1. Sql Complete Reference

Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference Oracle Database.

SQL Functions SQL functions are built into Oracle Database and are available for use in various appropriate SQL statements. Do not confuse SQL functions with user-defined functions written in PL/SQL. If you call a SQL function with an argument of a datatype other than the datatype expected by the SQL function, then Oracle attempts to convert the argument to the expected datatype before performing the SQL function. If you call a SQL function with a null argument, then the SQL function automatically returns null. The only SQL functions that do not necessarily follow this behavior are CONCAT, NVL, REPLACE, and REGEXPREPLACE.

1. Oracle Database 10g Release 1 New Features in the SQL Reference; 1 Introduction to Oracle SQL. History of SQL; SQL Standards. How SQL Works.
2. Oracle Database 11g: The Complete Reference explains how to use all the new features and tools. Import and export data using SQL*Loader and Oracle Data Pump.

Note: The combined values of the NLSCOMP and NLSSORT settings determine the rules by which characters are sorted and compared. If NLSCOMP is set to LINGUISTIC for your database, then all entities in this chapter will be interpreted according to the rules specified by the NLSSORT parameter. If NLSCOMP is not set to LINGUISTIC, then the functions are interpreted without regard to the NLSSORT setting. NLSSORT can be explicitly set. If it is not set explicitly, it is derived from NLSLANGUAGE. Please refer to for more information on these settings.

In the syntax diagrams for SQL functions, arguments are indicated by their datatypes. When the parameter function appears in SQL syntax, replace it with one of the functions described in this section. Functions are grouped by the datatypes of their arguments and their return values. See Also:.

for information on user functions and for implicit conversion of datatypes. for information on functions used with Oracle Text. for information on frequent itemset functions used with Oracle Data Mining The syntax showing the categories of functions follows: function::= singlerowfunction::= The sections that follow list the built-in SQL functions in each of the groups illustrated in the preceding diagrams except user-defined functions.

All of the built-in SQL functions are then described in alphabetical order. Character Functions Returning Character Values Character functions that return character values return values of the following datatypes unless otherwise documented:. If the input argument is CHAR or VARCHAR2, then the value returned is VARCHAR2. If the input argument is NCHAR or NVARCHAR2, then the value returned is NVARCHAR2.

The length of the value returned by the function is limited by the maximum length of the datatype returned. For functions that return CHAR or VARCHAR2, if the length of the return value exceeds the limit, then Oracle Database truncates it and returns the result without an error message. For functions that return CLOB values, if the length of the return values exceeds the limit, then Oracle raises an error and returns no data. The character functions that return character values are. Datetime Functions Datetime functions operate on date ( DATE), timestamp ( TIMESTAMP, TIMESTAMP WITH TIME ZONE, and TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE), and interval ( INTERVAL DAY TO SECOND, INTERVAL YEAR TO MONTH) values. Some of the datetime functions were designed for the Oracle DATE datatype ( ADDMONTHS, CURRENTDATE, LASTDAY, NEWTIME, and NEXTDAY). If you provide a timestamp value as their argument, Oracle Database internally converts the input type to a DATE value and returns a DATE value.

The exceptions are the MONTHSBETWEEN function, which returns a number, and the ROUND and TRUNC functions, which do not accept timestamp or interval values at all. The remaining datetime functions were designed to accept any of the three types of data (date, timestamp, and interval) and to return a value of one of these types.

The datetime functions are. Aggregate Functions Aggregate functions return a single result row based on groups of rows, rather than on single rows. Aggregate functions can appear in select lists and in ORDER BY and HAVING clauses. They are commonly used with the GROUP BY clause in a SELECT statement, where Oracle Database divides the rows of a queried table or view into groups.

In a query containing a GROUP BY clause, the elements of the select list can be aggregate functions, GROUP BY expressions, constants, or expressions involving one of these. Oracle applies the aggregate functions to each group of rows and returns a single result row for each group. If you omit the GROUP BY clause, then Oracle applies aggregate functions in the select list to all the rows in the queried table or view. You use aggregate functions in the HAVING clause to eliminate groups from the output based on the results of the aggregate functions, rather than on the values of the individual rows of the queried table or view.

See Also: and the for more information on the GROUP BY clause and HAVING clauses in queries and subqueries Many (but not all) aggregate functions that take a single argument accept these clauses:. DISTINCT causes an aggregate function to consider only distinct values of the argument expression. ALL causes an aggregate function to consider all values, including all duplicates. For example, the DISTINCT average of 1, 1, 1, and 3 is 2. The ALL average is 1.5. If you specify neither, then the default is ALL.

All aggregate functions except COUNT(.) and GROUPING ignore nulls. You can use the NVL function in the argument to an aggregate function to substitute a value for a null. COUNT never returns null, but returns either a number or zero. For all the remaining aggregate functions, if the data set contains no rows, or contains only rows with nulls as arguments to the aggregate function, then the function returns null. The aggregate functions MIN, MAX, SUM, AVG, COUNT, VARIANCE, and STDDEV, when followed by the KEEP keyword, can be used in conjunction with the FIRST or LAST function to operate on a set of values from a set of rows that rank as the FIRST or LAST with respect to a given sorting specification.

Please refer to for more information. You can nest aggregate functions. For example, the following example calculates the average of the maximum salaries of all the departments in the sample schema hr: SELECT AVG(MAX(salary)) FROM employees GROUP BY departmentid; AVG(MAX(SALARY)) - 10925 This calculation evaluates the inner aggregate ( MAX( salary)) for each group defined by the GROUP BY clause ( departmentid), and aggregates the results again. The aggregate functions are. Analytic Functions Analytic functions compute an aggregate value based on a group of rows.

They differ from aggregate functions in that they return multiple rows for each group. The group of rows is called a window and is defined by the analyticclause.

For each row, a sliding window of rows is defined. The window determines the range of rows used to perform the calculations for the current row. Window sizes can be based on either a physical number of rows or a logical interval such as time. Analytic functions are the last set of operations performed in a query except for the final ORDER BY clause.

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All joins and all WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses are completed before the analytic functions are processed. Therefore, analytic functions can appear only in the select list or ORDER BY clause. Analytic functions are commonly used to compute cumulative, moving, centered, and reporting aggregates. Analyticfunction::= analyticclause::=::=::=::= The semantics of this syntax are discussed in the sections that follow. Analyticfunction Specify the name of an analytic function (see the listing of analytic functions following this discussion of semantics).

Arguments Analytic functions take 0 to 3 arguments. The arguments can be any numeric datatype or any nonnumeric datatype that can be implicitly converted to a numeric datatype. Oracle determines the argument with the highest numeric precedence and implicitly converts the remaining arguments to that datatype. The return type is also that datatype, unless otherwise noted for an individual function. See Also: for information on numeric precedence and for more information on implicit conversion analyticclause Use OVER analyticclause to indicate that the function operates on a query result set.

That is, it is computed after the FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, and HAVING clauses. You can specify analytic functions with this clause in the select list or ORDER BY clause.

To filter the results of a query based on an analytic function, nest these functions within the parent query, and then filter the results of the nested subquery. Notes on the analyticclause: The following notes apply to the analyticclause:. You cannot specify any analytic function in any part of the analyticclause. That is, you cannot nest analytic functions. However, you can specify an analytic function in a subquery and compute another analytic function over it. You can specify OVER analyticclause with user-defined analytic functions as well as built-in analytic functions. Querypartitionclause Use the PARTITION BY clause to partition the query result set into groups based on one or more valueexpr.

If you omit this clause, then the function treats all rows of the query result set as a single group. To use the querypartitionclause in an analytic function, use the upper branch of the syntax (without parentheses).

To use this clause in a model query (in the modelcolumnclauses) or a partitioned outer join (in the outerjoinclause), use the lower branch of the syntax (with parentheses). You can specify multiple analytic functions in the same query, each with the same or different PARTITION BY keys. If the objects being queried have the parallel attribute, and if you specify an analytic function with the querypartitionclause, then the function computations are parallelized as well. Valid values of valueexpr are constants, columns, nonanalytic functions, function expressions, or expressions involving any of these. Orderbyclause Use the orderbyclause to specify how data is ordered within a partition. For all analytic functions except PERCENTILECONT and PERCENTILEDISC (which take only a single key), you can order the values in a partition on multiple keys, each defined by a valueexpr and each qualified by an ordering sequence. Within each function, you can specify multiple ordering expressions.

Doing so is especially useful when using functions that rank values, because the second expression can resolve ties between identical values for the first expression. Whenever the orderbyclause results in identical values for multiple rows, the function returns the same result for each of those rows.

Please refer to the analytic example for for an illustration of this behavior. Restrictions on the ORDER BY Clause The following restrictions apply to the ORDER BY clause:.

When used in an analytic function, the orderbyclause must take an expression ( expr). The SIBLINGS keyword is not valid (it is relevant only in hierarchical queries).

Position ( position) and column aliases ( calias) are also invalid. Otherwise this orderbyclause is the same as that used to order the overall query or subquery. An analytic function that uses the RANGE keyword can use multiple sort keys in its ORDER BY clause if it specifies either of these two windows:.

RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW. The short form of this is RANGE UNBOUNDED PRECEDING. RANGE BETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING. The short form of this is RANGE UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING.

Window boundaries other than these two can have only one sort key in the ORDER BY clause of the analytic function. This restriction does not apply to window boundaries specified by the ROW keyword.

ASC DESC Specify the ordering sequence (ascending or descending). ASC is the default. NULLS FIRST NULLS LAST Specify whether returned rows containing nulls should appear first or last in the ordering sequence.

NULLS LAST is the default for ascending order, and NULLS FIRST is the default for descending order. Analytic functions always operate on rows in the order specified in the orderbyclause of the function. However, the orderbyclause of the function does not guarantee the order of the result. Use the orderbyclause of the query to guarantee the final result ordering. See Also: of for more information on this clause windowingclause Some analytic functions allow the windowingclause.

In the listing of analytic functions at the end of this section, the functions that allow the windowingclause are followed by an asterisk (.). ROWS RANGE These keywords define for each row a window (a physical or logical set of rows) used for calculating the function result. The function is then applied to all the rows in the window. The window moves through the query result set or partition from top to bottom. ROWS specifies the window in physical units (rows). RANGE specifies the window as a logical offset.

You cannot specify this clause unless you have specified the orderbyclause. Some window boundaries defined by the RANGE clause let you specify only one expression in the orderbyclause. Please refer to.

The value returned by an analytic function with a logical offset is always deterministic. However, the value returned by an analytic function with a physical offset may produce nondeterministic results unless the ordering expression results in a unique ordering. You may have to specify multiple columns in the orderbyclause to achieve this unique ordering. AND Use the BETWEEN. AND clause to specify a start point and end point for the window. The first expression (before AND) defines the start point and the second expression (after AND) defines the end point. If you omit BETWEEN and specify only one end point, then Oracle considers it the start point, and the end point defaults to the current row.

UNBOUNDED PRECEDING Specify UNBOUNDED PRECEDING to indicate that the window starts at the first row of the partition. This is the start point specification and cannot be used as an end point specification. UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING Specify UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING to indicate that the window ends at the last row of the partition. This is the end point specification and cannot be used as a start point specification. CURRENT ROW As a start point, CURRENT ROW specifies that the window begins at the current row or value (depending on whether you have specified ROW or RANGE, respectively).

In this case the end point cannot be valueexpr PRECEDING. As an end point, CURRENT ROW specifies that the window ends at the current row or value (depending on whether you have specified ROW or RANGE, respectively). In this case the start point cannot be valueexpr FOLLOWING. Valueexpr PRECEDING or valueexpr FOLLOWING For RANGE or ROW:. If valueexpr FOLLOWING is the start point, then the end point must be valueexpr FOLLOWING. If valueexpr PRECEDING is the end point, then the start point must be valueexpr PRECEDING. If you are defining a logical window defined by an interval of time in numeric format, then you may need to use conversion functions.

See Also: and for information on converting numeric times into intervals If you specified ROWS:. valueexpr is a physical offset. It must be a constant or expression and must evaluate to a positive numeric value. If valueexpr is part of the start point, then it must evaluate to a row before the end point. If you specified RANGE:.

valueexpr is a logical offset. It must be a constant or expression that evaluates to a positive numeric value or an interval literal. Please refer to for information on interval literals. You can specify only one expression in the orderbyclause. If valueexpr evaluates to a numeric value, then the ORDER BY expr must be a numeric or DATE datatype.

If valueexpr evaluates to an interval value, then the ORDER BY expr must be a DATE datatype. If you omit the windowingclause entirely, then the default is RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW. Analytic functions are commonly used in data warehousing environments.

In the list of analytic functions that follows, functions followed by an asterisk (.) allow the full syntax, including the windowingclause.