SQL – SUBQUERIES
SUBQUERIES
• A Subquery can be defined as a query within another query.
• In other words we can say that a Subquery is a query that is embedded in
WHERE/HAVING/FROM clause of another SQL query.
SUBQUERIES - USAGE
• Subqueries can be used with SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE statements along with expression
operator. It could be equality operator or comparison operator such as =, >, =, <= and Like operator.
• A subquery is a query within another query. The outer query is called as main query and inner query is called
as subquery.
• The subquery generally executes first, and its output is used to complete the query condition for the main or
outer query.
• Subquery must be enclosed in parentheses.
• Subqueries are on the right side of the comparison operator.
• ORDER BY command cannot be used in a Subquery. GROUPBY command can be used to perform same
function as ORDER BY command.
• Use single-row operators with singlerow Subqueries. Use multiple-row operators with multiple-row
Subqueries.
SUBQUERY - SYNTAX
SELECT column_name
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name expression operator
( SELECT COLUMN_NAME from TABLE_NAME WHERE ... );
EXAMPLES
QUERY 1
SUBQUERY USING IN / NOT IN:
QUESTION: Find all employees that belong to the location 1700
SOLUTION:
SELECT employee_id, first_name, last_name FROM employees
WHERE department_id IN (SELECT department_id FROM departments WHERE location_id =
1700) ORDER BY first_name , last_name;
QUERY 2
SUBQUERY USING OPERATORS (=,>,<, >=,<=,<>):
QUESTION: Finds the employee who have the least salary
SOLUTION:
SELECT employee_id, first_name, last_name, salary
FROM employees
WHERE salary = (SELECT MIN(salary) FROM employees) ORDER BY first_name ,
last_name;
QUERY 3 (EXISTS / NOT EXISTS)
The EXISTS operator checks for the existence of rows returned from the subquery.
It returns true if the subquery contains any rows. Otherwise, it returns false.
EXISTS (subquery )
NOT EXISTS (subquery )
QUERY 3 (EXISTS / NOT EXISTS)
QUESTION: Find all departments which have at least one employee with the salary is greater than 10,000.
SOLUTION:
SELECT department_name
FROM departments d
WHERE EXISTS( SELECT 1 FROM employees e WHERE salary > 10000 AND e.department_id =
d.department_id)
ORDER BY department_name;
QUERY 4 SQL SUBQUERY WITH ALL / ANY
OPERATOR
• comparison_operator ALL (subquery)
• comparison_operator ANY (subquery)
• Eg:
• x > ALL (subquery)
• x > ANY(subquery)
QUERY 4 SQL SUBQUERY WITH ALL OPERATOR
• Find all employees whose salaries are greater than the lowest salary of every department:
SELECT employee_id, first_name, last_name, salary
FROM employees
WHERE salary >= ALL (SELECT MIN(salary) FROM employees GROUP BY department_id)
ORDER BY first_name , last_name;
SQL SUBQUERY IN THE FROM CLAUSE
• Syntax:
SELECT * FROM (subquery) AS table_name
QUESTION: Find the round value of the average salary of departments:
Solution:
SELECT ROUND(average_salary, 0)
FROM (SELECT AVG(salary) average_salary FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id) department_salary;
SQL SUBQUERY IN THE SELECT CLAUSE
SELECT
employee_id, first_name, last_name, salary,
(SELECT
ROUND(AVG(salary), 0)
FROM
employees) average_salary,
salary - (SELECT
ROUND(AVG(salary), 0)
FROM
employees) difference
FROM
employees
ORDER BY first_name , last_name;
SUB QUERY TYPES
• Single row subquery : Returns zero or one row.
• Multiple row subquery : Returns one or more rows.
• Multiple column subqueries : Returns one or more columns.
• Correlated subqueries : A correlated subquery is a subquery that uses the values from the outer
query. Also, a correlated subquery may be evaluated once for each row selected by the outer
query. Because of this, a query that uses a correlated subquery may be slow.
• Nested subqueries : Subqueries are placed within another subquery.
CORRELATED SUBQUERIES
SELECT
employee_id, first_name, last_name, salary, department_id FROM employees e
WHERE
salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees WHERE department_id =
e.department_id) ORDER BY department_id , first_name , last_name;
• For each employee, the database system has to execute the correlated subquery once to calculate
the average salary of the employees in the department of the current employee.
