×

SQL Syntax

In this tutorial, we will help you understand about the different SQL Syntax concepts with the help of an example.

Every Structured Query Language starts with Keywords like select, insert, update, delete, drop, alter, create, use, show, and each statement end with a semicolon (;).

Even Semicolon separates each SQL statement in the database System when multiple SQL statements are executed.

We can execute Structured Query Language Keywords in both cases uppercase and lowercase, i.e., SQL is case insensitive.

Let’s learn about the SQL Syntax with the help of an example

1. SELECT Statement

The SELECT statement is used to fetch the record from a database.

The syntax of the SELECT statement is as follows:

SELECT * FROM table-name;

Example of the SELECT statement

SELECT * FROM Students;
Student_IdStudent_NameStudent_Dept
102Deepak ChaudhariCivil Engineering
103Megha SonjeInformation Technology
104Ketan BadhanMechanical Engineering
105Chetan SangaleMechanical Engineering
106Anu PriyaComputer Engineering
107Daya JainChemical Engineering
SQL Syntax

The above syntax displays all the records from the mentioned table name.

Use the below syntax to display the records from the specific column.

SELECT column_1, column_2, column_3 FROM table-name;

Example:

SELECT Student_Id, Student_Name FROM Students;

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_IdStudent_Name
102Deepak Chaudhari
103Megha Sonje
104Ketan Badhan
105Chetan Sangale
106Anu Priya
107Daya Jain
SQL Syntax

2. CREATE Statement

CREATE statement is used to create a new table in the database with the specific name of the table and the name of each column followed by their data type in the table.

The syntax of the CREATE statement is as follows:

CREATE table table_name( Column_1 data type, Column_2 data type, Column_3 data type );

Example of create statement

CREATE table Students( Student_Id int NOT NULL, Student_Name VarChar(50) NOT NULL, Student_Dept VarChar(50) NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY(Student_Id));

The output of the above query is as follows:

FieldTypeNullKeyDefaultExtra
Student_Idint(11)NOPRINULL
Student_Namevarchar(50)NONULL
Student_Deptvarchar(50)NONULL

3. DELETE Statement-

DELETE Statement is used to remove data from the database

The syntax of the above query is as follows:

DELETE FROM table_name;

Example of DELETE Statement

DELETE FROM Students;

The above query removes all the records from the mentioned table.

The below DELETE statement syntax is used to delete specific data from the table.

DELETE FROM table_name WHERE condition;

Where clause specifies which data or record should be deleted

Example:

DELETE FROM Student_Course WHERE Scourse_Id  = 6;

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_IdStudent_Name
1102
2102
1104
3103
5106
7107
SQL Syntax

4. ALTER Statement

The ALTER query is used to add new fields in an already existing table, remove fields, modify the fields and their data type, add constraints, drop the constraints, to rename the field name in an already existing table.

The syntax of the ALTER statement is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_1 data type;

The above syntax adds a new column in an already existing table.

Example

ALTER TABLE Students ADD DateofBirthdate;

The syntax for to DROP column using the ALTER query is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP COLUMN column_1;

Example:

ALTER TABLE Students DROP COLUMN Student_City;

The syntax for to MODIFY column using the ALTER query is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY COLUMN datatype;

Example:

ALTER TABLE Students MODIFY COLUMN DateofBirthyear;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

5. INSERT INTO Statement

INSERT INTO statement adds new data to existing data.

The syntax of the INSERT INTO statement is as follows:

INSERT INTO table_name (Column_1, Column_2, Column_3) VALUES (value_1, value_2, value_3);

Example of INSERT INTO statement

INSERT INTO Students (Student_Id, Student_Name, Student_Dept) VALUES (108, ’Komal Maheshwari’, ‘Computer Engineering’);

The output of the above query is as follows:

Student_IdStudent_NameStudent_Dept
102Deepak ChaudhariCivil Engineering
103Megha SonjeInformation Technology
104Ketan BadhanMechanical Engineering
105Chetan SangaleMechanical Engineering
106Anu PriyaComputer Engineering
107Daya JainChemical Engineering
108Komal MaheshwariComputer Engineering
SQL Syntax

6. UPDATE Statement                                      

The UPDATE query is used to modify the specific data or all the data in a table.

The syntax of the UPDATE statement is as follows:

UPDATE table_name SET column_1 = value WHERE condition;

Example of UPDATE Statement

UPDATE Student SET Student_Name = ‘Mangesh Maheshwari’ WHERE Student_Name = ‘Sonal Maheshwari’;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

7. DROP TABLE Statement

The DROP table query removes the table data and table schema from the database.

The syntax of the DROP TABLE query is as follows:

DROP TABLE table_name;

Example of DROP TABLE Statement

DROP TABLE Students;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

8. TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

The TRUNCATE TABLE Statement removes the records from the table without disturbing the table schema.

The syntax of the TRUNCATE TABLE statement is as follows:

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;

Example of TRUNCATE TABLE Statement

TRUNCATE TABLE Students;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

9. CREATE DATABASE Statement

The CREATE DATABASE statement is used to create a new database

The syntax of the CREATE DATABASE is as follows:

CREATE DATABASE DataBase_Name;

Example of CREATE DATABASE statement

CREATE DATABASE College;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

10. DROP DATABASE Statement

The DROP DATABASE statement is used to remove an already existing database.

The syntax of the DROP DATABASE statement is as follows:

DROP DATABASE DataBase_Name;

Example of DROP DATABASE statement

DROP DATABASE College;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

11. SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement returns a unique value in the specified columns.

The syntax of SELECT DISTINCT statement is as follows:

SELECT DISTINCT column_1, column_2 FROM table_name;

Example

SELECT DISTINCT Student_Dept FROM Students;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

12. INNER Join Statement

The INNER JOIN statement is used to join the table and display similar records in the tables.

The syntax of the INNER JOIN Statement is as follows:

SELECT table_name_1.column_1 FROM table_name_1 INNER JOIN table_name_2 ON table_name_1.column_1 = table_name_2.column_1;

Example

SELECT Students.Student_name FROM Students INNER JOIN Student_Course ON Students.Student_Id = Student_Course.Student.Id;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

13. LEFT JOIN Statement

The LEFT JOIN statement will return all records from the left table and the common records from the right table. If records from the right table are not common, it will return a null value.

The syntax of the LEFT JOIN Statement is as follows:

SELECT table_name_1.column_1 FROM table_name_1 LEFT JOIN table_name_2 ON table_name_1.column_1 = table_name_2.column_1;

Example

SELECT Students.Student_Name, Student_Course.SCourse_Id FROM Students LEFT JOIN Student_Course ON Students.Student_Id = Student_Course.Student_Id;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

14. RIGHT JOIN Statement

The Right Join query display all the records of the table on the right side of the join and common records for the table on the left side of the join. The result-set will contain null for the records for which there is no similar record on the left side.

The syntax of the RIGHT JOIN Statement is as follows:

SELECT table_name_1.column_1 FROM table_name_1 RIGHT JOIN table_name_2 ON table_name_1.column_1 = table_name_2.column_1;

Example

SELECT Students.Student_Name, Student_Course.SCourse_Id FROM Students RIGHT JOIN Student_Course ON Students.Student_Id = Student_Course.Student_Id;

The output of the above query is as follows:

SQL Syntax

Related Topics

SQL Handling Duplicate

Removing Duplicates using DISTINCT Keyword: By using the DISTINCT keyword in SQL we can remove duplicate characters from tables or databases. A table contains more duplicate values and duplicate values can cause...

4 minutes read.

DELETE VS DROP in SQL

This page contains all the information about the Delete command and Drop command concept and the difference between the DELETE and DROP commands in SQL. What is the DELETE command in...

3 minutes read.

SQL SELECT Statement

The SQL SELECT statement is used to retrieve the data from the tables. We can also retrieve the selected records from the table using the query condition. The SQL SELECT...

5 minutes read.

Introduction to SQL

SQL Introduction SQL is Standard Query Language. This language is used to communicate or interact with database. In other words, SQL is used to access and manage data or information...

2 minutes read.

SQL Aggregate Operators

In SQL, the aggregate operators perform a calculation on multiple rows or multiple values of a single column and give the output a single value. Here, multiple rows of data are...

4 minutes read.

SQL CROSS Join

In this tutorial, we will help you understand the concept of the SQL CROSS Join clause with the few examples. The SQL CROSS Join query is used to join one or...

5 minutes read.

SQL INSERT Statement

In this tutorial, we will help you to understand and learn how to insert records to the table in SQL with the help of examples. SQL INSERT query is used to...

5 minutes read.

SQL Top Clause

Top Clause: It returns the first ‘n’ number of rows as output. This Top clause is used to retrieve the required number of rows when there are thousands of records stored...

3 minutes read.

SET Operators in SQL

The operator used to join or combine two queries is none other than SET operators. Operators categorized into SET operators are as follows: UNION Operator.UNION ALL’ Operator.INTERSECT Operator.MINUS Operator. Rules to be...

8 minutes read.

SQL Tutorial for Beginners

SQL tutorial provides basic and advanced concepts of Structured Query Language and how you deploy SQL to work with a relational database system. Our SQL tutorial is designed for beginners...

3 minutes read.

How to delete column in table

Introduction In SQL, sometimes it is required to delete a column of a table.The use of ALTER TABLE command with DROP COLUMN clause will serve the purpose to delete/remove a column...

4 minutes read.

SQL Topological Sorting

It is for Directed Acyclic Graph, which linearly describes the ordering of graphs. It is not possible for all graphs, it is possible for only Directed acyclic graphs. Applications of Topological...

3 minutes read.

TCL Commands in SQL

In Structured Query Language, TCL is an abbreviation for Transaction Control Language. A single unit of work in a database is formed after the consecutive execution of commands is known...

6 minutes read.

SQL SELECT SUM

The SQL Sum() function is an aggregate function in SQL that returns the total values of an expression. The expression may be numerical, or it may be an expression. Syntax: SELECT SUM(columnname)...

3 minutes read.

How to Add Foreign Key in SQL?

How to Add Foreign Key in SQL Foreign key is an attribute or a set of attributes that references to primary key of same table or another table (relation). Foreign key creation along...

4 minutes read.

SQL INSERT INTO SELECT

In this tutorial, we will help you to understand and learn how to copy records from one table and add them to another table in the SQL with the help...

5 minutes read.

SQL SELECT LIKE Operator

The SQL SELECT LIKE Operator tutorial helps us understand how to use the LIKE operator in the SELECT query with examples. The SQL SELECT LIKE Operator retrieves the records from the...

4 minutes read.

SQL Data Types

In SQL DATA TYPES, each column holds value. Data types can be an integer type, character type, etc., and such data is stored in the database table. The data type is...

4 minutes read.

SQL NOT Operator

SQL NOT is a Boolean operator used with the WHERE clause. NOT operator shows the records if the expression is false. When we use the NOT operator, we fetch only...

7 minutes read.

How to use GROUP BY clause in SQL

In this SQL article, we will learn about the GROUP BY clause and how to use it in SQL. We will also discuss using the GROUP BY clause with the...

6 minutes read.