SQL statement examples

This article demonstrates a variety of SQL statements.

Overview

SQL statements, broadly speaking, fall into four commonly used categories:

• SELECT statements return zero or more records
• INSERT statements insert a new record
• UPDATE statements update existing records
• DELETE statements delete existing records

Case insensitivity

SQL statements are typically case-insensitive. These examples follow the common convention of uppercasing SQL keywords.

SELECT statements

SELECT statement return zero or more records.

INSERT statements

INSERT statements insert a new record into a database table.

UPDATE statements

UPDATE statements update zero or more existing records in a database table.

DELETE statements

DELETE statements delete zero or more existing records from a database table.

Different implementations of SQL

Note that different implementations of SQL -- different "flavors" -- may differ in their details. The examples on this page are appropriate to a wide range -- but not necessarily all -- implementations.