Definition of SQL

SQL and Relational database tables

DDL and DML

Simple SQL queries useing the Select statement

The SELECT statement

In SQL, querying data is performed by a SELECT statement. A select statement has 6 key components;

library(DBI)
SELECT colnames
FROM tablename
GROUP BY colnames
WHERE conditions
HAVING conditions
ORDER BY colnames
Select * 
FROM SN7577;
Select web1, web2, web3, web4
From SN7577;
Select w*
From SN7577;
Select *
From SN7577
Limit 10;

Exercise

Write a query which returns the first 5 rows from the SN7577 table with only the columns Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4 and numage.

Solution:

 Select Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, numage
 From SN7577
 Limit 5;

The WHERE Clause

Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 = 2;

Using more complex logical expressions in the WHERE clause

  • We can also use the AND and OR keywords to build more complex selection criteria.
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 > 5 and Q3 <> 2;
  • You can ensure the precedence of the operators by using brackets.
  • Note: Judicious use of brackets can also aid readability
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 = 5 or (Q3 <> 2 and Q4 > 8);
  • The following query returns the rows where the value of Q1 either 5,6,7 or 8
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 > 5 and Q1 < 8;
  • The same results could be obtained by using the BETWEEN or IN operators
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 Between 5 and 8;
  • using In
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8);
  • The list of values in brackets do not have to be contiguous or even in order.

Exercise 1

In the SN7577 table the values of the web1, web2, web3, web4 columns are all -1, 0 or 1. The numage columns can be any value between 0 and 95.

Write a query which returns the web1, web2, web3, web4 and numage columns from the SN7577 table. The web1, web2, web3, web4 values should all be either 0 or 1 and the numage values should be between 30 and 40 inclusive. There are many ways of doing this, but try to use two different inequalities, an IN clause and a BETWEEN clause.

Solution:

select web1, web2, web3 ,  numage
from sn7577
where web1 >= 0 and web2 in (0, 1) and web3 <> -1 and numage between 30 and 40;

Sorting resutls

Select Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1;
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1 Desc;
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1 Desc, Q3 Asc;
Key points
  • Strictly speaking SQL is a standard, not a particular implementation

  • SQL implementation are sufficiently close that you only have to learn SQL once

  • The DDL constructs are used to create tables and other database objects

  • The DML constructs, typically the SELECT statement is used to retrieve data from one or more tables

  • The SELECT statement allows you to slice and dice the columns and rows of the dataset so that the query only returns the data of interest

---
title: "The Select Statement"
output: html_notebook
---

# Definition of SQL
* SQL or Structured Query Language is an internatinal standard for manipulating data in a relational database. 

* Each Relational Database system like Oracle, MySQL or SQLite implements its own variation of the standard.

* Fortunateley for the types of commands and queries that we will want to write, all of the implementations are much in agreement. 

* The relatively straightforward Select queries we will be writing to access data in our SQLite database will execute un-altered in many of the other environments.

* Essentially you only have to learn SQL once.

# SQL and Relational database tables
* The strength of SQL is that a single SQL statement or query can request data be returned from one or many of the tables in the database. 

* You can essentially define the relationships between tables on-the-fly as part of your query statement.

# DDL and DML
* `DDL` stands for `Data Definition Language`. 
* It is the set of SQL comands used to create alter of delete database objects such as tables.
* `DML` stands for `Data Manipulation Language`. 
*Principally this is the `SELECT` command which is used to extract data items from one or more of the database tables.

# Simple SQL queries useing the Select statement
* For the rest of this episode we will be looking at the SELECT statement.

* To follow along, you should open the DB Browser application and connect to the `SN7577` database.


# The `SELECT` statement

In SQL, querying data is performed by a `SELECT` statement. A select statement has 6 key components;

```{r}
library(DBI) #library added to run sql in notebook
```


```sql
SELECT colnames
FROM tablename
GROUP BY colnames
WHERE conditions
HAVING conditions
ORDER BY colnames
```

* In practice very few queries will have all of these clauses in them simplifying many queries. 
* On the other hand, conditions in the `WHERE` clause can be very complex and if you need to `JOIN` two or more tables together then more clauses (JOIN and ON) are needed.
* All of the clause names above have been written in uppercase for clarity. 
SQL is not case sensitive. 
* Neither do you need to write each clause on a new line, but it is often clearer to do so for all but the simplest of queries.
* In this episode we will start with the very simple and work our way up to the more complex.
* The simplest query is effectively one which returns the contents of the whole table

```sql
Select * 
FROM SN7577;
```
* It is better practice and generally more efficient to explicitly list the column names that you want returned.

```sql
Select web1, web2, web3, web4
From SN7577;
```
* The `*` character acts as a wildcard meaning all of the columns but you cannot use it as a general wildcard. So for example, the following is not valid.

```sql
Select w*
From SN7577;
```

* If you run it you will get an error. When an error does occur you will see an error message displayed in the bottom pane.

* In addition to limiting the columns returned by a query, you can also limit the rows returned. 
* The simplest case is to say how many rows are wanted using the Limit clause. 
* In this example, the first ten rows of the result of the query will be returned. 
* This is useful if you just want to get a feel for what the data looks like.

```sql
Select *
From SN7577
Limit 10;
```

### Exercise
Write a query which returns the first 5 rows from the SN7577 table with only the columns Q1,Q2,Q3,Q4 and numage.

Solution:
```sql
 Select Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, numage
 From SN7577
 Limit 5;
```

# The `WHERE` Clause

* Usually you will want to restrict the rows returned based on some criteria. i.e. certain values or ranges within one or more columns.
* In this example we are only interested in rows where the value in the Q1 column is 2

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 = 2;
```

* In addition to using the `=` we can use many other operators such as `<, <=, >, >=, <>`

### Using more complex logical expressions in the `WHERE` clause

* We can also use the `AND` and `OR` keywords to build more complex selection criteria.

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 > 5 and Q3 <> 2;
```

* You can ensure the precedence of the operators by using brackets. 
* Note: Judicious use of brackets can also aid readability

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 = 5 or (Q3 <> 2 and Q4 > 8);
```
* The following query returns the rows where the value of Q1 either 5,6,7 or 8

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 > 5 and Q1 < 8;
```

* The same results could be obtained by using the `BETWEEN` or `IN` operators
```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 Between 5 and 8;
```
* using `In`

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8);
```
* The list of values in brackets do not have to be contiguous or even in order.

## Exercise 1
In the `SN7577` table the values of the web1, web2, web3, web4 columns are all -1, 0 or 1. The numage columns can be any value between 0 and 95. 

Write a query which returns the web1, web2, web3, web4 and numage columns from the SN7577 table. The web1, web2, web3, web4 values should all be either 0 or 1 and the numage values should be between 30 and 40 inclusive. There are many ways of doing this, but try to use two different inequalities, an `IN` clause and a `BETWEEN` clause.

### Solution:
```sql
select web1, web2, web3 ,  numage
from sn7577
where web1 >= 0 and web2 in (0, 1) and web3 <> -1 and numage between 30 and 40;
```

# Sorting resutls
* If you want the results of your query to appear in a specific order, you can use the `ORDER BY` clause

```sql
Select Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1;
```
* By default the SQL assumes Ascending order. You can make this more explicit by using the `ASC` or `DESC` keywords.

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1 Desc;
```
* You can also order by multiple columns

```sql
Select  Q1,  Q3, Q4
From SN7577
Where Q1 In (5, 6, 7, 8)
Order By Q1 Desc, Q3 Asc;
```

##### Key points
* Strictly speaking SQL is a standard, not a particular implementation

* SQL implementation are sufficiently close that you only have to learn SQL once

* The DDL constructs are used to create tables and other database objects

* The DML constructs, typically the `SELECT` statement is used to retrieve data from one or more tables

* The `SELECT` statement allows you to `slice` and `dice` the columns and rows of the dataset so that the query only returns the data of interest



