SQL:2003

SQL:2003

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SQL:2003

SQL:2003 is the fifth revision of the SQL database query language. The latest revision of the standard is SQL:2006.

Summary
Documentation availability
DBMS compliance
References
External links

Summary

The SQL:2003 standard makes minor modifications to all parts of SQL:1999 (also known as SQL3), and officially introduces a few new features such as:^[1]

XML-related features
window functions
the sequence generator, which allows standardized sequences
two new column types: auto-generated values and identity-columns
the new MERGE statement
extensions to the CREATE TABLE statement, to allow "CREATE TABLE AS" and "CREATE TABLE LIKE"
removal of the poorly-implemented "BIT" and "BIT VARYING" data types

Documentation availability

The SQL standard is not freely available. SQL:2003 may be purchased from ISO or ANSI. A late draft is available as a zip archive from Whitemarsh Information Systems Corporation. The zip archive contains a number of PDF files that define the parts of the SQL:2003 specification.

ISO/IEC 9075(1-4,9-11,13,14):2003 CD-ROM (352 CHF, or approximately 225 EUR, to order the CD)
- ISO/IEC 9075-1:2003 – Framework (SQL/Framework)
- ISO/IEC 9075-2:2003 – Foundation (SQL/Foundation)
- ISO/IEC 9075-3:2003 – Call-Level Interface (SQL/CLI)
- ISO/IEC 9075-4:2003 – Persistent Stored Modules (SQL/PSM)
- ISO/IEC 9075-9:2003 – Management of External Data (SQL/MED)
- ISO/IEC 9075-10:2003 – Object Language Bindings (SQL/OLB)
- ISO/IEC 9075-11:2003 – Information and Definition Schemas (SQL/Schemata)
- ISO/IEC 9075-13:2003 – SQL Routines and Types Using the Java Programming Language (SQL/JRT)
- ISO/IEC 9075-14:2003 – XML-Related Specifications (SQL/XML)

DBMS compliance

Since the SQL:2003 standard is relatively new, few DBMS implementations are able to claim full compliance with it yet. However, most vendors have partial compliance with the core SQL:2003 features, for example data dictionary functions, and sometimes have legacy, non-standard syntax equivalents that they had introduced prior to the SQL:2003 standard.