SQL:2003

This article is about SQL:2003, a revision of the SQL standard. For more information about SQL, see the main SQL article.

SQL:2003 is the fifth revision of the SQL database query language. The latest revision of the standard is SQL:2011.

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:

• XML-related features (SQL/XML)
• 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
• OLAP capabilities (initially added in SQL:1999) were extended with a window function.

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)

External links

• BNF Grammar for ISO/IEC 9075-1:2003 – SQL/Framework
• BNF Grammar for ISO/IEC 9075-2:2003 – SQL/Foundation