EDUCBA

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Free Tutorials
  • Free Courses
  • Certification Courses
  • 360+ Courses All in One Bundle
  • Login

SQL Set Operators

By Priya PedamkarPriya Pedamkar

Home » Data Science » Data Science Tutorials » SQL Tutorial » SQL Set Operators

sql set operators

Introduction to SQL Set Operators

SQL set operators are used to combine the results obtained from two or more queries into a single result. The queries which contain two or more subqueries are known as compounded queries.

There are four major types of SQL operators, namely:

Start Your Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

  • Union
  • Union all
  • Intersect
  • Minus

Here is an abstract table for whatever we will be learning in this article.

SQL Set Operator

Function

Union Combines distinct results of two or more SELECT statements.
Union All Combines all results of two or more SELECT statements, including duplicates.
Intersect Returns only the common records obtained from two or more SELECT statements.
Minus Returns only those records which are exclusive to the first table.

Syntax and Parameters of SQL Set Operators

The generic syntax for working with SQL set operators is as follows:

Syntax:

SELECT column_name
FROM table_name_1
SET OPERATOR
SELECT column_name
FROM table_name_2
SET OPERATOR
SELECT column_name
FROM table_name_3
.
.
.

Parameters:

The different parameters used in the syntax are :

  • SET OPERATOR: Mention the type of set operation you want to perform from { Union, Union all, Intersect, Minus}
  • column_name: Mention the column name on which you want to perform the set operation and want in the result set
  • FROM table_name_1: Mention the first table name from which the column has to be fetched
  • FROM table_name_2: Mention the second table name from which the column has to be fetched

From the above-mentioned parameters, all the parameters are mandatory. You may use WHERE GROUP BY and HAVING clauses based on your requirements.

Working

Here is a list of few points which we should be kept in mind while working with SQL set operators:

  • The number of columns in the SELECT statement on which we have applied SQL set operators must be the same.
  • The selected columns must have the same data type.
  • The order of the columns must be in the same order as mentioned in the SELECT statement.

Going ahead we will be discussing the above-mentioned functions in great detail.

  • In order to demonstrate and explain the set operators in SQL effectively, we will be using the following tables. These sample tables are “customers_jan” and “customers_dec”. These tables contain 10 records each with the customer’s id, name, city, and the country.
  • Let’s have a look at the records in the customers_jan and customers_dec table. So that later, we can understand how set operations are helpful.

A schema for the discussed tables is as follows:

SQL Set Operators-1.1

customers_jan:

customer jan

customers_dec:

cudtomer dec

Types of SQL Set Operators with Examples

Here we discuss the SQL set operators with examples:

1. Union Set Operator

The UNION set operator is used to combine the results obtained from two or more SELECT statements. Here is an example to illustrate the use of the UNION Operator.

Popular Course in this category
Sale
MS SQL Training (14 Courses, 11+ Projects)14 Online Courses | 11 Hands-on Projects | 62+ Hours | Verifiable Certificate of Completion | Lifetime Access
4.5 (9,247 ratings)
Course Price

View Course

Related Courses
JDBC Training (6 Courses, 7+ Projects)PHP Training (5 Courses, 3 Project)Windows 10 Training (4 Courses, 4+ Projects)SQL Training Program (7 Courses, 8+ Projects)PL SQL Training (4 Courses, 2+ Projects)Oracle Training (14 Courses, 8+ Projects)

Example:

Find the name of all the customers

SELECT name FROM customers_dec
UNION
SELECT name FROM customers_jan;

Note: Unique selects only distinct values. It can create problems when we have customers with the same name but different countries or cities.

You will notice that there are two customers named Akshay Gupta, one is from Delhi and another one from Bangalore. But the Union operator returned only one customer name. Similarly for Akansha Singh. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, we can use UNION ALL operator.

2. Union All Set Operator

The UNION set operator is used to combine all the results obtained from two or more SELECT statements. Unlike the Union operator, it considers duplicate values and includes them in the final result.

Here is an example to illustrate the use of UNION ALL Operator.

Example:

Find the names of all the customers who registered in December or January.

SELECT name FROM customers_dec
UNION ALL
SELECT name FROM customers_jan;

You will notice that there are two distinct customers named Akshay Gupta, one is from Delhi and another one from Bangalore. Union ALL operator too both into consideration and returned Akshay Gupta twice. The same is the case for Akansha Singh.

3. Intersect Set Operator

The intersect set operator used to combine all the results of two SELECT statements. But returns only those records that are common to both the SELECT statements.

Note: The INTERSECT operator is not supported in MYSQL databases. We can use the IN or EXIST IN clause for performing similar operations.

Here is an example to illustrate the use of the INTERSECT Operator.

Example:

Find the details of customers who shopped in December and January.

SELECT name, city FROM customers_dec
INTERSECT
SELECT name, city FROM customers_jan;

4. Minus Set Operator

The MINUS set operator used to combine all the results of two or more SELECT statements. But returns only those records that are present exclusively in the first table.

Note: The MINUS operator is supported only in Oracle databases. For other databases like SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and SQLite, we can use the EXCEPT operator to perform similar operations.

Here is an example to illustrate the use of the EXCEPT Operator.

Example:

Find the details of customers who shopped only in December but not January.

SELECT name, city FROM customers_dec
EXCEPT
SELECT name, city FROM customers_jan;

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to SQL Set Operators. Here we discuss the working, types and functions of SQL set operators along with syntax and parameters. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –

  1. List of SQL Clauses | Syntax and Example
  2. How to Use LIKE Query in SQL?
  3. How Does NOT Condition Work in MySQL?
  4. SQL IN Operator

MS SQL Training (13 Courses, 11+ Projects)

14 Online Courses

11 Hands-on Projects

62+ Hours

Verifiable Certificate of Completion

Lifetime Access

Learn More

1 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Primary Sidebar
SQL Tutorial
  • Advanced
    • SQL Formatter
    • SQL Injection Attack
    • Aggregate Functions in SQL
    • SQL REVOKE
    • SQL Select Distinct Count
    • IF ELSE Statement in SQL
    • SQL CASE Statement
    • SQL While Loop
    • SQL BIGINT
    • SQL Crosstab
    • SQL Wildcard Character
    • SQLAlchemy Filter
    • SQLAlchemy SQLite
    • SQLAlchemy DateTime
    • SQLAlchemy create_engine
    • SQL INSTR()
    • SQL now
    • SQL synonyms
    • SQLite?export to csv
    • What is Procedure in SQL
    • Stored Procedure in SQL?
    • SQL Server Constraints
    • SQL DELETE ROW
    • Column in SQL
    • Table in SQL
    • SQL Virtual Table
    • SQL Merge Two Tables
    • SQL Table Partitioning
    • SQL Temporary Table
    • SQL Clone Table
    • SQL Rename Table
    • SQL LOCK TABLE
    • SQL Clear Table
    • SQL DESCRIBE TABLE
    • SQL Mapping
    • Cursors in SQL
    • AND in SQL
    • Wildcard in SQL
    • SQL FETCH NEXT
    • SQL Views
    • SQL Delete View
    • Triggers in SQL
    • SQL UPDATE Trigger
    • SQL AFTER UPDATE Trigger
    • SQL Update Statement
    • SQL DROP TRIGGER
    • Types of SQL Views
    • SQL Port
    • SQL Clustered Index
    • SQL COMMIT
    • Distinct Keyword in SQL
    • PARTITION BY in SQL
    • SQL Set Operators
    • SQL UNION ALL
    • Metadata in SQL
    • SQL Bulk Insert
    • Array in SQL
    • SQL REGEXP
    • JSON in SQL
    • SQL For loop
    • EXPLAIN in SQL
    • ROLLUP in SQL
    • Escape Character SQL
    • SQL Cluster
    • SQL Backup
    • SQL Pattern Matching
    • SQL Users
    • ISNULL SQL Server
    • SQL pivot
    • SQL Import CSV
    • SQL if then else
    • SQL ignore-case
    • SQL Matches
    • SQL Search String
    • SQL Column Alias
    • SQL extensions
    • SQL Substring Function
    • Charindex SQL
  • Basic
    • What is SQL
    • Careers in SQL
    • Careers in SQL Server
    • IS SQL Microsoft?
    • SQL Management Tools
    • What is SQL Developer
    • Uses of SQL
    • How to Install SQL Server
    • What is SQL Server
    • SQL Server Versions
    • SQL Case Insensitive
    • SQL Expressions
    • Database in SQL
    • SQL Data Types
    • SQL Keywords
    • Composite Key in SQL
    • SQL WAITFOR
    • SQL Constraints
    • Transactions in SQL
    • First Normal Form
    • SQL Server Data Types
    • SQL Administration
    • SQL Variables
    • SQL Enum
    • SQL GROUP BY WHERE
    • SQL ROW
    • SQL EXECUTE
    • SQL EXCLUDE
    • SQL Performance Tuning
    • SQL UUID
    • Begin SQL
    • SQL Update Join
    • Cheat sheet SQL
  • Operators
    • SQL Operators
    • SQL Arithmetic Operators
    • SQL Logical Operators
    • SQL String Operators
    • Ternary Operator in SQL
  • Commands
    • SQL Commands
    • sqlplus set commands
    • SQL Alter Command
    • SQL Commands Update
    • SQL DML Commands
    • SQL DDL Commands
    • FETCH in SQL
  • Clause
    • SQL Clauses
    • SQL IN Operator
    • SQL LIKE Clause
    • SQL NOT Operator
    • SQL Minus
    • SQL WHERE Clause
    • SQL with Clause
    • SQL HAVING Clause
    • GROUP BY clause in SQL
    • SQL GROUP BY DAY
    • ORDER BY Clause in SQL
    • SQL ORDER BY CASE
    • SQL ORDER BY DESC
    • SQL ORDER BY DATE
    • SQL ORDER BY Alphabetical
    • SQL ORDER BY Ascending
    • SQL Order by Count
    • SQL GROUP BY Month
    • SQL GROUP BY Multiple Columns
    • SQL GROUPING SETS
  • Queries
    • SQL Insert Query
    • SQL SELECT Query
    • SQL SELECT RANDOM
    • SQL Except Select
    • SQL Subquery
    • SQL SELECT DISTINCT
    • SQL WITH AS Statement
  • Keys
    • SQL Keys
    • Primary Key in SQL
    • Foreign Key in SQL
    • Unique Key in SQL
    • Alternate Key in SQL
    • SQL Super Key
  • Functions
    • SQL Date Function
    • SQL String Functions
    • SQL Compare String
    • Timestamp to Date in SQL
    • SQL Window Functions
    • SQL CONCAT
    • SQL ALTER TABLE
    • SQL MOD()
    • SQL Timestamp
    • SQL TO_DATE()
    • SQL DATEADD()
    • SQL DATEDIFF()
    • SQL HOUR()
    • SQLite?functions
    • ANY in SQL
    • LIKE Query in SQL
    • SQL NOT NULL
    • SQL NOT IN
    • SQL MAX()
    • SQL MIN()
    • SQL SUM()
    • SQL COUNT
    • SQL identity
    • SQL DELETE Trigger
    • SQL Declare Variable
    • SQL Text Search
    • SQL COUNT DISTINCT
    • SQL TEXT
    • SQL Limit Order By
    • BETWEEN in SQL
    • LTRIM() in SQL
    • TOP in SQL
    • SQL Select Top
    • Merge SQL
    • SQL TRUNCATE()
    • SQL UNION
    • SQL ALL
    • SQL INTERSECT
    • SQL Alias
    • SQL Server Substring
    • CUBE in SQL
    • SQL RANK()
    • SQL MOD()
    • SQL CTE
    • SQL LAG()
    • SQL MID
    • SQL avg()
    • SQL WEEK
    • SQL DELETE
    • SQL DATEPART()
    • SQL DECODE()
    • SQL DENSE_RANK()
    • SQL NTILE()
    • SQL NULLIF()
    • SQL Stuff
    • SQL Ceiling
    • SQL EXISTS
    • SQL LEAD()
    • SQL COALESCE
    • SQL BLOB
    • SQL ROW_NUMBER
    • SQL Server Replace
    • SQL Server Permission
    • T-SQL INSERT
    • T-SQL Stuff
    • T-SQL ADD Column
    • SQL Ranking Function
  • Joins
    • Join Query in SQL
    • Types of Joins in SQL
    • Types of Joins in SQL Server
    • SQL Inner Join
    • SQL Join Two Tables
    • SQL Delete Join
    • SQL Left Join
    • LEFT OUTER JOIN in SQL
    • SQL Right Join
    • SQL Cross Join
    • SQL Outer Join
    • SQL Full Join
    • SQL Self Join
    • Natural Join SQL
    • SQL Multiple Join
  • NoSQ
    • NoSQL Databases List
    • NoSQL Injection
    • NoSQL vs SQL Databases
  • Interview Questions
    • SQL Interview Questions
    • Advance SQL Interview Questions
    • SQL Joins Interview Questions
    • SQL Server Interview Questions

Related Courses

JDBC Training Course

PHP course

Windows 10 Training

SQL Course Training

PL/SQL Certification Courses

Oracle Certification Courses

Footer
About Us
  • Blog
  • Who is EDUCBA?
  • Sign Up
  • Live Classes
  • Corporate Training
  • Certificate from Top Institutions
  • Contact Us
  • Verifiable Certificate
  • Reviews
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  •  
Apps
  • iPhone & iPad
  • Android
Resources
  • Free Courses
  • Database Management
  • Machine Learning
  • All Tutorials
Certification Courses
  • All Courses
  • Data Science Course - All in One Bundle
  • Machine Learning Course
  • Hadoop Certification Training
  • Cloud Computing Training Course
  • R Programming Course
  • AWS Training Course
  • SAS Training Course

© 2022 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA
Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

EDUCBA
Free Data Science Course

Hadoop, Data Science, Statistics & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Let’s Get Started

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to our Privacy Policy

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Special Offer - MS SQL Training (13 Courses, 11+ Projects) Learn More