Hello. In this tutorial, we will learn the EXCEPT operator in SQL and will use the PostgreSQL database running on Docker.
1. Introduction
SQL stands for Structured Query Language and is used to extract and organize data stored in relational databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc. A relational database consists of rows and columns that allow fetching specific information from databases that can be used later for analysis. In real-time, manages a large amount of data that is written and read simultaneously, and any query that reaches the server is processed into three parts –
- Parsing – Process to check the query syntax
- Binding – Process to check the query semantics
- Optimization – Process to generate the SQL query execution plan
1.1 Usage of SQL
Structured Query Language (popularly known as SQL) is commonly used by data analysts and data science professionals and is helpful too –
- Execute queries against the database
- Retrieve data from the database
- Insert new records into the database
- Update existing records in the database
- Created stored procedures, functions, and materialized views in the database
- Create users and grant permissions
- Set permissions on tables, stored procedures, functions, and materialized views
1.2 EXCEPT operator in SQL
- The
EXCEPToperator in returns all rows in the firstSELECTstatement that is not returned by the secondSELECTstatement - Follow the two rules –
- The number and order of columns in both queries have to be the same
- Data types of corresponding columns from both the
SELECTstatements must be compatible with each other - The fields in the respective columns of the two
SELECTstatements cannot be the same
The EXCEPT operator in SQL is represented by the below syntax.
Query Syntax
select expression1, expression2,... expression_n from tables [where conditions] except select expression1, expression2,... expression_n from tables [where conditions];
2. EXCEPT operator in SQL
Let us dive into some practice implementation on the PostgreSQL database.
2.1 Pre-requirement – Postgres Setup
Usually, setting up the database is a tedious step but with Docker, it is a simple process. You can watch the video available at this link to understand the Docker installation on Windows OS. Once done open the terminal and trigger the below command to set and run PostgreSQL.
Docker commands
-- command to run postgres on docker – -- remember to change the password -- docker run -d -p 5433:5432 -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD= --name postgres postgres -- command to stop the Postgres docker container -- docker stop postgres -- command to remove the Postgres docker container -- docker rm postgres
Remember to enter the password of your choice. If everything goes well the PostgreSQL database server would be up and running on a port number – 5433 and you can connect with the Dbeaver GUI tool for connecting to the server.
2.2 Setting up pre-requisite data
Create the database named learning and add the following table and data to the tables with the help of the below SQL script.
Pre-requisite sql script
-- student
create table student(
stuid serial primary key, name varchar, city varchar
);
insert into student (name, city)
values
('ootterwell0', 'Mocupe'),('gfrondt1', 'Río Limpio'),('msegot2', 'Lahar'),('jkeerl3', 'Cikubang'),('llyman4', 'Barrouallie'),('lczajka5', 'Fangtang'),('kbeacon6', 'Saint-Denis');
select *
from student;
-- employee
create table employee(
empid serial primary key, name varchar, city varchar
);
insert into employee (name, city)
values
('ootterwell0', 'Mocupe'),('gfrondt1', 'Río Limpio'),('msegot2', 'Lahar');
select *
from employee;
Once the SQL script is executed the mock data will be successfully added to the student and employee tables respectively.
2.3 Playing with the EXCEPT operator
Use the below SELECT keyword to understand the EXCEPT SQL operator.
EXCEPT operator
-- sql except example -- get all rows in the first select statement that are not returned by the second select statement select name, city from student except select name, city from employee order by name;
If everything goes well the result of the SQL query will be shown on the console and the usage of the EXCEPT operator can be practically understood.
3. Summary
In this tutorial, we learned the brief of SQL EXCEPT operator with the help of an example. You can download the scripts used in this tutorial from the Downloads section.
4. Download the SQL scripts
This was a tutorial to understand the EXCEPT operator in SQL.
You can download the full source code of this example here: SQL EXCEPT operator
