Chapter 6

Relational Query Languages

In addition to the structural component of any data model equally important
is the manipulation mechanism. This component of any data model is called
the “query language”.

 Query languages: Allow manipulation and retrieval of data from a

database.
 Query Languages! = programming languages!
 QLs not intended to be used for complex calculations.
 QLs support easy, efficient access to large data sets.
 Relational model supports simple, powerful query languages.

Formal Relational Query Languages

 There are varieties of Query languages used by relational DBMS for
manipulating relations.

 Some of them are procedural

 User tells the system exactly what and how to manipulate the
data
 Others are non-procedural
 User states what data is needed rather than how it is to be
retrieved.

Two mathematical Query Languages form the basis for Relational Query
Languages
 Relational Algebra:
 Relational Calculus:

 We may describe the relational algebra as procedural language:

it can be used to tell the DBMS how to build a new relation from one or
more relations in the database.
 We may describe relational calculus as a non procedural
language: it can be used to formulate the definition of a relation in
terms of one or more database relations.
 Formally the relational algebra and relational calculus are equivalent to
each other. For every expression in the algebra, there is an
equivalent expression in the calculus.
 Both are non-user friendly languages. They have been used as the
basis for other, higher-level data manipulation languages for relational
databases.
A query is applied to relation instances, and the result of a query is
also a relation instance.
 Schemas of input relations for a query are fixed
 The schema for the result of a given query is also fixed!
Determined by definition of query language constructs.

Relational Algebra
The basic set of operations for the relational model is known as the relational
algebra. These operations enable a user to specify basic retrieval requests.

The result of the retrieval is a new relation, which may have been formed
from one or more relations. The algebra operations thus produce new
relations, which can be further manipulated using operations of the same
algebra.

A sequence of relational algebra operations forms a relational algebra

expression, whose result will also be a relation that represents the result of
a database query (or retrieval request).

 Relational algebra is a theoretical language with operations that work

on one or more relations to define another relation without changing
the original relation.
 The output from one operation can become the input to another
operation (nesting is possible)

 There are different basic operations that could be

applied on relations on a database based on the
requirement.
 Selection ( s ) Selects a subset of rows from a relation.
 Projection ( p ) Deletes unwanted columns from a relation.
 Renaming: assigning intermediate relation for a single
operation
 Cross-Product ( x ) Allows to concatenate a tuple from one
relation with all the tuples from the other relation.
 Set-Difference ( - ) Tuples in relation R 1, but not in relation
R2.
 Union ( ) Tuples in relation R1, or in relation R2.
 Intersection () Tuples in relation R1 and in relation R1
 Join Tuples joined from two relations based on a condition
Join and intersection are derivable from the rest.
 Using these, we can build up sophisticated database queries.
 Table1:
Sample table used to illustrate different kinds of
relational operations. The relation contains information
about employees, IT skills they have and the school
where they attend each skill.

Employee
EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SchoolA SkillLev
D e e D ol dd el
12 Abebe Mekuri 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 5
a
16 Lemm Alemu 5 C++ Programmin Unity Gerji 6
a g
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU Sidist_Kilo 10
25 Abera Taye 6 VB6 Programmin Helic Piazza 8
g o
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helic Piazza 9
o
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracl Database Unity Gerji 5
e
51 Selam Belay 4 Prolo Programmin Jimm Jimma 8
g g a City
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU Sidist_Kilo 7
18 Girma Dereje 1 IP Programmin Jimm Jimma 4
g a City
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programmin AAU Sidist_Kilo 6
g
 1. Selection
 Selects subset of tuples/rows in a relation that satisfy selection
condition.
 Selection operation is a unary operator (it is applied to a single
relation)
 The Selection operation is applied to each tuple individually
 The degree of the resulting relation is the same as the original relation
but the cardinality (no. of tuples) is less than or equal to the original
relation.
 The Selection operator is commutative.
 Set of conditions can be combined using Boolean operations ( (AND),
(OR), and ~(NOT))
 No duplicates in result!
 Schema of result identical to schema of (only) input relation.
 Result relation can be the input for another relational algebra
operation! (Operator composition.)
 It is a filter that keeps only those tuples that satisfy a qualifying
condition (those satisfying the condition are selected while others are
discarded.)

Notation:
 <Selection Condition> <Relation Name>
Example: Find all Employees with skill type of Database.

 < SkillType =”Database”> (Employee)

This query will extract every tuple from a relation called Employee with all
the attributes where the SkillType attribute with a value of “Database”.

The resulting relation will be the following.

EmpI FNa LNam SkillI Skill SkillTy Scho SchoolA SkillLev

D me e D pe ol dd el
12 Abeb Mekuri 2 SQL Databas AAU Sidist_Kil 5
e a e o
28 Chan Kebed 2 SQL Databas AAU Sidist_Kil 10
e e e o
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Databas Helic Piazza 9
e o
24 Derej Tamiru 8 Oracl Databas Unity Gerji 5
e e e

If the query is all employees with a SkillType Database and School Unity the
relational algebra operation and the resulting relation will be as follows.
  < SkillType =”Database” AND School=”Unity”> (Employee)
EmpI FNa LNam SkillI Skill SkillTyp Scho SchoolA SkillLev
D me e D e ol dd el
24 Derej Tamir 8 Oracl Databas Unity Gerji 5
e u e e
 2. Projection
 Selects certain attributes while discarding the other from the base
relation.
 The PROJECT creates a vertical partitioning – one with the needed
columns (attributes) containing results of the operation and other
containing the discarded Columns.
 Deletes attributes that are not in projection list.
 Schema of result contains exactly the fields in the projection list, with
the same names that they had in the (only) input relation.
 Projection operator has to eliminate duplicates!
 Note: real systems typically don’t do duplicate elimination unless
the user explicitly asks for it.
 If the Primary Key is in the projection list, then duplication will not
occur
 Duplication removal is necessary to insure that the resulting table is
also a relation.

Notation:
 <Selected Attributes> <Relation Name>
Example: To display Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee, the query
and the resulting relation will be:

 <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (Employee)

FNa LNam Skill SkillLe
me e vel
Abeb Mekuri SQL 5
e a
Lem Alemu C++ 6
ma
Chan Kebed SQL 10
e e
Abera Taye VB6 8
Alma Belay SQL 9
z
Derej Tamir Oracl 5
e u e
Sela Belay Prolo 8
m g
Alem Kebed Cisco 7
e
Girma Dereje IP 4
Yared Gizaw Java 6
If we want to have the Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee with Skill
SQL and SkillLevel greater than 5 the query will be:

 <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (  (Employee))

<Skill=”SQL”  SkillLevel>5>
FNa LNam Skil SkillLev
me e l el
Chan Kebed SQL 10
e e
Almaz Belay SQL 9
 3. Rename Operation
 We may want to apply several relational algebra operations one after
the other. The query could be written in two different forms:
1. Write the operations as a single relational algebra expression
by nesting the operations.
2. Apply one operation at a time and create intermediate result
relations. In the latter case, we must give names to the
relations that hold the intermediate resultsRename
Operation

If we want to have the Name, Skill, and Skill Level of an employee with salary
greater than 1500 and working for department 5, we can write the
expression for this query using the two alternatives:

1. A single algebraic expression:

The above used query is using a single algebra operation, which is:

 <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (  (Employee))

<Skill=”SQL”  SkillLevel>5>

2. Using an intermediate relation by the Rename

Operation:

Step1: Result1   <DeptNo=5  Salary>1500> (Employee)

Step2: Result  <FName, LName, Skill, Skill_Level> (Result1)

Then Result will be equivalent with the relation we get using the
first alternative.
 4. Set Operations
The three main set operations are the Union, Intersection and Set Difference.
The properties of these set operations are similar with the concept we have
in mathematical set theory. The difference is that, in database context, the
elements of each set, which is a Relation in Database, will be tuples. The set
operations are Binary operations which demand the two operand Relations to
have type compatibility feature.

Type Compatibility
Two relations R1 and R2 are said to be Type Compatible if:
1. The operand relations R1(A1, A2, ..., An) and R2(B1, B2, ..., Bn) have the
same number of attributes, and
2. The domains of corresponding attributes must be compatible; that
is, Dom(Ai)=Dom(Bi) for i=1, 2, ..., n.
To illustrate the three set operations, we will make use of the following two
tables:
Employee
EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev
D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU 5
16 Lemm Alemu 5 C++ Programmin Unity 6
a g
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10
25 Abera Taye 6 VB6 Programmin Helico 8
g
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico 9
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracl Database Unity 5
e
51 Selam Belay 4 Prolo Programmin Jimma 8
g g
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU 7
18 Girma Dereje 1 IP Programmin Jimma 4
g
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programmin AAU 6
g

RelationOne: Employees who attend Database Course

EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev
D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU 5
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helico 9
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracl Database Unity 5
e
RelationTwo : Employees who attend a course in AAU
EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev
D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuria 2 SQL Database AAU 5
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU 7
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programmin AAU 6
g

a. UNION Operation
The result of this operation, denoted by R U S, is a relation that
includes all tuples that are either in R or in S or in both R and S.
Duplicate tuple is eliminated.
The two operands must be "type compatible"

Eg: RelationOne U RelationTwo

Employees who attend Database in any School or who attend any course at
AAU

EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev

D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuri 2 SQL Database AAU 5
a
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helic 9
o
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracl Database Unity 5
e
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU 7
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programmin AAU 6
g

b. INTERSECTION Operation
The result of this operation, denoted by R ∩ S, is a relation that
includes all tuples that are in both R and S. The two operands
must be "type compatible"
Eg: RelationOne ∩ RelationTwo
Employees who attend Database Course at AAU

EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev

D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuri 2 SQL Database AAU 5
 a
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10

c. Set Difference (or MINUS) Operation

The result of this operation, denoted by R - S, is a relation that
includes all tuples that are in R but not in S.
The two operands must be "type compatible"
Eg: RelationOne - RelationTwo
Employees who attend Database Course but didn’t take any course at AAU
EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev
D e e D ol el
65 Almaz Belay 2 SQL Database Helic 9
o
24 Dereje Tamiru 8 Oracl Database Unity 5
e
Eg: RelationTwo - RelationOne
Employees who attend Database Course but didn’t take any course at AAU

EmpI FNam LNam SkillI Skill SkillType Scho SkillLev

D e e D ol el
12 Abebe Mekuri 2 SQL Database AAU 5
a
94 Alem Kebede 3 Cisco Networking AAU 7
28 Chane Kebede 2 SQL Database AAU 10
13 Yared Gizaw 7 Java Programmin AAU 6
g

The resulting relation for; R1  R2, R1  R2, or R1-R2 has the same
attribute names as the first operand relation R1 (by convention).

Some Properties of the Set Operators

Notice that both union and intersection are commutative operations;
that is
R  S = S  R, and R  S = S  R

Both union and intersection can be treated as n-nary operations

applicable to any number of relations as both are associative
operations; that is
R  (S  T) = (R  S)  T, and (R  S)  T = R  (S  T)

The minus operation is not commutative; that is, in general

 R-S≠S–R

5. CARTESIAN (cross product)

Operation
This operation is used to combine tuples from two relations in a
combinatorial fashion. That means, every tuple in Relation (R) will be related
with every other tuple in Relation (S).
 In general, the result of R(A1, A2, . . ., An) x
S(B1,B2, . . ., Bm) is
a relation Q with degree n + m attributes Q(A1, A2, . . ., An, B1,
B2, . . ., Bm), in that order.
 Where R has n attributes and S has m attributes.
 The resulting relation Q has one tuple for each combination of
tuples—one from R and one from S.
 Hence, if R has n tuples, and S has m tuples, then | R x S | will
have n* m tuples.

Example:
Employee
ID FName LName
123 Abebe Lemma
567 Belay Taye
822 Kefle Kebede

Dept
DeptID DeptNam MangI
e D
2 Finance 567
3 Personnel 123
Then the Cartesian product between Employee and Dept relations will be of
the form:

Employee X Dept:
ID FName LName DeptI DeptNam MangI
D e D
123 Abebe Lemma 2 Finance 567
123 Abebe Lemma 3 Personnel 123
567 Belay Taye 2 Finance 567
 567 Belay Taye 3 Personnel 123
822 Kefle Kebede 2 Finance 567
822 Kefle Kebede 3 Personnel 123

Basically, even though it is very important in query processing, the Cartesian

Product is not useful by itself since it relates every tuple in the First Relation
with every other tuple in the Second Relation. Thus, to make use of the
Cartesian Product, one has to use it with the Selection Operation, which
discriminate tuples of a relation by testing whether each will satisfy the
selection condition.
In our example, to extract employee information about managers of the
departments (Managers of each department), the algebra query and the
resulting relation will be.

 <ID, FName, LName, DeptName > 

( <ID=MangID> (Employee X Dept))
ID FName LName DeptNam
e
123 Abebe Lemma Personnel
567 Belay Taye Finance

6. JOIN Operation
The sequence of Cartesian product followed by select is used quite
commonly to identify and select related tuples from two relations, a special
operation, called JOIN. Thus in JOIN operation, the Cartesian Operation and
the Selection Operations are used together.
JOIN Operation is denoted by a symbol.
This operation is very important for any relational database with more than a
single relation, because it allows us to process relationships among relations.
The general form of a join operation on two relations
R(A1, A2,. . ., An) and S(B1, B2, . . ., Bm) is:

R <join condition> S is equivalent to <selection condition> (R

X S)
where <join condition> and <selection condition> are the same

Where, R and S can be any relation that results from general relational
algebra expressions.
Since JOIN is an operation that needs two relation, it is a Binary operation.

This type of JOIN is called a THETA JOIN ( - JOIN)

Where  is the logical operator used in the join condition.
 Could be { <,  , >, , , = }

Example:
Thus in the above example we want to extract employee information
about managers of the departments, the algebra query using the JOIN
operation will be.

Employee < ID=MangID>Dept