Module 5

Sorting and Filtering Data

Module Overview

• Sorting Data
• Filtering Data with Predicates
• Filtering Data with TOP and OFFSET-FETCH
• Working with Unknown Values
Lesson 1: Sorting Data

• Using the ORDER BY Clause

• ORDER BY Clause Syntax
• ORDER BY Clause Examples
• Demonstration: Sorting Data
Using the ORDER BY Clause

• ORDER BY sorts rows in results for presentation

purposes
• No guaranteed order of rows without ORDER BY
• Use of ORDER BY guarantees the sort order of the
result
• Last clause to be logically processed
• Sorts all NULLs together

• ORDER BY can refer to:

• Columns by name, alias or ordinal position (not
recommended)
• Columns not part of SELECT list
• Unless DISTINCT specified
• Declare sort order with ASC or DESC
ORDER BY Clause Syntax

• Writing ORDER BY using column names:

SELECT <select list>

FROM <table source>
ORDER BY <column1_name>, <column2_name>;

• Writing ORDER BY using column aliases:

SELECT <column> AS <alias>

FROM <table source>
ORDER BY <alias>;

• Specifying sort order in the ORDER BY clause:

SELECT <column> AS <alias>
FROM <table source>
ORDER BY <column_name|alias> ASC|DESC;
ORDER BY Clause Examples

• ORDER BY with column names:

SELECT orderid, custid, orderdate
FROM Sales.Orders
ORDER BY orderdate;

• ORDER BY with column alias:

SELECT orderid, custid, YEAR(orderdate) AS
orderyear
FROM Sales.Orders
ORDER BY orderyear;

• ORDER BY with descending order:

SELECT orderid, custid, orderdate
FROM Sales.Orders
ORDER BY orderdate DESC;
Demonstration: Sorting Data

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Sort data using the ORDER BY clause
Lesson 2: Filtering Data with Predicates

• Filtering Data in the WHERE Clause with Predicates

• WHERE Clause Syntax
• Demonstration: Filtering Data with Predicates
Filtering Data in the WHERE Clause with Predicates

• WHERE clauses use predicates

• Must be expressed as logical conditions
• Only rows for which predicate evaluates to TRUE are
accepted
• Values of FALSE or UNKNOWN filtered out
• WHERE clause follows FROM, precedes other clauses
• Can’t see aliases declared in SELECT clause
• Can be optimized by SQL Server to use indexes
• Data filtered server-side
• Can reduce network traffic and client memory usage
WHERE Clause Syntax

• Filter rows for customers from Spain

SELECT contactname, country
FROM Sales.Customers
WHERE country = N'Spain';

• Filter rows for orders before July 1, 2007

SELECT orderid, orderdate
FROM Sales.Orders
WHERE orderdate > '20070101';

• Filter orders within a range of dates

SELECT orderid, custid, orderdate
FROM Sales.Orders
WHERE orderdate >= '20070101' AND orderdate < '20080101';
Demonstration: Filtering Data with Predicates

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Filter data in a WHERE clause
Lesson 3: Filtering Data with TOP and OFFSET-FETCH

• Filtering in the SELECT Clause Using the TOP

Option
• Filtering in the ORDER BY Clause Using OFFSET-
FETCH
• OFFSET-FETCH Syntax
• Demonstration: Filtering Data with TOP and
OFFSET-FETCH
Filtering in the SELECT Clause Using the TOP Option

• TOP allows you to limit the number or percentage of

rows returned by a query
• Works with ORDER BY clause to limit rows by sort
order
• If ORDER BY list is not unique, results are not deterministic (no
single correct result set)
• Modify ORDER BY list to ensure uniqueness, or use TOP WITH
TIES
• Added to SELECT clause:
• SELECT TOP (N) | TOP (N) Percent
• With percent, number of rows rounded up
• SELECT TOP (N) WITH TIES
• Retrieve duplicates where applicable (nondeterministic)
• TOP is proprietary to Microsoft SQL Server
Filtering in the ORDER BY Clause Using OFFSET-FETCH

OFFSET-FETCH is an extension to the ORDER BY

clause:
• Allows filtering a requested range of rows
• Dependent on ORDER BY clause
• Provides a mechanism for paging through results
• Specify number of rows to skip, number of rows to
retrieve:
ORDER BY <order_by_list>
OFFSET <offset_value> ROW(S)
FETCH FIRST|NEXT <fetch_value> ROW(S) ONLY

• New option in SQL Server 2012

• Based on draft SQL:2011 standard
• Provides more compatibility than TOP
OFFSET-FETCH Syntax

• OFFSET value must be supplied

• May be zero if no skipping is required
• The optional FETCH clause allows all rows following
the OFFSET value to be returned
• Natural Language approach to code:
• ROW and ROWS interchangeable
• FIRST and NEXT interchangeable
• OFFSET value and FETCH value may be constants or
expressions, including variables and parameters

OFFSET <offset_value> ROW|ROWS

FETCH FIRST|NEXT <fetch_value> ROW|ROWS [ONLY]
Demonstration: Filtering Data with TOP and
OFFSET-FETCH
In this demonstration, you will see how to:
• Filter data using TOP and OFFSET-FETCH
Lesson 4: Working with Unknown Values

• Three-Valued Logic
• Handling NULL in Queries
• Demonstration: Working with NULL
Three-Valued Logic

• SQL Server uses NULLs to mark missing values

• NULL can be "missing but applicable" or "missing but
inapplicable"
• Customer middle name: Not supplied, or doesn’t have one?
• With no missing values, predicate outputs are TRUE or
FALSE only ( 5 >2, 1=1)
• With missing values, outputs can be TRUE, FALSE or
UNKNOWN (NULL > 99, NULL = NULL)
• Predicates return UNKNOWN when comparing
missing value to another value, including another
missing value
Handling NULL in Queries

• Different components of SQL Server handle NULL

differently
• Query filters (ON, WHERE, HAVING) filter out UNKNOWNs
• CHECK constraints accept UNKNOWNS
• ORDER BY, DISTINCT treat NULLs as equals
• Testing for NULL
• Use IS NULL or IS NOT NULL rather than = NULL or <> NULL

SELECT custid, city, region, country

FROM Sales.Customers
WHERE region IS NOT NULL;
Demonstration: Working with NULL

In this demonstration, you will see how to:

• Test for NULL
Lab: Sorting and Filtering Data

• Exercise 1: Writing Queries That Filter Data Using a WHERE

Clause
• Exercise 2: Writing Queries That Sort Data Using an ORDER
BY Clause
• Exercise 3: Writing Queries That Filter Data Using the TOP
Option
• Exercise 4: Writing Queries That Filter Data Using the
OFFSET-FETCH Clause
Logon Information
Virtual machine: 20461C-MIA-SQL
User name: ADVENTUREWORKS\Student
Password: Pa$$w0rd

Estimated Time: 60 minutes

Lab Scenario

You are an Adventure Works business analyst who

will be writing reports using corporate databases
stored in SQL Server. You have been provided with
a set of data business requirements and will write
T-SQL queries to retrieve the specified data from
the databases. You will need to retrieve only some
of the available data, and return it to your reports
in a specified order.
Module Review and Takeaways

• Best Practice