Oracle Database 12c The Complete Reference

CHAPTER5The Basic Parts of Speech in SQL

With the Structured Query Language (SQL), you tell Oracle which information you want it to SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE. In fact, these four verbs are the primary words you will use to give Oracle instructions. You can use an additional command, MERGE, to perform INSERT, UPDATE, and even DELETE operations with a single command. As described in later chapters, these basic commands support flashback version queries and other advanced features.

In Part I, you saw what is meant by “relational,” how tables are organized into columns and rows, and how to instruct Oracle to select certain columns from a table ...