Empress Software SQL Reference
Empress v8.62
May 2006

© 1983, 2006 Empress Software Inc.

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05/06


This manual is the reference for the Query Language command syntax of the Empress Relational Database Management System. It covers the syntax and structure of available commands. Each description contains information on the command arguments, privileges, and in many cases, examples of command use.


Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

1.1 Empress - A Relational Database Management System
1.2 The Example Database

CHAPTER 2: Empress Conventions

2.1 Command Syntax Notation
2.2 Entering Commands

2.2.1 Free-Form Commands
2.2.2 Single-Line Commands

2.3 Entering Comments

2.4 Databases, Tables, Attributes and Filenames

2.4.1 Simple Names
2.4.2 Complex Names
2.4.3 Accessing Tables in Other Databases
2.4.4 Distinguishing Attributes from Each Other
2.4.5 Distinguishing Attributes from Values
2.4.6 Operating System Filenames

2.5 The Use of Quotes
2.6 Missing Data Values
2.7 Reserved Keywords

2.7.1 Keywords recognized by Empress Parser for Interactive SQL
2.7.2 Keywords from Set of Empress Built-in Functions
2.7.3 Keywords from Set of Default Mathematics Functions supported by Empress

2.8 Synonyms
2.9 Variables and Strings
2.10 Error Messages
2.11 Erasing Characters and Aborting Commands
2.12 Access to an Empress Database
2.13 Empress Operational Parameters

CHAPTER 3: Data Types

3.1 Introduction
3.2 Data Type Ranges

3.2.1 Parametric Data Types
3.2.2 Generic Data Types

3.3 Character Data

3.3.1 CHARACTER Data Type

3.3.1.1 Entering Very Long Lines

3.3.2 TEXT Data Type

3.3.2.1 Display Length
3.3.2.2 Primary Storage Length
3.3.2.3 Overflow Storage Length
3.3.2.4 Directly Accessible Extents

3.3.3 NLSCHARACTER Data Type
3.3.4 NLSTEXT Data Type

3.4 Date Data

3.4.1 DATE Data Type

3.4.1.1 Today's Date
3.4.1.2 Universal Date Format
3.4.1.3 Customized Date Entry Format
3.4.1.4 Interpreting Dates
3.4.1.5 Dates in Expressions
3.4.1.6 Century Indicator for Two-Digit Year DATE Data Type

3.4.2 TIME Data Type

3.4.2.1 Current Time

3.4.3 MICROTIMESTAMP Data Type

3.5 Decimal Data

3.5.1 DECIMAL Data Type
3.5.2 DOLLAR Data Type

3.5.2.1 Customized Dollar Formats

3.6 Float Data
3.7 Integer Data
3.8 User Interpreted Data

CHAPTER 4: Data Definition Commands

4.1 Introduction
4.2 CREATE TABLE
4.3 DROP TABLE
4.4 ALTER TABLE
4.5 RENAME
4.6 DISPLAY TABLE
4.7 CREATE INDEX
4.8 DROP INDEX
4.9 CREATE RANGE CHECK
4.10 DROP RANGE CHECK
4.11 CREATE REFERENTIAL
4.12 DROP REFERENTIAL
4.13 CREATE VIEW
4.14 DROP VIEW
4.15 CREATE COMMENT
4.16 DROP COMMENT
4.17 GRANT PRIVILEGE
4.18 DISPLAY PRIVILEGE
4.19 DISPLAY GRANT PRIVILEGE
4.20 REVOKE PRIVILEGE
4.21 LOCK LEVEL
4.22 CREATE MODULE
4.23 UPDATE MODULE
4.24 DROP MODULE
4.25 DISPLAY MODULE
4.26 CREATE TRIGGER
4.27 DROP TRIGGER
4.28 DISPLAY DATABASE
4.29 CREATE REPLICATION MASTER
4.30 DROP REPLICATION MASTER
4.31 CREATE REPLICATION REPLICATE
4.32 DROP REPLICATION REPLICATE
4.33 CREATE REPLICATE TABLE
4.34 CREATE ROLE
4.35 DROP ROLE
4.36 GRANT ROLE
4.37 DISPLAY ROLE
4.38 REVOKE ROLE

CHAPTER 5: Data Manipulation Commands

5.1 Introduction
5.2 INSERT
5.3 SELECT
5.4 UPDATE
5.5 DELETE
5.6 EMPTY TABLE
5.7 CALL
5.8 LOCK TABLE
5.9 SORT

CHAPTER 6: Data Control Commands

6.1 Introduction
6.2 START WORK
6.3 COMMIT WORK
6.4 ROLLBACK WORK
6.5 SAVEPOINT
6.6 DISPLAY WORK

CHAPTER 7: The Executive Interface

7.1 Introduction
7.2 CHANGE WORD
7.3 DATABASE
7.4 DO and !
7.5 EDIT
7.6 EXIT
7.7 HELP
7.8 HOLD
7.9 RECALL
7.10 RUN
7.11 RUN REPORT
7.12 SET and UNSET
7.13 SHOW
7.14 STORE

CHAPTER 8: The Interactive Interface

8.1 Introduction
8.2 Interactive Interface Commands
8.3 Interactive ALTER Command
8.4 Interactive CREATE Command
8.5 Interactive INSERT Command
8.6 Interactive UPDATE Command
8.7 Using Editors

CHAPTER 9: Expressions

9.1 Introduction
9.2 Operators

CHAPTER 10: Functions

10.1 Introduction
10.2 Aggregate Functions

10.2.1 COUNT Function
10.2.2 AVG, MAX, MIN and SUM Functions
10.2.3 Suppressing Duplicates

10.3 Build-In Functions

10.3.1 abs ( )
10.3.2 ceiling ( )
10.3.3 datenext ( )
10.3.4 floor ( )
10.3.5 is_decimal ( )
10.3.6 is_integer ( )
10.3.7 is_white ( )
10.3.8 length ( )
10.3.9 lpad ( )
10.3.10 lscan ( )
10.3.11 ltrim ( )
10.3.12 nullval ( )
10.3.13 round ( )
10.3.14 rpad ( )
10.3.15 rscan ( )
10.3.16 rstrindex ( )
10.3.17 rtrim ( )
10.3.18 sign ( )
10.3.19 strdel ( )
10.3.20 strindex ( )
10.3.21 strins ( )
10.3.22 substr ( )
10.3.23 tolower ( )
10.3.24 toupper ( )
10.3.25 trunc ( )

10.4 Math Library Functions

CHAPTER 11: GROUP BY Clause

CHAPTER 12: HAVING Clause

CHAPTER 13: WHERE Clause