Summary

This chapter discussed the Data Manipulation Language (DML), which has four primary statements: SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE. These statements enable all database object data manipulation.

The knowledge of basic SQL is mandatory for a DB2 database administrator and application developer. However, SQL is very powerful language, and the level of SQL will vary, depending on the user's primary activity.

In this chapter, we covered many of the basic functions of SQL statements, including how to

• Retrieve rows

• Sort the result set

• Restrict the result with some conditions

• Retrieve rows from more than one table at a time

• Add a row to a table

• Remove a record

• Change the value of the table

If you are a business analyst, you may expect more analytical, statistical information from DB2. DB2 supports very powerful SQL functions for various business needs. We talk about some advanced SQL in the next chapter.