Manager | 70000 2 | Bob | Developer| 50000 3 | Charlie | Designer | 40000
To retrieve only
name
andposition
:SELECT name, position FROM employees;
Result:
name | position ------------------ Alice | Manager Bob | Developer Charlie | Designer
2. WHERE Clause: Filtering Data
The WHERE
clause is used to filter records based on specified conditions.
Syntax:
SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
Example:
To retrieve employees with a salary greater than 45000:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > 45000;
Result:
id | name | position | salary------------------------------ 1 | Alice | Manager | 70000 2 | Bob | Developer| 50000
To retrieve employees who are either Managers or Developers:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE position IN ('Manager', 'Developer');
Result:
id | name | position | salary ------------------------------ 1 | Alice | Manager | 70000 2 | Bob | Developer| 50000
3. INSERT: Adding Data to a Database
The INSERT
statement is used to add new records into a table.
Syntax:
INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2,)
VALUES (value1, value2, ...);
Example:
To insert a new employee:
INSERT INTO employees (id, name, position, salary) VALUES (4, 'Daisy', 'Tester', 45000);
After this
INSERT
, the table looks like:id name position salary 1 Alice Manager 70000 2 Bob Developer 50000 3 Charlie Designer 40000 4 Daisy Tester 45000
4. UPDATE: Modifying Existing Data
The UPDATE
statement is used to modify the existing records in a table.
Syntax:
UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, ...
WHERE condition;
Example:
To update Bob’s salary to 55000:
UPDATE employees SET salary = 55000 WHERE name = 'Bob';
After this
UPDATE
, the table looks like:id name position salary 1 Alice Manager 70000 2 Bob Developer 55000 3 Charlie Designer 40000 4 Daisy Tester 45000
5. DELETE: Removing Data from a Table
The DELETE
statement is used to delete existing records in a table.
Syntax:
DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE condition;
Example:
To delete the employee record of Charlie:
DELETE FROM employees WHERE name = 'Charlie';
After this
DELETE
, the table looks like:id name position salary 1 Alice Manager 70000 2 Bob Developer 55000 4 Daisy Tester 45000