Using Single-Row
Functions to
Customize Output
Objectives
After completing this lesson, you should be able
to do the following:
• Describe various types of functions that are
available in SQL
• Use character, number, and date functions in
SELECT statements
• Describe the use of conversion functions
SQL Functions
Input Output
Function
arg 1 Function performs
action
arg 2
Result
value
arg n
Two Types of SQL Functions
Functions
Single-row Multiple-row
functions functions
Return one result Return one result
per row per set of rows
Single-Row Functions
Single-row functions:
• Manipulate data items
• Accept arguments and return one value
• Act on each row that is returned
• Return one result per row
• May modify the data type
• Can be nested
• Accept arguments that can be a column or an
expression
function_name [(arg1, arg2,...)]
Single-Row Functions
Character
Single-row
General Number
functions
Conversion Date
Character Functions
Character
functions
Case-manipulation Character-manipulation
functions functions
LOWER CONCAT
UPPER SUBSTR
INITCAP LENGTH
INSTR
LPAD | RPAD
REPLACE
Case-Manipulation Functions
These functions convert case for character strings:
Function Result
LOWER('SQL Course') sql course
UPPER('SQL Course') SQL COURSE
INITCAP('SQL Course') Sql Course
Using Case-Manipulation Functions
Display the employee number, name, and department
number for employee Higgins:
SELECT employee_id, last_name, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'higgins';
no rows selected
SELECT employee_id, last_name, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE LOWER(last_name) = 'higgins';
Character-Manipulation Functions
These functions manipulate character strings:
Function Result
CONCAT('Hello', 'World') HelloWorld
SUBSTR('HelloWorld',1,5) Hello
LENGTH('HelloWorld') 10
INSTR('HelloWorld', 'W') 6
LPAD(salary,10,'*') *****24000
RPAD(salary, 10, '*') 24000*****
REPLACE BLACK and BLUE
('JACK and JUE','J','BL')
Using the Character-Manipulation Functions
1
SELECT employee_id, CONCAT(first_name, last_name) NAME,
job_id, LENGTH (last_name), 2
INSTR(last_name, 'a') "Contains 'a'?"
FROM employees 3
WHERE SUBSTR(job_id, 4) = 'REP';
1 2 3
Number Functions
• ROUND: Rounds value to specified decimal
• TRUNC: Truncates value to specified decimal
• MOD: Returns remainder of division
Function Result
ROUND(45.926, 2) 45.93
TRUNC(45.926, 2) 45.92
MOD(1600, 300) 100
Using the ROUND Function
1 2
SELECT ROUND(45.923,2), ROUND(45.923,0),
ROUND(45.923,-1) 3
FROM DUAL;
1 2 3
DUAL is a dummy table that you can use to view results
from functions and calculations.
Using the TRUNC Function
1 2
SELECT TRUNC(45.923,2), TRUNC(45.923),
TRUNC(45.923,-1) 3
FROM DUAL;
1 2 3
Using the MOD Function
For all employees with job title of Sales Representative, calculate the
remainder of the salary after it is divided by 5,000.
SELECT last_name, salary, MOD(salary, 5000)
FROM employees
WHERE job_id = 'SA_REP';
Working with Dates
• The Oracle database stores dates in an internal
numeric format: century, year, month, day, hours,
minutes, and seconds.
• The default date display format is DD-MON-RR.
• Enables you to store 21st-century dates in the
20th century by specifying only the last two digits of the
year
• Enables you to store 20th-century dates in the
21st century in the same way
SELECT last_name, hire_date
FROM employees
WHERE hire_date < '01-FEB-88';
Working with Dates
SYSDATE is a function that returns:
• Date
• Time
Arithmetic with Dates
• Add or subtract a number to or from a date for a
resultant date value.
• Subtract two dates to find the number of days
between those dates.
• Add hours to a date by dividing the number of hours
by 24.
Using Arithmetic Operators
with Dates
SELECT last_name, (SYSDATE-hire_date)/7 AS WEEKS
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 90;
Date Functions
Function Result
MONTHS_BETWEEN Number of months between two dates
ADD_MONTHS Add calendar months to date
NEXT_DAY Next day of the date specified
LAST_DAY Last day of the month
ROUND Round date
TRUNC Truncate date
Using Date Functions
Function Result
MONTHS_BETWEEN 19.6774194
('01-SEP-95','11-JAN-94')
ADD_MONTHS ('11-JAN-94',6) '11-JUL-94'
NEXT_DAY ('01-SEP-95','FRIDAY') '08-SEP-95'
LAST_DAY ('01-FEB-95') '28-FEB-95'
Using Date Functions
Assume SYSDATE = '25-JUL-03':
Function Result
ROUND(SYSDATE,'MONTH') 01-AUG-03
ROUND(SYSDATE ,'YEAR') 01-JAN-04
TRUNC(SYSDATE ,'MONTH') 01-JUL-03
TRUNC(SYSDATE ,'YEAR') 01-JAN-03
Practice 3: Overview of Part 1
This practice covers the following topics:
• Writing a query that displays the current date
• Creating queries that require the use of numeric,
character, and date functions
• Performing calculations of years and months of
service for an employee
Conversion Functions
Data type
conversion
Implicit data type Explicit data type
conversion conversion
Implicit Data Type Conversion
For assignments, the Oracle server can automatically
convert the following:
From To
VARCHAR2 or CHAR NUMBER
VARCHAR2 or CHAR DATE
NUMBER VARCHAR2
DATE VARCHAR2
Implicit Data Type Conversion
For expression evaluation, the Oracle Server can
automatically convert the following:
From To
VARCHAR2 or CHAR NUMBER
VARCHAR2 or CHAR DATE
Explicit Data Type Conversion
TO_NUMBER TO_DATE
NUMBER CHARACTER DATE
TO_CHAR TO_CHAR
Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates
TO_CHAR(date, 'format_model')
The format model:
• Must be enclosed by single quotation marks
• Is case sensitive
• Can include any valid date format element
• Has an fm element to remove padded blanks or
suppress leading zeros
• Is separated from the date value by a comma
Elements of the Date Format Model
Element Result
YYYY Full year in numbers
YEAR Year spelled out (in English)
MM Two-digit value for month
MONTH Full name of the month
MON Three-letter abbreviation of the month
DY Three-letter abbreviation of the day of the
week
DAY Full name of the day of the week
DD Numeric day of the month
Elements of the Date Format Model
• Time elements format the time portion of the date:
HH24:MI:SS AM 15:45:32 PM
• Add character strings by enclosing them in double
quotation marks:
DD "of" MONTH 12 of OCTOBER
• Number suffixes spell out numbers:
ddspth fourteenth
Using the TO_CHAR Function with Dates
SELECT last_name,
TO_CHAR(hire_date, 'DD Month YYYY')
AS HIREDATE
FROM employees;
…
Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers
TO_CHAR(number, 'format_model')
These are some of the format elements that you can use
with the TO_CHAR function to display a number value as
a character:
Element Result
9 Represents a number
0 Forces a zero to be displayed
$ Places a floating dollar sign
L Uses the floating local currency symbol
. Prints a decimal point
, Prints a comma as thousands indicator
Using the TO_CHAR Function with Numbers
SELECT TO_CHAR(salary, '$99,999.00') SALARY
FROM employees
WHERE last_name = 'Ernst';
Using the TO_NUMBER and TO_DATE
Functions
• Convert a character string to a number format using
the TO_NUMBER function:
TO_NUMBER(char[, 'format_model'])
• Convert a character string to a date format using the
TO_DATE function:
TO_DATE(char[, 'format_model'])
Nesting Functions
• Single-row functions can be nested to any level.
• Nested functions are evaluated from the deepest level to
the least deep level.
F3(F2(F1(col,arg1),arg2),arg3)
Step 1 = Result 1
Step 2 = Result 2
Step 3 = Result 3
Nesting Functions
SELECT last_name,
UPPER(CONCAT(SUBSTR (LAST_NAME, 1, 8), '_US'))
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 60;
General Functions
The following functions work with any data type
and pertain to using nulls:
• NVL (expr1, expr2)
• NVL2 (expr1, expr2, expr3)
NVL Function
Converts a null value to an actual value:
• Data types that can be used are date, character, and
number.
• Data types must match:
• NVL(commission_pct,0)
• NVL(hire_date,'01-JAN-97')
• NVL(job_id,'No Job Yet')
Using the NVL Function
SELECT last_name, salary, NVL(commission_pct, 0), 1
(salary*12) + (salary*12*NVL(commission_pct, 0)) AN_SAL
FROM employees;
2
1 2
Using the NVL2 Function
SELECT last_name, salary, commission_pct, 1
NVL2(commission_pct,
'SAL+COMM', 'SAL') income 2
FROM employees WHERE department_id IN (50, 80);
1 2
Conditional Expressions
• Provide the use of IF-THEN-ELSE logic within a SQL
statement
• Use two methods:
• CASE expression
• DECODE function
CASE Expression
Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of an
IF-THEN-ELSE statement:
CASE expr WHEN comparison_expr1 THEN return_expr1
[WHEN comparison_expr2 THEN return_expr2
WHEN comparison_exprn THEN return_exprn
ELSE else_expr]
END
Using the CASE Expression
Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of an
IF-THEN-ELSE statement:
SELECT last_name, job_id, salary,
CASE job_id WHEN 'IT_PROG' THEN 1.10*salary
WHEN 'ST_CLERK' THEN 1.15*salary
WHEN 'SA_REP' THEN 1.20*salary
ELSE salary END "REVISED_SALARY"
FROM employees;
…
DECODE Function
Facilitates conditional inquiries by doing the work of a
CASE expression or an IF-THEN-ELSE statement:
DECODE(col|expression, search1, result1
[, search2, result2,...,]
[, default])
Using the DECODE Function
SELECT last_name, job_id, salary,
DECODE(job_id, 'IT_PROG', 1.10*salary,
'ST_CLERK', 1.15*salary,
'SA_REP', 1.20*salary,
salary)
REVISED_SALARY
FROM employees;
…
Using the DECODE Function
Display the applicable tax rate for each employee in
department 80:
SELECT last_name, salary,
DECODE (TRUNC(salary/2000, 0),
0, 0.00,
1, 0.09,
2, 0.20,
3, 0.30,
4, 0.40,
5, 0.42,
6, 0.44,
0.45) TAX_RATE
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 80;
Summary
In this lesson, you should have learned how to:
• Perform calculations on data using functions
• Modify individual data items using functions
• Manipulate output for groups of rows using
functions
• Alter date formats for display using functions
• Convert column data types using functions
• Use NVL functions
• Use IF-THEN-ELSE logic