What is Database?

A database is a separate application that stores a collection of data. Each database has one or more distinct APIs for creating, accessing, managing, searching and replicating the data it holds.
Other kinds of data stores can be used, such as files on the file system or large hash tables in memory but data fetching and writing would not be so fast and easy with those types of systems.
So nowadays, we use relational database management systems (RDBMS) to store and manage huge volume of data. This is called relational database because all the data is stored into different tables and relations are established using primary keys or other keys known as foreign keys.
A Relational DataBase Management System (RDBMS) is a software that:

• Enables you to implement a database with tables, columns and indexes.
• Guarantees the Referential Integrity between rows of various tables.
• Updates the indexes automatically.
• Interprets an SQL query and combines information from various tables.

RDBMS Terminology:

Before we proceed to explain MySQL database system, let's revise few definitions related to database.

• Database: A database is a collection of tables, with related data.
• Table: A table is a matrix with data. A table in a database looks like a simple spreadsheet.
• Column: One column (data element) contains data of one and the same kind, for example the column postcode.
• Row: A row (= tuple, entry or record) is a group of related data, for example the data of one subscription.
• Redundancy: Storing data twice, redundantly to make the system faster.
• Primary Key: A primary key is unique. A key value can not occur twice in one table. With a key, you can find at most one row.
• Foreign Key: A foreign key is the linking pin between two tables.
• Compound Key: A compound key (composite key) is a key that consists of multiple columns, because one column is not sufficiently unique.
• Index: An index in a database resembles an index at the back of a book.
• Referential Integrity: Referential Integrity makes sure that a foreign key value always points to an existing row.

MySQL Database:

MySQL is a fast, easy-to-use RDBMS being used for many small and big businesses. MySQL is developed, marketed, and supported by MySQL AB, which is a Swedish company. MySQL is becoming so popular because of many good reasons:

• MySQL is released under an open-source license. So you have nothing to pay to use it.
• MySQL is a very powerful program in its own right. It handles a large subset of the functionality of the most expensive and powerful database packages.
• MySQL uses a standard form of the well-known SQL data language.
• MySQL works on many operating systems and with many languages including PHP, PERL, C, C++, JAVA, etc.
• MySQL works very quickly and works well even with large data sets.
• MySQL is very friendly to PHP, the most appreciated language for web development.
• MySQL supports large databases, up to 50 million rows or more in a table. The default file size limit for a table is 4GB, but you can increase this (if your operating system can handle it) to a theoretical limit of 8 million terabytes (TB).
• MySQL is customizable. The open-source GPL license allows programmers to modify the MySQL software to fit their own specific environments.

Before You Begin:

Before you begin this tutorial, you should have a basic knowledge of the information covered in our PHP and HTML tutorials.
This tutorial focuses heavily on using MySQL in a PHP environment. Many examples given in this tutorial will be useful for PHP Programmers.
We recommend you check our PHP Tutorial for your reference.

We already have discussed SQL LIKE operator, which is used to compare a value to similar values using wildcard operators.
SQL supports following two wildcard operators in conjunction with the LIKE operator:

Wildcards	Description
The percent sign (%)	Matches one or more characters. Note that MS Access uses the asterisk (*) wildcard character instead of the percent sign (%) wildcard character.
The underscore (_)	Matches one character. Note that MS Access uses a question mark (?) instead of the underscore (_) to match any one character.

The percent sign represents zero, one, or multiple characters. The underscore represents a single number or character. The symbols can be used in combinations.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of '%' and '_' is as follows:

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX%'

or 

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '%XXXX%'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE 'XXXX_'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX'

or

SELECT FROM table_name
WHERE column LIKE '_XXXX_'

You can combine N number of conditions using AND or OR operators. Here, XXXX could be any numeric or string value.

Example:

Here are number of examples showing WHERE part having different LIKE clause with '%' and '_' operators:

Statement	Description
WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%'	Finds any values that start with 200
WHERE SALARY LIKE '%200%'	Finds any values that have 200 in any position
WHERE SALARY LIKE '_00%'	Finds any values that have 00 in the second and third positions
WHERE SALARY LIKE '2_%_%'	Finds any values that start with 2 and are at least 3 characters in length
WHERE SALARY LIKE '%2'	Finds any values that end with 2
WHERE SALARY LIKE '_2%3'	Finds any values that have a 2 in the second position and end with a 3
WHERE SALARY LIKE '2___3'	Finds any values in a five-digit number that start with 2 and end with 3

Let us take a real example, consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is an example, which would display all the records from CUSTOMERS table where SALARY starts with 200:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE SALARY LIKE '200%';

This would produce the following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

The HAVING clause enables you to specify conditions that filter which group results appear in the final results.
The WHERE clause places conditions on the selected columns, whereas the HAVING clause places conditions on groups created by the GROUP BY clause.

Syntax:

The following is the position of the HAVING clause in a query:

SELECT
FROM
WHERE
GROUP BY
HAVING
ORDER BY

The HAVING clause must follow the GROUP BY clause in a query and must also precede the ORDER BY clause if used. The following is the syntax of the SELECT statement, including the HAVING clause:

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table1, table2
WHERE [ conditions ]
GROUP BY column1, column2
HAVING [ conditions ]
ORDER BY column1, column2

Example:

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is the example, which would display record for which similar age count would be more than or equal to 2:

SQL > SELECT *
FROM CUSTOMERS
GROUP BY age
HAVING COUNT(age) >= 2;

This would produce the following result:

+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+
| ID | NAME   | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY  |
+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+
|  2 | Khilan |  25 | Delhi   | 1500.00 |
+----+--------+-----+---------+---------+

A view is nothing more than a SQL statement that is stored in the database with an associated name. A view is actually a composition of a table in the form of a predefined SQL query.
A view can contain all rows of a table or select rows from a table. A view can be created from one or many tables which depends on the written SQL query to create a view.
Views, which are kind of virtual tables, allow users to do the following:

• Structure data in a way that users or classes of users find natural or intuitive.
• Restrict access to the data such that a user can see and (sometimes) modify exactly what they need and no more.
• Summarize data from various tables which can be used to generate reports.

Creating Views:

Database views are created using the CREATE VIEW statement. Views can be created from a single table, multiple tables, or another view.

To create a view, a user must have the appropriate system privilege according to the specific implementation.
The basic CREATE VIEW syntax is as follows:

CREATE VIEW view_name AS
SELECT column1, column2.....
FROM table_name
WHERE [condition];

You can include multiple tables in your SELECT statement in very similar way as you use them in normal

SQL SELECT query.

Example:

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Now, following is the example to create a view from CUSTOMERS table. This view would be used to have customer name and age from CUSTOMERS table:

SQL > CREATE VIEW CUSTOMERS_VIEW AS
SELECT name, age
FROM  CUSTOMERS;

Now, you can query CUSTOMERS_VIEW in similar way as you query an actual table. Following is the example:

SQL > SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS_VIEW;

This would produce the following result:

+----------+-----+
| name     | age |
+----------+-----+
| Ramesh   |  32 |
| Khilan   |  25 |
| kaushik  |  23 |
| Chaitali |  25 |
| Hardik   |  27 |
| Komal    |  22 |
| Muffy    |  24 |
+----------+-----+

The SET TRANSACTION Command:

The SET TRANSACTION command can be used to initiate a database transaction. This command is used to specify characteristics for the transaction that follows.

For example, you can specify a transaction to be read only, or read write.

The syntax for SET TRANSACTION is as follows:

SET TRANSACTION [ READ WRITE | READ ONLY ];

The WITH CHECK OPTION is a CREATE VIEW statement option. The purpose of the WITH CHECK OPTION is to ensure that all UPDATE and INSERTs satisfy the condition(s) in the view definition.
If they do not satisfy the condition(s), the UPDATE or INSERT returns an error.

The following is an example of creating same view CUSTOMERS_VIEW with the WITH CHECK OPTION:

CREATE VIEW CUSTOMERS_VIEW AS
SELECT name, age
FROM  CUSTOMERS
WHERE age IS NOT NULL
WITH CHECK OPTION;

The WITH CHECK OPTION in this case should deny the entry of any NULL values in the view's AGE column, because the view is defined by data that does not have a NULL value in the AGE column.

Updating a View:

A view can be updated under certain conditions:

• The SELECT clause may not contain the keyword DISTINCT.
• The SELECT clause may not contain summary functions.
• The SELECT clause may not contain set functions.
• The SELECT clause may not contain set operators.
• The SELECT clause may not contain an ORDER BY clause.
• The FROM clause may not contain multiple tables.
• The WHERE clause may not contain subqueries.
• The query may not contain GROUP BY or HAVING.
• Calculated columns may not be updated.
• All NOT NULL columns from the base table must be included in the view in order for the INSERT query to function.

So if a view satisfies all the above-mentioned rules then you can update a view. Following is an example to update the age of Ramesh:

SQL > UPDATE CUSTOMERS_VIEW
      SET AGE = 35
      WHERE name='Ramesh';

This would ultimately update the base table CUSTOMERS and same would reflect in the view itself. Now, try to query base table, and SELECT statement would produce the following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  35 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Inserting Rows into a View:

Rows of data can be inserted into a view. The same rules that apply to the UPDATE command also apply to the INSERT command.
Here we can not insert rows in CUSTOMERS_VIEW because we have not included all the NOT NULL columns in this view, otherwise you can insert rows in a view in similar way as you insert them in a table.

Deleting Rows into a View:

Rows of data can be deleted from a view. The same rules that apply to the UPDATE and INSERT commands apply to the DELETE command.

Following is an example to delete a record having AGE= 22.

SQL > DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS_VIEW
      WHERE age = 22;

This would ultimately delete a row from the base table CUSTOMERS and same would reflect in the view itself. Now, try to query base table, and SELECT statement would produce the following result:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  35 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Dropping Views:

Obviously, where you have a view, you need a way to drop the view if it is no longer needed. The syntax is very simple as given below:

DROP VIEW view_name;

Following is an example to drop CUSTOMERS_VIEW from CUSTOMERS table:

DROP VIEW CUSTOMERS_VIEW;

There may be a situation when you need an exact copy of a table and CREATE TABLE ... SELECT... doesn't suit your purposes because the copy must include the same indexes, default values, and so forth.
If you are using MySQL RDBMS, you can handle this situation by the following steps:

• Use SHOW CREATE TABLE command to get a CREATE TABLE statement that specifies the source table's structure, indexes and all.
• Modify the statement to change the table name to that of the clone table and execute the statement. This way you will have exact clone table.
• Optionally, if you need the table contents copied as well, issue an INSERT INTO ... SELECT statement, too.

Example:

Try out the following example to create a clone table for TUTORIALS_TBL whose structure is as follows:

Step 1:

Get complete structure about table.

SQL> SHOW CREATE TABLE TUTORIALS_TBL \G;
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: TUTORIALS_TBL

 Create Table: CREATE TABLE `TUTORIALS_TBL` (
  `tutorial_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `tutorial_title` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  `tutorial_author` varchar(40) NOT NULL default '',
  `submission_date` date default NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`tutorial_id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `AUTHOR_INDEX` (`tutorial_author`)
) TYPE=MyISAM 

 1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Step 2:

Rename this table and create another table.

SQL> CREATE TABLE `CLONE_TBL` (
  -> `tutorial_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  -> `tutorial_title` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  -> `tutorial_author` varchar(40) NOT NULL default '',
  -> `submission_date` date default NULL,
  -> PRIMARY KEY  (`tutorial_id`),
  -> UNIQUE KEY `AUTHOR_INDEX` (`tutorial_author`)
-> ) TYPE=MyISAM; 

 Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.80 sec)

Step 3:

After executing step 2, you will clone a table in your database. If you want to copy data from old table, then you can do it by using INSERT INTO... SELECT statement.

SQL> INSERT INTO CLONE_TBL (tutorial_id,
    ->                        tutorial_title,
    ->                        tutorial_author,
    ->                        submission_date)
    -> SELECT tutorial_id,tutorial_title,
    ->        tutorial_author,submission_date,
    -> FROM TUTORIALS_TBL; 

 Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.07 sec)
Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

Finally, you will have exact clone table as you wanted to have.

The SQL TRUNCATE TABLE command is used to delete complete data from an existing table.
You can also use DROP TABLE command to delete complete table but it would remove complete table structure form the database and you would need to re-create this table once again if you wish you store some data.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of TRUNCATE TABLE is as follows:

TRUNCATE TABLE  table_name;

Example:

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is the example to truncate:

SQL > TRUNCATE TABLE CUSTOMERS;

Now, CUSTOMERS table is truncated and following would be the output from SELECT statement:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS;
Empty set (0.00 sec)

There may be a situation when you need an exact copy of a table and CREATE TABLE ... SELECT... doesn't suit your purposes because the copy must include the same indexes, default values, and so forth.
If you are using MySQL RDBMS, you can handle this situation by the following steps:

• Use SHOW CREATE TABLE command to get a CREATE TABLE statement that specifies the source table's structure, indexes and all.
• Modify the statement to change the table name to that of the clone table and execute the statement. This way you will have exact clone table.
• Optionally, if you need the table contents copied as well, issue an INSERT INTO ... SELECT statement, too.

Example:

Try out the following example to create a clone table for TUTORIALS_TBL whose structure is as follows:

Step 1:

Get complete structure about table.

SQL> SHOW CREATE TABLE TUTORIALS_TBL \G;
*************************** 1. row ***************************
       Table: TUTORIALS_TBL

 Create Table: CREATE TABLE `TUTORIALS_TBL` (
  `tutorial_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `tutorial_title` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  `tutorial_author` varchar(40) NOT NULL default '',
  `submission_date` date default NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`tutorial_id`),
  UNIQUE KEY `AUTHOR_INDEX` (`tutorial_author`)
) TYPE=MyISAM 

 1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Step 2:

Rename this table and create another table.

SQL> CREATE TABLE `CLONE_TBL` (
  -> `tutorial_id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  -> `tutorial_title` varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
  -> `tutorial_author` varchar(40) NOT NULL default '',
  -> `submission_date` date default NULL,
  -> PRIMARY KEY  (`tutorial_id`),
  -> UNIQUE KEY `AUTHOR_INDEX` (`tutorial_author`)
-> ) TYPE=MyISAM; 

 Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.80 sec)

Step 3:

After executing step 2, you will clone a table in your database. If you want to copy data from old table, then you can do it by using INSERT INTO... SELECT statement.

SQL> INSERT INTO CLONE_TBL (tutorial_id,
    ->                        tutorial_title,
    ->                        tutorial_author,
    ->                        submission_date)
    -> SELECT tutorial_id,tutorial_title,
    ->        tutorial_author,submission_date,
    -> FROM TUTORIALS_TBL; 

 Query OK, 3 rows affected (0.07 sec)
Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

Finally, you will have exact clone table as you wanted to have.

The SQL ALTER TABLE command is used to add, delete or modify columns in an existing table.
You would also use ALTER TABLE command to add and drop various constraints on a an existing table.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to add a new column in an existing table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name ADD column_name datatype;

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to DROP COLUMN in an existing table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name DROP COLUMN column_name;

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to change the DATA TYPE of a column in a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY COLUMN column_name datatype;

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to add a NOT NULL constraint to a column in a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY column_name datatype NOT NULL;

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to ADD UNIQUE CONSTRAINT to a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 

 ADD CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint UNIQUE(column1, column2...);

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to ADD CHECK CONSTRAINT to a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 

 ADD CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint CHECK (CONDITION);

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to ADD PRIMARY KEY constraint to a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 

 ADD CONSTRAINT MyPrimaryKey PRIMARY KEY (column1, column2...);

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to DROP CONSTRAINT from a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 
DROP CONSTRAINT MyUniqueConstraint;

If you're using MySQL, the code is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 
DROP INDEX MyUniqueConstraint;

The basic syntax of ALTER TABLE to DROP PRIMARY KEY constraint from a table is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 
DROP CONSTRAINT MyPrimaryKey;

If you're using MySQL, the code is as follows:

ALTER TABLE table_name 
DROP PRIMARY KEY;

Example:

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Following is the example to ADD a new column in an existing table:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS ADD SEX char(1);

Now, CUSTOMERS table is changed and following would be output from SELECT statement:

+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
| ID | NAME    | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   | SEX  |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+
|  1 | Ramesh  |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 | NULL |
|  2 | Ramesh  |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 | NULL |
|  3 | kaushik |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 | NULL |
|  4 | kaushik |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 | NULL |
|  5 | Hardik  |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 | NULL |
|  6 | Komal   |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 | NULL |
|  7 | Muffy   |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 | NULL |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+------+

Following is the example to DROP sex column from existing table:

ALTER TABLE CUSTOMERS DROP SEX;

Now, CUSTOMERS table is changed and following would be output from SELECT statement:

+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME    | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh  |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Ramesh  |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | kaushik |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik  |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal   |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy   |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+---------+-----+-----------+----------+

The SAVEPOINT Command:

A SAVEPOINT is a point in a transaction when you can roll the transaction back to a certain point without rolling back the entire transaction.

The syntax for SAVEPOINT command is as follows:

SAVEPOINT SAVEPOINT_NAME;

This command serves only in the creation of a SAVEPOINT among transactional statements. The ROLLBACK command is used to undo a group of transactions.

The syntax for rolling back to a SAVEPOINT is as follows:

ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT_NAME;

Following is an example where you plan to delete the three different records from the CUSTOMERS table. You want to create a SAVEPOINT before each delete, so that you can ROLLBACK to any SAVEPOINT at any time to return the appropriate data to its original state:

Example:

Consider the CUSTOMERS table having the following records:

+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  1 | Ramesh   |  32 | Ahmedabad |  2000.00 |
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+

Now, here is the series of operations:
 

SQL> SAVEPOINT SP1; 

 Savepoint created. 

 SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE ID=1; 

 1 row deleted. 

 SQL> SAVEPOINT SP2; 

 Savepoint created. 

 SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE ID=2; 

 1 row deleted. 

 SQL> SAVEPOINT SP3; 

 Savepoint created. 

 SQL> DELETE FROM CUSTOMERS WHERE ID=3; 

 1 row deleted.

Now that the three deletions have taken place, say you have changed your mind and decided to ROLLBACK to the SAVEPOINT that you identified as SP2. Because SP2 was created after the first deletion, the last two deletions are undone:

SQL> ROLLBACK TO SP2; 

 Rollback complete.

Notice that only the first deletion took place since you rolled back to SP2:

SQL> SELECT * FROM CUSTOMERS; 

 +----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
| ID | NAME     | AGE | ADDRESS   | SALARY   |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
|  2 | Khilan   |  25 | Delhi     |  1500.00 |
|  3 | kaushik  |  23 | Kota      |  2000.00 |
|  4 | Chaitali |  25 | Mumbai    |  6500.00 |
|  5 | Hardik   |  27 | Bhopal    |  8500.00 |
|  6 | Komal    |  22 | MP        |  4500.00 |
|  7 | Muffy    |  24 | Indore    | 10000.00 |
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
6 rows selected.

The RELEASE SAVEPOINT Command:

The RELEASE SAVEPOINT command is used to remove a SAVEPOINT that you have created.
The syntax for RELEASE SAVEPOINT is as follows:

RELEASE SAVEPOINT SAVEPOINT_NAME;  Once a SAVEPOINT has been released, you can no longer use the ROLLBACK command to undo transactions performed since the SAVEPOINT.