SQL Functions

Chapter 11
 SELECT Statement
Without a Database Table
• Oracle and DB2 support techniques used to execute a SELECT
statement that does not access a table
• SQL Server and MySQL do not require a FROM clause

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 SELECT Statement
Without a Database Table
 DB2
SELECT CURRENT_DATE
FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1;

VALUES CURRENT_DATE;

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 DB2
SELECT (319/29) + 12
FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1;

VALUES (319/29) + 12;

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 DB2 – Alias

SELECT (319/29) + 12 AS "Total"

FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1;

• Cannot use an alias with the VALUES keyword

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 SQL Functions
• Predefined block of code that accepts arguments (parameters)
and returns output
• Used to manipulate data values
• Can be used in the SELECT, WHERE, and ORDER BY clauses

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 Types of Functions
• Two types of functions:
– Scalar or Single-row function
– Aggregate or Group or Multiple-Row function

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 Scalar or Single-Row Function
• Manipulates input values and returns a single value each
time it is invoked
• Often referred to as a single-row function because it
operates on data one row at a time and returns a single
value as each row is processed
• If a single-row function is applied to 12 rows, 12 results are
returned.

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Scalar or Single-Row Function

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 Aggregate or Group or Multiple-Row Function
• Performs a calculation on data from multiple-rows that are
grouped together and returns a single value for each group
• Often referred to as a multiple-row function because it operates
on data from multiple-rows at a time and returns a single value
for each group.
• Discussed in chapter 12

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Aggregate or Group or Multiple-Row Function

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 Single-Row Character Functions
• Two categories:
– Case-Manipulation Functions
 Convert the case of character strings
– Character-Manipulation Functions
 Manipulate character strings - join, extract, show,
find, pad, and trim

• Can be used in the SELECT, WHERE, and

ORDER BY clauses

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 Case Conversion Functions

• LOWER
• UPPER
• INITCAP (Oracle only)

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 LOWER Function
• Converts an alpha character string to lowercase letters
• When used in a SELECT clause, the appearance of the data in the
results set is altered
• When used in a WHERE clause, the value in the comparison is
altered

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 LOWER Function
SELECT Clause – appearance is altered

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 LOWER Function
WHERE Clause – value is altered

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 LOWER Function
WHERE Clause and Host Variable

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 UPPER Function
• Converts an alpha character string to uppercase letters
• When used in a SELECT clause, the appearance of the data in the
results set is altered
• When used in a WHERE clause, the value in the comparison is
altered

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UPPER Function

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 Character String Manipulation Functions
• Used to extract, change, format, or alter a character string
• Character String Manipulation Functions:
– Accept one or more character strings as arguments (parameters)
– Performs the required task on the input character strings
– Returns the altered value

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 CONCAT Function
• || (pipes) – ANSI Standard

• CONCAT Function:
– Joins two values together
 Accepts two character strings as arguments
 Some implementations allow for more than two string arguments
 Joins the strings
 Outputs one string

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|| and CONCAT Functions

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 SUBSTR Function
substr(string, position)
substr(string, position, length)
• Extracts a substring from a character string argument
• Accepts three arguments (string, position, length)
– String is the character string from which the substring is to be
extracted
– Position is the starting position where the substring begins
– Length is the length of the substring to be returned (optional)

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 SUBSTR Function
substr(string, position, length)
• Position argument:
– Starting position
– If position is 0, it defaults to 1
• Length argument
– Length of string to be extracted
– Optional, and if omitted, returns all characters to the end of the string

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SUBSTR Function

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 INSTR (In String) Function
• Returns the position of the first occurrence of a substring within
a character string
• If the substring is not found, zero is returned

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 INSTR Function
INSTR( source_string, substring [, start_position [, occurrance ] ] )
• source_string - the string to be searched
• substring - the character string to be searched for inside of source_string
• start_position - an optional argument. It is an integer value that tells where to
start searching in the source_string. If the start_position is negative, then it
counts back that number of characters from the end of the source_string and
then searches backwards from that position. If omitted, this defaults to 1
• occurrence - an integer indicating which occurrence of substring should be
search for. That is, should INSTR return the first matching substring, the second
matching substring, etc. This argument is optional. If omitted, it defaults to 1
• If the substring is not found in source_string, the INSTR function returns 0.
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 INSTR Function
INSTR( source_string, substring [, start_position [, occurrance ] ] )

INSTR('abcdabcd','b'); (returns 2)
INSTR('bacdabcb','b',1); (returns 1)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',1); (returns 2)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',4); (returns 6)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',0); (returns 0 or NULL)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',-1); (returns 6)
INSTR('abbdabcd','b',-4); (returns 3)
INSTR('abcdabcd','z'); (returns 0) – substring not found
• If start_position is 0, 0 or NULL is returned

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 INSTR Function
INSTR( source_string, substring [, start_position [, occurrance ] ] )

INSTR('abcdabcd','b',1,1); (returns 2)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',1,2); (returns 6)
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',1,0);
Oracle - (returns: ORA-01428: argument '0' is out of range)
DB2 – returns NULL
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',1,-1);
Oracle - (returns: ORA-01428: argument '-1' is out of range)
DB2 – returns NULL
INSTR('abcdabcd','b',-1,1); (returns 6)
INSTR('abcbbbcd','b',-1,2); (returns 5)
INSTR('abcdabcb','b',-1,1); (returns 8)
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 LENGTH Function
• Receives a character string as an argument and returns the
number of characters (length) in that character string

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 TRIM Functions
Three trim functions that remove a specific character string from a
string:
• LTRIM function
• RTRIM function
• TRIM function

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 LTRIM Function
• LTRIM( string [, trim_string] )

• Remove a specific characters string from the left side of a string

or column value
• Returns a value of VARCHAR data type

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 LTRIM Function
• LTRIM( string [, trim_string] )

• trim_string is optional and defaults to blanks

• Example 11-9 - no trim_string is specified and the leading blanks
are trimmed by default

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 LTRIM Function
• LTRIM( string [, trim_string] )

• When trim_string is specified, the value of the trim_string is

trimmed or removed from the string
• Example 11-10 - 'P.O. ' is trimmed from the address

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LTRIM Function

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 RTRIM Function
RTRIM( string [, trim_string] )

• Remove a specific character string from the right side of a string

• Returns a value of VARCHAR data type

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 RTRIM Function
• RTRIM( string [, trim_string] )

• trim_string is optional and defaults to blanks

• Example 11-11 - no trim_string is specified and the trailing
blanks are trimmed by default

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 TRIM Function
• Removes all specified characters from either the beginning, the
end, or both beginning and end of a string
• Optional parameters indicate whether leading, or trailing, or
both leading and trailing pad characters should be removed
• Returns a value with data type VARCHAR

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TRIM Function

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 LPAD and RPAD Functions
There are two functions used for padding:
• LPAD
• RPAD

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 LPAD Function
• Pads (adds characters to) the left-side of a character string,
resulting in a right-justified value

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 LPAD Function
LPAD(string, padding_length, [ padding_string ])
• string - the character string being modified. The padded characters
are added to the left-side of the string
• padding_length - the number of characters to return (not the
number of characters to add). If the padding_length is smaller than
the original string, the LPAD function truncates the string to the size
of the padding_length
• padding_string - optional and is the character string that is padded to
the left- side of the string. If this parameter is omitted, the LPAD
function will default to padding spaces to the left side of the43
string.
LPAD Function

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LPAD Function

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 RPAD Function
• Pads or adds characters to the right-side of a character string,
resulting in a left-justified value.

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 LPAD Function
RPAD (input_string, length, padding_character)

• input-string - the character string being modified. The padded

characters are added to the right side of the string
• length - the net length of the string including padding
• padding_character - the character to be used for padding

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RPAD Function

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 REPLACE Function
• The REPLACE function replaces all occurrences of a substring
within a string with a new substring
• Changes one pattern with another

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 REPLACE Function
REPLACE (character_string, string_to_replace, [replacement_string]

• character_string - the character string being modified

• string_to_replace - the string that is searched for and removed
from the character_string
• replacement_string - the new string to be inserted into the
character_string

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REPLACE Function

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REPLACE Function

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REPLACE Function

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REPLACE Function

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 TRANSLATE
Changes a character string character by character

If no replacement character is specified, the character is replaced

with blank

TRANSLATE( string, replacement_string, string_to_replace )

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TRANSLATE Function

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TRANSLATE Function

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 Nesting Functions and
Column Aliases with Functions

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 Host Variables
• Called Bind variables in Oracle world
• Replace the hardcoded value in your statement with
a :named_variable
• Starts with colon (:)
• DBMS will prompt for a value when statement is executed
• Alpha and date host variables are treated as character strings
and require single quotation marks

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 Host Variables
• Original query:
SELECT first_name, last_name, salary, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 10; (and then 90, 110 . . .)

• With host variable

SELECT first_name, last_name, salary, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

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 Host Variables
SELECT first_name, last_name, salary, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

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