Using Subqueries in DB2

Pam Odden

Staff Development Session 2003.03

1 02/19/2003

Objectives What is a subquery?  How to code a subquery  Correlated vs non-correlated subqueries  Using subqueries when updating  Subqueries as nested table views


Staff Development Session 2003.03

2 02/19/2003

What is a Subquery?


A subquery is a query-within-a-query. The results of the subquery are used by DB2 to determine the results of the higher-level query. The subquery is enclosed in parentheses, but otherwise it is in the same form as a regular SELECT statement. Subqueries provide an efficient way to handle query requests that are expressed in terms of the results of other queries. Example:
SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, CHARGE_TO_ACCOUNT, REQ_DATE FROM MSTORDB1.STOR_HISTORY WHERE DELIVERY_LOCATION = '058' AND STOCK_NUMBER NOT IN (SELECT STOCK_NUMBER FROM MSTORDB1.OBSOLETE_ITEMS);

List history information for non-obsolete items for a delivery location

Staff Development Session 2003.03

3 02/19/2003

How to Code a Subquery

 

A subquery is usually part of a predicate, which can be part of a WHERE or HAVING clause The predicate is in the form
Operand
STOCK_NUMBER VENDOR_PRICE

operator
NOT IN =

(subquery)
(SELECT STOCK_NUMBER FROM MSTORDB1.OBSOLETE_ITEMS) (SELECT MAX(VENDOR_PRICE) FROM VENDOR_ITEMS

A predicate containing a subquery can be preceded by the word NOT, and can be linked to other predicates by the words AND and OR.
WHERE X IN (subquery1) AND (Y > SOME (subquery2) OR Z IS NULL)

Subqueries can appear in the predicates of other subqueries, as nested subqueries at some level of nesting. DB2 allows nesting down to a level of 15, but it is rarely required. The ORDER BY clause cannot be specified in a subquery. Since the results are used internally and never seen by the user, sorting is not necessary anyway. A subquery cannot be the UNION of more than one SELECT statement.
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Staff Development Session 2003.03

Subquery Search Conditions



There are a number of ways a subquery can be specified in either a WHERE or HAVING clause
Basic comparison test Using the IN keyword Quantified Predicates: ALL, ANY, and SOME Using the EXISTS keyword

Staff Development Session 2003.03

5 02/19/2003

Predicates Using Comparison Test

  

Compares the value of an expression to a single value produced by a subquery using comparison operators =, <>, <, >, <=, >= The results must be a single value of the appropriate data type. If more than one row is returned, SQL reports an error. If the subquery produces no rows, or a NULL value, the comparison test returns NULL.
Select items backordered longer than 3 months:
SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, BACKORD_DATE FROM MSTORDB1.BACK_ORDERS WHERE BACKORD_DATE < (SELECT CURRENT DATE - 3 MONTHS FROM SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1); STOCK_NUMBER BACKORD_DATE ---------+---------+---------+---------+---9998507970 09/11/2002 9998507970 09/06/2002

Select open requisitions with quantity greater than the average:

SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, QUANTITY, REQ_DATE FROM MSTORDB1.REQ_OPEN WHERE QUANTITY > (SELECT AVG(QUANTITY) FROM MSTORDB1.REQ_OPEN); ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-----STOCK_NUMBER QUANTITY REQ_DATE ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-----9998500645 75 11/06/2002 91390832 32 11/12/2002

Staff Development Session 2003.03

6 02/19/2003

Predicates Using IN Test

  

Compares a single operand to a column of data values produced by a subquery Returns true if the operand matches one of the values in the column, false otherwise. Works just like the simple IN test, except that the set of values is produced by a subquery instead of being explicitly listed in the statement.

Select information for all items requisitioned on a particular day:

SELECT VENDOR_ITEM, VENDOR_DESC, VENDOR_PRICE FROM MSTORDB1.VENDOR_ITEMS WHERE VENDOR_ITEM IN (SELECT VENDOR_ITEM FROM MSTORDB1.VENDOR_HISTORY WHERE REQ_DATE = '02/04/2002'); ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------VENDOR_ITEM VENDOR_DESC VENDOR_PRICE ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+------AAGE71750 CAL,RFL,DESK,3.5"X6" .88 AAG7026005 BOOK,APPT,MO,11"X9",BK 13.53 AA0200 MOP. BOWL .38 ACC12992 FASTENER,2PC,2"CAP,50BX 4.13

Staff Development Session 2003.03

7 02/19/2003

Predicates Using ALL, ANY or SOME

 

Keywords ALL, ANY or SOME can be used to compare a single operand to a column of values produced by a subquery. If ANY or SOME is used, the predicate returns true if any of the individual comparisons yields a true result. (When used with =, equivalent to using IN.) If ALL is used, all individual comparisons must evaluate to true in order for the predicate to return true.

Select backorders with a quantity greater than all of the outstanding requisitions for the item:
SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, QUANTITY FROM MSTORDB1.BACK_ORDERS B WHERE QUANTITY > ALL (SELECT QUANTITY FROM MSTORDB1.REQ_OPEN R WHERE R.STOCK_NUMBER = B.STOCK_NUMBER); ---------+---------+---------+---------+------STOCK_NUMBER QUANTITY ---------+---------+---------+---------+------9998500559 1 9998500546 4

Staff Development Session 2003.03

8 02/19/2003

Predicates Using Exists

 

The Exists test checks whether a subquery produces any rows of query results. If the subquery returns any rows, the exists test is true. If the subquery returns no rows, the test is false. Exists never returns a NULL value. You can reverse the logic by using NOT EXISTS.

Select inventory information for items having open requisitions:

SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, STOCK_CYCLE, STOCK_MONTH, STOCK_BACKORD FROM MSTORDB1.INV_CONTROL I WHERE EXISTS (SELECT STOCK_NUMBER FROM MSTORDB1.REQ_OPEN WHERE STOCK_NUMBER = I.STOCK_NUMBER); ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+STOCK_NUMBER STOCK_CYCLE STOCK_MONTH STOCK_BACKORD ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+0151520409030 A 0 0151530773515 A 0 0151530773530 B 0 Staff Development Session 2003.03 9 02/19/2003

Using Correlation Names in References



 

A correlation name is a short name associated with a table in a FROM clause, and used with column names to identify which tables column youre referring to. The correlation name allows subqueries to refer back to tables at any level of nesting. Regardless of the level of nesting, an outer reference always takes on the value of the column in the current row of the outer table.
SELECT STOCK_NUMBER, STOCK_CYCLE, STOCK_MONTH, STOCK_BACKORD FROM MSTORDB1.INV_CONTROL I WHERE STOCK_NUMBER IN (SELECT STOCK_NUMBER FROM MSTORDB1.STOR_HISTORY R WHERE DELIVERY_LOCATION = (SELECT DISTINCT(DELIVERY_LOCATION) FROM MSTORDB1.ORDER_CONTROL WHERE USER_CODE = 'AAH')) AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT STOCK_NUMBER FROM MSTORDB1.OBSOLETE_ITEMS O WHERE O.STOCK_NUMBER = I.STOCK_NUMBER); STOCK_NUMBER STOCK_CYCLE STOCK_MONTH STOCK_BACKORD ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+-4208855243635 A 0 6405020112725 B 0

Select inventory info for non-obsolete items that have been delivered to a particular user:

Staff Development Session 2003.03

10 02/19/2003

Subqueries in the HAVING Clause



When a subquery appears in the HAVING clause, it works as part of the selection process to determine which of the rows grouped by the GROUP BY clause to return.

Select the item types whose highest price is greater than the average price for all items.
SELECT ITEM_TYPE, MAX(VENDOR_PRICE) FROM MSTORDB1.VENDOR_ITEMS GROUP BY ITEM_TYPE HAVING MAX(VENDOR_PRICE) > (SELECT AVG(VENDOR_PRICE) FROM MSTORDB1.VENDOR_ITEMS); ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ITEM_TYPE ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+1 15314.69 2 1046.13 4 2477.00

When a correlated subquery is used in the HAVING clause, the outer reference must have only one value per row group. This limits the outer reference to either a gouping column or a column function.
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Staff Development Session 2003.03

Correlated Subqueries in Update and Delete Statements



 

When a subquery is used in an UPDATE, INSERT or DELETE statement, it cannot reference the same table whose rows you are updating, inserting or deleting. The results must not depend on the order in which DB2 accesses the rows. If a DELETE statement has a subquery that references a table involved in the deletion, the last delete rule in the path to that table must be RESTRICT or NO ACTION.

Staff Development Session 2003.03

12 02/19/2003

Subqueries as Nested Table Expressions

   

A subquery may be used as a complex operand in the FROM clause. This is called a nested table expression. Enclose the expression in parentheses. Give the expression a correlation name. The correlation name can be used to qualify selected column names, however it cannot be used inside the same FROM clause that defines it. Provide unique names for the columns of the result table that you reference.
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Examples of Nested Table Expressions

Select vendor info for items costing less than one dollar:
SELECT CHEAP_STUFF.VENDOR_ITEM, CHEAP_STUFF.VENDOR_PRICE FROM (SELECT VENDOR_ITEM, VENDOR_PRICE FROM MSTORDB1.VENDOR_ITEMS WHERE VENDOR_PRICE < 1.00) AS CHEAP_STUFF; ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ VENDOR_ITEM VENDOR_PRICE ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ 1001603120 .41 1001603340 .57 1002604141 .83 1002604120 .28 1002604341 .55

Select order authorization info where the updating and authorizing person are the same:
SELECT ORDER_DATE, ORDER_NAME, AUTHID, BUDGID FROM MSTORDB1.ORDER_CONTROL INNER JOIN (SELECT A.USER_ID AS AUTHID, A.AUTH_LEVEL, B.USER_ID AS BUDGID, B.BUDGET_UNIT FROM MSTORDB1.STOR_AUTHORITY A INNER JOIN MSTORDB1.APPROVER_UNITS B ON A.USER_ID = B.UPDT_USER_ID) AS USERAUTH ON APPROVE_USER_ID = USERAUTH.AUTHID; ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----ORDER_DATE ORDER_NAME AUTHID BUDGID ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+----02/04/2003 HECK/99/76610/934987 JCW071 GOP026 02/07/2003 REPL FOR 85177 JCW071 GOP026 02/07/2003 REPL FOR 91165 JCW071 GOP026

Staff Development Session 2003.03

14 02/19/2003

Summary


 

A subquery is a query-within-a-query. Subqueries appear within one of the search conditions in the WHERE or HAVING clause, or as a nested table expression in the FROM clause. In the WHERE clause, the results of the subquery are used to select the individual rows that appear in the query results. In the HAVING clause, the results of the subquery are used to select the row groups that appear in the query results. Subqueries can be nested within other subqueries. A subquery may include an outer reference to a table in any of the queries that contain it, linking the subquery to the current row of that query.
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Staff Development Session 2003.03