Probably the most common way of creating a table in SQL is to use a basic CREATE TABLE statement, along with the table’s definition. But that’s not the only way of doing it.
Below are five options for creating a table when using SQL.
Continue readingWe can use the SQL INSERT statement to insert a row into a table. We can also use it to insert more than one row.
Below are seven ways to insert multiple rows into a table in SQL. Most of these examples should work in the major RDBMSs, with the possible exception of Oracle. But no worries, I’ve included an example just for Oracle.
Continue readingBelow are examples of using SQL to return the first day of the month across various DBMSs.
This could be the first day of the current month, or the first day of a month based on a given date.
Continue readingThe following examples use SQL to delete duplicate rows that have a primary key or unique identifier column.
Specifically, the examples delete all duplicates except one. So for example, in the case of three identical rows, it deletes two of them and keeps one.
Continue readingHere are examples of using SQL to return rows that contain non-alphanumeric characters in various DBMSs.
Non-alphanumeric characters include punctuation characters like !@#&()–[{}]:;',?/* and symbols like `~$^+=<>“, as well as whitespace characters like the space or tab characters.
If you ever need to use SQL to return just the numeric values in a character column, the method you use will largely depend on your DBMS. Most DBMSs support regular expressions (regex), but some don’t. And some include functions that can detect numeric values.
Here are examples of how to do it in the more popular DBMSs.
Continue readingMost RDBMSs provide at least a few ways to return rows that contain uppercase characters. Here are some options available in the major RDBMSs.
Continue readingBelow are examples of using SQL to return the last day of the month across various DBMSs.
This could be the last day of the current month, or the last day of a month based on a given date.
Continue readingSome DBMSs have an NVL2() function that allows us to replace a value with another value, the new value being determined by whether or not the initial value is null.
It’s similar to the NVL() function, except that NVL2() accepts exactly three arguments. This allows us to specify a different value to return in the event the first argument is not null.
In contrast, with the NVL() function, some DBMSs accept only two arguments (which makes the function a synonym for the IFNULL() function) while others accept an unlimited number of arguments (which makes it a synonym for the COALESCE() function).
Some DBMSs provide an NVL() function, which can be used when working with potentially NULL values. The function allows us to replace any NULL values with another value.