SQL query where clause is too long - sql

I've written an SQL query with a lot of 'or's in the 'where' clause:
i.e.
"SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE col1='a' or col1='b' or col1='c'...etc"
I'm trying to run a query in access via vb.net, but I keep getting "Query is too complex" error message.
I'm guessing I've hit some maximum limit. Anyone know a way around this, other than just to break it down into multiple queries?

How about using the IN operator instead?
SELECT Field1, Field2
FROM Table1
WHERE Field1 IN('Val1','Val2', ....)

If you query is that simple would you not be better using
SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE col1 in ('a','b','c')
but it would help to post the actual query so we can give a accurate answer

You could use SQL IN operator instead having multiple OR conditions.

You can use IN as in -
SELECT * FROM myTable WHERE col1 IN ('a','b','c','d');

Many have stated that you should use the IN-operator instead, but when that is used together with constants I believe the optimiser simply converts that to an OR-operator.
Instead you could load a temporary table with your constants and then use the IN-operator with that table.

Related

Using Regex to determine what kind of SQL statement a row is from a list?

I have a large list of SQL commands such as
SELECT * FROM TEST_TABLE
INSERT .....
UPDATE .....
SELECT * FROM ....
etc. My goal is to parse this list into a set of results so that I can easily determine a good count of how many of these statements are SELECT statements, how many are UPDATES, etc.
so I would be looking at a result set such as
SELECT 2
INSERT 1
UPDATE 1
...
I figured I could do this with Regex, but I'm a bit lost other than simply looking at everything string and comparing against 'SELECT' as a prefix, but this can run into multiple issues. Is there any other way to format this using REGEX?
You can add the SQL statements to a table and run them through a SQL query. If the SQL text is in a column called SQL_TEXT, you can get the SQL command type using this:
upper(regexp_substr(trim(regexp_replace(SQL_TEXT, '\\s', ' ')),
'^([\\w\\-]+)')) as COMMAND_TYPE
You'll need to do some clean up to create a column that indicates the type of statement you have. The rest is just basic aggregation
with cte as
(select *, trim(lower(split_part(regexp_replace(col, '\\s', ' '),' ',1))) as statement
from t)
select statement, count(*) as freq
from cte
group by statement;
SQL is a language and needs a parser to turn it from text into a structure. Regular expressions can only do part of the work (such as lexing).
Regular Expression Vs. String Parsing
You will have to limit your ambition if you want to restrict yourself to using regular expressions.
Still you can get some distance if you so want. A quick search found this random example of tokenizing MySQL SQL statements using regex https://swanhart.livejournal.com/130191.html

Sql Limit clause based in input Parameter

I have been trying to find a solution for a limit-clause based on an input parameter from a Json-File. The current code looks somewhat like this
With myJsonTable (JsonText)
as (
Select JsonText)
Select * from Data
Where...
Limit
Case
WHEN (Select JSON_VALUE(JsonText, '$."Amount"') From myJsonTable is not null
THEN (Select JSON_VALUE(JsonText, '$."Amount"') From myJsonTable)
ELSE (10000000)
END
Which I cant seem to get work. The Output I am getting is
Non-negative integeter value expected in LIMIT clause
Is there a way to cast the select done? Trying different Selects anywhere in the Case clause caused the same error.
Exasol only allows constant expression in the limit clause, so it's not directly possible to specify a select statement that references myJsonTable there.
However, you can workaround this issue by using a approach similar to SQL query for top 5 results without the use of LIMIT/ROWNUM/TOP

Sub-Queries in Sybase SQL

We have an application which indexes data using user-written SQL statements. We place those statements within parenthesis so we can limit that query to a certain criteria. For example:
select * from (select F_Name from table_1)q where ID > 25
Though we have discovered that this format does not function using a Sybase database. Reporting a syntax error around the parenthesis. I've tried playing around on a test instance but haven't been able to find a way to achieve this result. I'm not directly involved in the development and my SQL knowledge is limited. I'm assuming the 'q' is to give the subresult an alias for the application to use.
Does Sybase have a specific syntax? If so, how could this query be adapted for it?
Thanks in advance.
Sybase ASE is case sensitive w.r.t. all identifiers and the query shall work:
as per #HannoBinder query :
select id from ... is not the same as select ID from... so make sure of the case.
Also make sure that the column ID is returned by the Q query in order to be used in where clause .
If the table and column names are in Upper case the following query shall work:
select * from (select F_NAME, ID from TABLE_1) Q where ID > 25

Delete Query inside Where clause

Is there any possibility to write delete query inside Where clause.
Example:
Select ID,Name From MyTable Where ID IN(Delete From MyTable)
It may be crazy, but let me explain my situation. In our reporting tool, we are supporting to enter SQL where query.
We will use our own Select and From Clause query and combine the user's where query input.
Example:
Select ID,Name From MyTable Where ("Query typed by user")
Here, user can type any kind of where query filter..
If he types like ID=100 our final query becomes like this
Select ID,Name From MyTable Where (ID=100)
One of our customer asked us what will happen if anyone type the delete query as where query filter. he feels this may be the security hole..so we have tried that kind of possibility in our dev environment. But the sql returns error for the following query.
Select ID,Name From MyTable Where ID IN(Delete From MyTable)
So finally, my question is, is there any other possibility to write Delete Query inside Where clause or Select clause.. If it possible, how can I restrict it?
Yes. They can run a delete. They can type:
1 = 1; DELETE FROM MY_TABLE;
Or even worse in some ways, (since you should have backups):
1 = 0 UNION SELECT SOCIAL_SECURITY_NUMBER, CREDIT_CARD_NUMBER, OTHER_SENSITIVE_DATA FROM MY_SENSITIVE_TABLE;
Now, in your case its hard to validate. Normally if you are just passing a value to filter on you can use parameterised sql to save yourself. You however also need to let the user select a column. In cases like these, usually we use a drop down to allow the user to select a predefined list of columns and then validate the column name server side. We give the user a text box to enter the value to match and then parameterise that.
It's not quite possible. But he can do something like this :
Select ID,Name From MyTable Where (ID=100); (DELETE FROM MyTable Where 1 = 1)
by using ID=100); (DELETE FROM MyTable Where 1 = 1 instead of ID=100
I believe what your customer is talking about is SQL injection, as long as you have taken appropriate methods to block other queries from running after your select statement is done, then you should have no problem in letting them type whatever it is that you want.
From my experience there is no way to delete anything when you are doing a select statement.
Just make sure you have query terminator characters so they don't write something like the following.
select column1,column2, from myTable where ID in (1,2); delete from my table
this would be a valid worry from your customer if you aren't taking proper steps to prevent sql injection from happening.
You could have your SQL reporting tool just not have update, or delete permission and just have it have Read permission. However, it is up to you guys have you handle your sql injection security.

Can SQL SUM() function take an expression as argument?

I'm using SQLite database and I'm wondering whether I'm allowed to write queries as follows:
SELECT SUM(column1 * column2)
FROM my_table;
I googled but references say that SUM function is has the following format:
SUM([DISTINCT|ALL] column)
And my question is: does column mean actually column or does it allow expressions (like above) too?
You can always use a table expression:
SELECT SUM(Calc)
FROM (
SELECT Column1 * Column2 AS 'Calc'
FROM My_Table) t
I don't have SQLite but checking the docs indicates this should work fine.
Yes, you can use an expression like the one you mentioned, if the datatype of both columns allow it.