Covers Oracle DBMS versions 10, 11, 12, and XE   Sams Teach Yourself Oracle PL/SQL in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results. By working through the book’s 26 lessons of 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn what you need to know to take advantage of Oracle’s PL/SQL language.   This handy pocket guide starts with simple data retrieval and moves on to more complex topics, including the use of joins, subqueries, regular expression and full text-based searches, stored procedures, cursors, triggers, table constraints, and much more.    10 minutes is all you need to learn how to... Use PL/SQL in the Oracle environments and tools Construct complex PL/SQL statements using multiple clauses and operators Retrieve, sort, and format database contents Pinpoint the data you need using a variety of filtering techniques Use string, date-time, and math functions to manipulate your data Join two or more related tables Insert, update, and delete data Create and alter database tables Work with views, stored procedures, cursors, triggers, and more

Table of Contents:
Introduction     1 What Is This Book?      1 Who Is This Book For?      2 Companion Website     3 Conventions Used in This Book     3 Chapter 1: Understanding SQL     5 Database Basics     5 What Is SQL?      10 Try It Yourself     11 Summary     12 Chapter 2: Getting Started with Oracle and PL/SQL     13 What Is Oracle?      13 Getting Set Up     16 Summary      20 Chapter 3: Working with Oracle     21 Creating a Working Environment     21 Making the Connection     25 A Quick Introduction to Oracle SQL Developer     27 Creating and Populating the Example Tables     28 One More Look at Oracle SQL Developer     32 Summary      32 Chapter 4: Retrieving Data     33 The SELECT Statement     33 Retrieving Individual Columns     33 Retrieving Multiple Columns     36 Retrieving All Columns     37 Retrieving Distinct Rows     38 Using Fully Qualified Table Names     40 Using Comments     40 Summary     42 Chapter 5: Sorting Retrieved Data     43 Sorting Data     43 Sorting by Multiple Columns     45 Specifying Sort Direction     47 Summary     49 Chapter 6: Filtering Data     51 Using the WHERE Clause     51 The WHERE Clause Operators     53 Summary     59 Chapter 7: Advanced Data Filtering     61 Combining WHERE Clauses     61 Using the IN Operator     65 Using the NOT Operator     67 Summary     68 Chapter 8: Using Wildcard Filtering     69 Using the LIKE Operator     69 Tips for Using Wildcards     74 Summary     74 Chapter 9: Searching Using Regular Expressions     75 Understanding Regular Expressions     75 Using Oracle PL/SQL Regular Expressions     76 Summary     89 Chapter 10: Creating Calculated Fields     91 Understanding Calculated Fields     91 Concatenating Fields     92 Performing Mathematical Calculations     96 Summary     98 Chapter 11: Using Data Manipulation Functions     99 Understanding Functions     99 Using Functions     100 Summary     107 Chapter 12: Summarizing Data     109 Using Aggregate Functions     109 Aggregates on Distinct Values     117 Combining Aggregate Functions     118 Summary     119 Chapter 13: Grouping Data     121 Understanding Data Grouping     121 Creating Groups     122 Filtering Groups     123 Grouping and Sorting     126 SELECT Clause Ordering     129 Summary     129 Chapter 14: Working with Subqueries     131 Understanding Subqueries     131 Filtering by Subquery     131 Using Subqueries as Calculated Fields     136 Summary     140 Chapter 15: Joining Tables     141 Understanding Joins     141 Creating a Join     144 Summary     152 Chapter 16: Creating Advanced Joins     153 Using Table Aliases     153 Using Different Join Types     154 Using Joins with Aggregate Functions     160 Using Joins and Join Conditions     161 Summary     162 Chapter 17: Combining Queries     163 Understanding Combined Queries     163 Creating Combined Queries     164 Summary     169 Chapter 18: Inserting Data     171 Understanding Data Insertion     171 Inserting Complete Rows     172 Inserting Retrieved Data     176 Summary     178 Chapter 19: Updating and Deleting Data     179 Updating Data      179 Deleting Data     181 Guidelines for Updating and Deleting Data     183 Summary     184 Chapter 20: Creating and Manipulating Tables     185 Creating Tables     185 Updating Tables     190 Deleting Tables     193 Renaming Tables     193 Summary     194 Chapter 21: Using Views     195 Understanding Views     195 Using Views     197 Summary     204 Chapter 22: Working with Stored Procedures     205 Understanding Stored Procedures     205 Why Use Stored Procedures     206 Using Stored Procedures     207 Summary     214 Chapter 23: Using Cursors     215 Understanding Cursors     215 Working with Cursors     216 Summary     222 Chapter 24: Using Triggers     223 Understanding Triggers     223 Creating Triggers     224 Dropping Triggers     225 Using Triggers     225 Summary     232 Chapter 25: Managing Transaction Processing     233 Understanding Transaction Processing     233 Controlling Transactions     235 Summary     238 Chapter 26: Managing Security     239 Understanding Access Control     239 Managing Users     240 Summary     244 Appendix A: The Example Tables     245 Understanding the Sample Tables     245 Appendix B: Oracle PL/SQL Datatypes     251 String Datatypes     252 Numeric Datatypes     253 Appendix C: Oracle PL/SQL Reserved Words and Keywords     255 Index     259