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What is DML in SQL?

SQLJunior~1 min read
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DML (Data Manipulation Language) is the part of SQL used for working with the data inside tables: adding, changing, deleting, and retrieving it.

The main DML commands

  1. SELECT, retrieves data from tables.
sql
SELECT Name, Age FROM Employees WHERE DepartmentID = 101;
  1. INSERT, adds new records to a table.
sql
INSERT INTO Employees (Name, Age, DepartmentID) VALUES ('Anna', 28, 102);
  1. UPDATE, changes existing records.
sql
UPDATE Employees SET Age = 29 WHERE Name = 'Anna';
  1. DELETE, removes records from a table.
sql
DELETE FROM Employees WHERE Name = 'Anna';

DML's purpose: to work with the contents of tables, not their structure.

Put simply, DML is SQL's toolkit for manipulating data, adding, updating, deleting, and retrieving information from the database.

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