WHERE Clause to Restrict Row Selection

Chapter 10

1
 WHERE Clause
• WHERE clause is optional
– If used, it directly follows the FROM clause
SELECT *
FROM EMPLOYEES
WHERE department = 'IT';
• Restricts or limits rows returned from the table
• Contains a condition that must be met for a row to be returned
department = 'IT'

2
 WHERE Clause
• The syntax for the WHERE clause is:

WHERE column_name comparison_condition comparison_value

WHERE department_id = 110;

3
 Comparison Operators in the WHERE Clause
• Comparison operators can be used to compare one expression
to a value or expression:
= equal to
> greater than
>= greater than or equal to
< less than
<= less than or equal to
<> not equal to (or != or ^=)

4
 WHERE clause
• All character searches are case-sensitive
• What will probably be returned with

WHERE last_name = 'jones';

5
Using WHERE clause for
Simple Search Condition

6
 Using WHERE clause for
Simple Search Condition
The example might return any of the following results:
• No rows—If there are no customers in Chicago
• One row—If there is exactly one customer in Chicago
• Multiple rows—If there are two or more customers in Chicago

7
Using WHERE clause with a Primary Key

8
A Second Look: Restricting Columns and Rows

9
Column-List

10
WHERE Clause

11
Calculated Value in a WHERE Clause

12
 Alias Name
Cannot be used in WHERE Clause

13
 Processing Order of SQL Statement

Order Clause Function

1 FROM Connects to database tables

2 WHERE Filters or restricts rows

3 SELECT Filters or restricts columns

14
 Comparison Operators in the WHERE Clause
• Additional SQL comparison operators that add functionality for
retrieving specific sets of data:

• NOT can be used in front of these operators

15
 BETWEEN…AND Operator
• Returns a result set based on a range of values
• Lower-limit value must be specified first
• Values specified with the BETWEEN condition are inclusive
• Inclusive - The values returned include the lower-limit value and the
upper-limit value

16
BETWEEN…AND Operator

17
 BETWEEN…AND Operator
• Both examples below are the same
• No performance benefit
• Simplicity in reading the code

SELECT title, year

FROM d_cds
WHERE year BETWEEN 1999 AND 2001;
or
WHERE year >= 1999 AND year <= 2001;

18
 NOT Keyword
with BETWEEN…AND Operator

19
 IN Operator
• Returns rows that match a value in a specified list
• List must be in brackets/parentheses
• Values are separated by commas

20
IN Operator

21
 Using OR
Instead of IN Operator

22
 LIKE Operator
• Two symbols, called wildcard characters, are used to perform
string pattern matching
– Underscore (_) symbol represents one character
– Percent (%) symbol represents a match to a string of any length of
zero or more characters
• Allows the selection of rows that match either characters,
dates, or number patterns

23
 LIKE Operator
Percent (%) Symbol

24
 LIKE Operator
Percent (%) Symbol

25
 LIKE Operator
Percent (%) Symbol

26
 LIKE Operator
Underscore(_) Symbol

27
 LIKE Operator
• Underscore (_) symbol represents one character
• Percent (%) symbol represents a string of zero or more
characters

• Return all employees with last names beginning with any letter
followed by an "o" and then followed by any other number of
letters

28
 LIKE Operator Example
SELECT last_name
FROM employees
WHERE last_name LIKE '_o%';
• Which of the following last names would be returned from the
above query?
– 1. Sommersmith
– 2. Oog
– 3. Fong
– 4. Mo
29
 LIKE Operator Example
SELECT last_name
FROM employees
WHERE last_name LIKE '_o%';
• Which of the following last names would be returned from the
above query?
– 1. Sommersmith
– 2. Oog
– 3. Fong
– 4. Mo
• If you said ALL 4, you are correct!
30
 LIKE Operator
ESCAPE option
• What if the % or _ symbols are not a wildcard but part of the
value being searched
• The ESCAPE option is used to indicate that the _ or % symbol is
part of the value, not a wildcard value
• The ESCAPE option character can be any character, but
backslash (\) is recommended

31
 LIKE Operator
ESCAPE option

32
 LIKE Operator
ESCAPE option: An Example
• Retrieve JOB_IDs from the employees table that contain the
pattern _R

33
 LIKE Operator
ESCAPE option: An Example
• Without the ESCAPE option, all employees that have an R in
JOB_ID are returned

34
 LIKE Operator
ESCAPE option: An Example
• With the ESCAPE option, only employees that have an _R in
JOB_ID are returned

35
Returning NULL Values

36
 IS NULL, IS NOT NULL Operators
• IS NULL condition tests for unknown data; that is there is no data
and the value is unknown
• The IS NOT NULL condition tests for data; that is the existence of
data

37
 NULL Column Value in WHERE Clause
• When comparing for a NULL value, the equal (=) or not equal
(<>) operators cannot be used

SELECT customer_name,
credit_limit
FROM customers
WHERE credit_limit = NULL; - will not work
• The query will run, but it does not return a result set as the
actual value of NULL is unknown

38
IS NULL Operator

39
IS NOT NULL Operator

40
 Remember: NULL Values
A common error is using
= NULL
which does not raise an error but also does not return any rows

41
Logical Operators

42
 AND Operator
• Returns the Boolean value true if both conditions are true and
returns false if one or both of the conditions are false

43
AND Operator

44
 OR Operator
• The result set contains rows that satisfy either one of the OR
conditions

45
OR Operator

46
Order of Evaluation with Logical Operators

47
 Order of Operations – What Happens First
• In what order are the expressions evaluated?

48
 Order of Operations – What Happens First
• First, the AND condition is evaluated, so all employees with
job_id ST_CLERK or MK_REP, AND who have a first name
starting with "P" are returned
• The OR clause is then evaluated and returns employees whose
last name contains "z"

49
Order of Operations – What Happens First

50
 Order of Operations – What Happens First
• In this example, the order of the OR and AND have been
reversed from the previous slide
• The order of operations is:
1. first_name starts with "P" AND last_name contains "z". Both these
conditions must be met to be returned
2. Any instance of employees with job_id ST_CLERK or MK_REP will be
returned

51
 Order of Operations – What Happens First
• Adding brackets/parenthesis changes the way the WHERE clause
is evaluated, and the rows returned
• The order of operations is:
1. The values in the brackets are selected
2. All instances of the values in the brackets AND contain the letter "z" in
their last_name are returned

52
Order of Evaluation
of Logical Operators

53
 NOT Operator to Negate a Condition
• The NOT operator returns rows that do NOT satisfy the condition
in the WHERE clause

54
 NOT Operator to
Negate a Condition

55
NOT IN Operator

56
 Logical Operators and NULL Values
• A logical condition is true, false, or unknown for a given row
• A condition is unknown if it involves a comparison and one or
both of the values being compared is NULL
• The result set from a SELECT statement contains only those rows
for which the WHERE clause search condition is true
• If the search condition is false or unknown, the row is not
returned

57
Logical Operators
and NULL Values

58
 WHERE Clause Rules
• Character strings and dates are enclosed in single quotation
marks ( ' ' )
• Numbers are not enclosed in single quotation marks
• All character searches are case-sensitive
• An alias cannot be used in the WHERE clause – Why?

59
Sorting Rows with the ORDER BY Clause
 ORDER BY Clause
• Follows the FROM clause
• Last clause of the SQL statement
• Sort Sequence:
– Ascending sequence is the default and is optional
– DESC keyword is specified following the column name that is to be
sorted in descending sequence

61
 ORDER BY Clause – Character Values
• Character values are sorted in alphabetical order

62
 ORDER BY Clause – Numeric Values
• Numeric values are sorted lowest to highest

63
 ORDER BY Clause – Date Values
• Date values are displayed with the earliest value first

64
ORDER BY Clause – Descending Sequence

65
Sorting on One Column
Ascending Sequence

66
Sorting on One Column
Descending Sequence

67
Sorting on Multiple Columns

68
Sorting on Multiple Columns
with DESC

69
 Sorting with Multiple Columns
SELECT first_name, last_name, manager_id, department_id
FROM employees
ORDER BY manager_id, department_id, last_name;

• Minor to Major sorts

1. Sort last_name (alphabetical order A to Z)

2. Sort department_id (lowest to highest)
3. Sort manager_id (lowest to highest)

70
 Sorting with Multiple Columns
Another Way to Say It
SELECT first_name, last_name, manager_id, department_id
FROM employees
ORDER BY manager_id, department_id, last_name;

• Minor to Major sorts

1. Sort last_name (alphabetical order A to Z)

2. Within department_id (lowest to highest)
3. Within manager_id (lowest to highest)

71
 Sorting by
Relative Column Number

72
Sorting by Relative Column Number
Without Column Alias Column

73
 Sorting by Relative Column Number
Using an Alias Column Name
• To sort on the credit_limit – balance column on the ORDER BY
clause, it would have to be specified as one of the following:
– ORDER BY city, credit_limit – balance DESC
– ORDER BY city, 3 DESC where the number 3 represents the relative
column number of the calculated column

74
Sorting by Relative Column Number
Using an Alias Column Name

75
 Sorting on Other Columns
• Sort output by a column that is not listed in the SELECT clause

76
 ORDER BY Clause – NULL Values
• NULL values are displayed last in ascending order and first in
descending order

77
ORDER BY Clause – NULL Values

78
 Order of Execution – Example 1
• Basic SELECT

79
 Order of Execution Example 2
• Give employees a 2.5% raise
• Set employees with a new salary > 10000
– Use alias on WHERE and ORDER BY Clauses
– What happens?

80
 Order of Execution – Example 3
• Alias can be used on ORDER BY clause, but not WHERE clause
– Why?
• Use the expression on the WHERE clause

81
 SQL Statement Order of Execution

Order Clause Function

1 FROM Connects to the database table

2 WHERE Filters or restricts rows from the result set based on the criteria specified

3 SELECT Filters or restricts columns from the result set based on the column-list

4 ORDER BY Sorts the final result set

82
83