Database

SQL
Single-Row Functions

Pascal TUFENKJI 1 Database SQL

 Objectives
• After completing this lesson, you should
be able to do the following:
– Describe various types of functions
available in SQL
– Use character, number and date functions
in SELECT statement
– Describe the use of conversion functions

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 SQL Functions

Function
Input Output

Function
arg 1 performs action Result
value
arg 2

arg n

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 Two types of SQL Functions

Function

Single-row Multiple-row
functions functions

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 Single-Row Functions
• Manipulate data items
• Accept arguments and return one value
• Act on each row returned
• Return one result per row
• May modify the datatype
• Can be nested
• Accept arguments that can be a column or
an expression
function_name (column|expression, [arg1, agr2, …])

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 Single-Row Functions

Character

General Number

Single-row
functions

Conversion Date

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 Character Functions

Character
functions

Case conversion Character manipulation

functions functions

LOWER CONCAT
UPPER SUBSTR
INITCAP LENGTH
INSTR
LPAD | RPAD

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 Case Conversion Functions
Convert case for character strings

Function Result
LOWER('SQL Course') sql course
UPPER('SQL Course') SQL COURSE
INITCAP('SQL Course') Sql Course

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 Using Case Conversion Functions

SELECT 'The job title for '||INITCAP(ename)||

' is '||LOWER(job) AS "EMPLOYEE DETAILS"
FROM emp;

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 Using Case Conversion Functions
Display the employee number, name and
department number for employee Blake.
SELECT empno, ename, deptno FROM emp
WHERE ename = 'blake';

SELECT empno, ename, deptno FROM emp

WHERE LOWER(ename) = 'blake';

Pascal TUFENKJI 10 Database SQL

 Character Manipulation Functions
Function Result
TRIM(' Good String ') Good String
CONCAT('Good','String') GoodString
SUBSTR('String',1,3) Str
LENGTH('String') 6
REPLACE('String','t','p') Spring
LPAD('1234',6,'0') 001234
STRPOS('String','i') 4
INSTR('String',‘r') 3
CHARINDEX('r','String') 3
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 Using the Character Manipulation Functions

SELECT empno, ename, substr(ename,1,3) as sub

FROM emp;

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 Using the Character Manipulation Functions

SELECT empno, ename, length(ename) as len

FROM emp;

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 Using the Character Manipulation Functions

SELECT empno, ename, job,

replace(ename,'A','I') as newname,
lpad(ename,'10','x') as pad,
strpos(ename,'A') as pos
FROM emp
WHERE substr(job,1,5) = 'SALES';

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 Number Functions

Function Result
ROUND(45.926, 2) 45.93
TRUNC(45.926, 2) 45.92
MOD(9, 4) 1
CEIL(22.12) 23
FLOOR(12.95) 12
FORMAT(12332.123456, 4); 12,332.1235

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 Using the ROUND Functions
SELECT round(45.923,2) as r1,
round(45.923,0) as r2,
round(45.923,-1) as r3;

SELECT round(45.923,2) as r1,

round(45.923,0) as r2,
round(45.923,-1) as r3
FROM DUAL;
DUAL is a dummy table in Oracle that you can use to view
results from functions and calculations.
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 Using the TRUNC Functions

SELECT trunc(45.923,2) as t1,

trunc(45.923,0) as t2,
trunc(45.923,-1) as t3;

Pascal TUFENKJI 17 Database SQL

 Using the MOD Functions
Calculate the remainder of the ratio of
salary to commission for all employees
whose job title is salesman.
SELECT ename, sal, comm, MOD(sal,comm)
FROM emp
WHERE comm > 0;

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 Arithmetic Functions

Description Function Result

Absolute value Abs(-12) 12

Natural logarithm Ln(9) 2.197224

Exponential Exp(2) 7.389056
Power Power(2,8) 256

Square root Sqrt(4) 2

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 Using the Arithmetic Functions
select empno,ename,sal,
floor(sal+power((sal*0.01),2)) as raise
FROM emp
ORDER BY sal desc;

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 Working with Dates
• Every database stores dates in an internal
format: century, year, month, day, hours,
minutes and seconds.
• The default date format differs from one
database to another.

Database Date format

PostgreSQL & MySQL & SQLite YYYY-MM-DD
Oracle DD-MON-YY
SQL Server & MS Access
MM/DD/YYYY
(depending on the Regional Options)

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 Working with Dates
• SYSDATE is a function returning date and time in
Oracle. (DUAL is a dummy table used to view Sysdate)
SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;

• NOW() is a function returning date and time in

PostgreSQL and MySQL
SELECT now();

• GETDATE() is a function returning date and time in

SQL Server (DATE() in MS Acess).
SELECT empno,hiredate,getdate() today FROM emp;

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 Arithmetic with Dates
• Add or subtract a number to or from a
date for a resultant date value.

• Subtract two dates to find the number

of days between those dates.

• Add hours to a date by dividing the

number of hours by 24.

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 Oracle Date Functions
Function Description
Number of months
MONTHS_BETWEEN
between two dates
Add calendar months to
ADD_MONTHS
date
Next day of the date
NEXT_DAY
specified
LAST_DAY Last day of the month
ROUND Round date
TRUNC Truncate date
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 Using Oracle Date Functions
Function Result
MONTHS_BETWEEN('01-SEP-95','11-JAN-94') 19.6774194
ADD_MONTHS(’11-JAN-94’,6) 11-JUL-94
NEXT_DAY('01-SEP-95','FRIDAY') 08-SEP-95
LAST_DAY('01-SEP-95') 30-SEP-95

SELECT empno, hiredate,

MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,hiredate) AS TENURE,
ADD_MONTHS(hiredate, 6) AS REVIEW,
NEXT_DAY(hiredate,'FRIDAY'), LAST_DAY(hiredate)
FROM emp
WHERE MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE, hiredate) < 200;
EMPNO | HIREDATE | TENURE | REVIEW | NEXT_DAY | LAST_DAY
------+-----------+--------+-----------+-----------+----------
7839 | 17-NOV-81 | 192.24 | 17-MAY-82 | 20-NOV-81 | 30-NOV-81
7698 | 01-MAY-81 | 198.76 | 01-NOV-81 | 08-MAY-81 | 31-MAY-81

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 Using Oracle Date Functions
Function Result
ROUND(SYSDATE,'MONTH') 01-AUG-03
ROUND(SYSDATE,'YEAR') 01-JAN-04
TRUNC(SYSDATE,'MONTH') 01-JUL-03
TRUNC(SYSDATE,'YEAR') 01-JAN-03

SELECT empno, hiredate,

ROUND(hiredate, 'MONTH'),
TRUNC(hiredate, 'MONTH')
FROM emp
WHERE hiredate LIKE '%82';

EMPNO | HIREDATE | ROUND | TRUNC

------+-----------+-----------+----------
7839 | 09-DEC-82 | 01-DEC-82 | 01-DEC-82
7698 | 23-JAN-82 | 01-FEB-82 | 01-JAN-82

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 PostgreSQL Date Functions

Function Description
NOW Returns the current date
AGE Returns the years and months
EXTRACT Extracts a field from a date

SELECT now() as today;

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 Using Arithmetic Operators with Dates

SELECT ename, now()-hiredate as days

FROM emp
WHERE deptno = 10;

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 Using PostgreSQL Date Functions

SELECT ename, hiredate,

age(hiredate) as tenure,
extract(year from hiredate) as year
FROM emp
WHERE deptno = 10;

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 Working with Intervals in Postgres
• Interval values can be written with the
following syntax:
[+] quantity unit

– quantity is a number
– unit is microsecond, millisecond, second,
minute, hour, day, week, month, year,
decade, century…

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 Working with Intervals in Postgres
SELECT ename, hiredate,
hiredate + interval '10 days' as interv1,
hiredate + interval '2 months' as interv2,
hiredate + interval '1 year' as interv3
FROM emp;

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 MySQL Date Functions
Function Description
NOW() Returns the current date and time
CURDATE() Returns the current date

CURTIME() Returns the current time

DATE() Extracts the date part of a date or date/time expression
EXTRACT() Returns a single part of a date/time
DATE_ADD() Adds a specified time interval to a date
DATE_SUB() Subtracts a specified time interval from a date
DATEDIFF() Returns the number of days between two dates
DATE_FORMAT() Displays date/time data in different formats
PERIOD_DIFF() Returns the number of months between periods

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 Using MySQL Date Functions

SELECT ename, hiredate,

date_format(hiredate,'%d/%m/%Y') as "Date"
FROM emp
WHERE deptno = 10;

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 Working with Intervals in MySQL
SELECT ename, hiredate,
hiredate + interval 10 day as interv1,
hiredate + interval 2 month as interv2,
hiredate + interval 1 year as interv3
FROM emp;

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 SQL Server Date Functions
Function Description
GETDATE() Returns the current date and time

DATEPART() Returns a single part of a date/time

DATEADD() Adds or subtracts a specified time interval from a date

DATEDIFF() Returns the time between two dates

CONVERT() Displays date/time data in different formats

Returns a value formatted with the specified format and
FORMAT()
optional culture in SQL Server

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 Using SQL Server Date Functions
SELECT
ename,
convert(varchar(10),hiredate,103) Hiredate,
format(getdate(),'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss','en-us') Today,
format(sal * 1.1,'#,###.##') "New Salary",
convert(varchar,cast(sal as money),1) "Old Salary"
FROM emp
WHERE deptno = 10;

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 Data type casting
• The key use of CAST is to deal with
data types. It converts from one data
type to another.

CAST ('string' AS type)

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 Using Casting
SELECT now() as today;

SELECT cast(now() as date) as date;

SELECT cast(now() as time) as time;

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 Conversion Functions

Datatype
conversion

Implicit datatype Explicit datatype

conversion conversion

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 Implicit Datatype Conversion
• For assignments, the Oracle server can
automatically convert the following.
From To
VARCHAR2 or CHAR NUMBER
VARCHAR2 or CHAR DATE
NUMBER VARCHAR2
DATE VARCHAR2
Note:
- CHAR to NUMBER conversions succeed only if the character string represents a valid number
- CHAR to DATE conversions succeed only if the character string has the default format DD-MON-YY

Pascal TUFENKJI 40 Database SQL

 Explicit Datatype Conversion

TO_NUMBER TO_DATE

NUMBER CHARACTER DATE

TO_CHAR TO_CHAR

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 TO_CHAR Function with Dates
TO_CHAR(date, 'format')

• The format model:

– Must be enclosed in single quotation marks
and is case sensitive.
– Can include any valid date format element.
– Has an fm element to remove padded
blanks or suppress leading zeros.
– Is separated from the date value by a
comma.

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 Elements of Date Format Model

Element Description
YYYY Full year in numbers
MM Two-digit value for month
MONTH Full name of the month
Three-letter abbreviation of
DY
the day of the week
DAY Full name of the day

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 Elements of Date Format Model

Element Description
HH12 or HH24 Hour of day (1-12) or (0-23)
MI Minute (0-59)
SS Seconds (0-59)

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 Using TO_CHAR Function with Dates
SELECT ename,
TO_CHAR(hiredate,'DD Month YYYY') as hiredate
FROM emp;

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 Using TO_CHAR Function with Dates
SELECT ename,
TO_CHAR(hiredate,'fmDD Month YYYY') as hiredate
FROM emp;

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 Using DATE_FORMAT Function in MySQL
SELECT ename,
DATE_FORMAT(hiredate,'%d %M %Y') as hiredate
FROM emp;

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 TO_CHAR Function with Numbers
TO_CHAR(number, 'format')

Use these formats with TO_CHAR function to

display a number value as a character

9 Represents a number
0 Forces a zero to be displayed
$ Places a floating dollar sign
. Prints a decimal point
, Prints a thousand indicator

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 Using TO_CHAR Function with Numbers
SELECT ename,
TO_CHAR(sal,'9,999 $') as salary
FROM emp;

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 Using FORMAT Function in MySQL
SELECT ename,
FORMAT(sal,0) as salary
FROM emp;

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 TO_NUMBER and TO_DATE Functions

• Convert a character string to a number

format using the TO_NUMBER function
TO_NUMBER(char, 'format')

• Convert a character string to a date

format using the TO_DATE function
TO_DATE(char, 'format')

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 Using the TO_DATE Function

SELECT ename, hiredate

FROM emp
WHERE hiredate =
TO_DATE('Feb 22, 1981','Mon DD, YYYY');

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 Using the STR_TO_DATE Function in MySQL

SELECT ename, hiredate

FROM emp
WHERE hiredate =
STR_TO_DATE('Feb 22, 1981','%b %d, %Y');

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 Using the TO_NUMBER Function

SELECT matricule,
to_number(matricule,999999) + 2 as matricule2
FROM etudiant
limit 2;

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 Nesting Functions
• Single-row functions can be nested to
any level.
• Nested functions are evaluated from
deepest level to the least deep level.

F3(F2(F1(col,arg1),arg2),arg3)
Step 1 = Result 1
Step 2 = Result 2
Step 3 = Result 3

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 Nesting Functions
SELECT empno,ename,job,
rpad(initcap(trim(
' M. '||ename||lower(' IS A ')||job
)),30,'.')
FROM emp
ORDER BY job, ename;

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 Summary
In this lesson, you should have learned how to:
• Perform calculations on data using functions
• Modify individual data items using functions
• Manipulate output for groups of rows using
functions
• Alter date formats for display using
functions
• Convert column data types using functions

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