09bCategoriesInSQL

Database Management

Mick McQuaid
mcq@utexas.edu

University of Texas at Austin

10 May 2026

SQL has sublanguages

  • Data Query Language (DQL)
  • Data Definition Language (DDL)
  • Data Control Language (DCL)
  • Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Data query Language (dql)

This is mainly the select statement which, as you know, is very complicated

Data definition Language (ddl)

Includes the following statements

  • CREATE
  • DROP
  • ALTER
  • TRUNCATE (doesn’t exist in sqlite3)
  • also includes PRIMARY KEY and FOREIGN KEY clauses in CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE

Data Control Language (DCL)

  • GRANT (doesn’t exist in sqlite3)
  • REVOKE (doesn’t exist in sqlite3)
  • DENY (doesn’t exist in sqlite3)
  • data control in sqlite3 must be done at the OS or app level

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

  • Sometimes listed as including SELECT in informal usage
  • INSERT INTO
  • UPDATE
  • DELETE

Other statements

  • The above statements are standard in SQL
  • Most other statements are specific to one or more commercial databases
  • For example, PRAGMA occurs only in sqlite3 and Oracle

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