SQL-92

<h2 id="new-features">New features</h2>
<p>Significant new features include:<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p>
<ul><li>New data types defined: DATE, TIME, TIMESTAMP, INTERVAL, BIT string, VARCHAR strings, and NATIONAL CHARACTER strings.</li>
<li>Support for additional <a href="/facts/Character_set/ShJHIMoA">character sets</a> beyond the base requirement for representing SQL statements.</li>
<li>New scalar operations such as string concatenation and <a href="/facts/Substring/dM5Rqg6X">substring</a> extraction, date and time mathematics, and conditional statements.</li>
<li>New set operations such as UNION, UNION ALL, CROSS JOIN, and formalized JOIN types (INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, FULL OUTER JOIN).</li>
<li>Conditional expressions with CASE. For an example, see <a href="/facts/Case_(SQL)/6qp9Hwup">Case (SQL)</a>.</li>
<li>Support for alterations of <a href="/facts/Data_Definition_Language/Hx7aNozV">schema definitions</a> via ALTER and DROP.</li>
<li>Bindings for <a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>, <a href="/facts/Ada_(programming_language)/Y2yHel4l">Ada</a>, and <a href="/facts/MUMPS/t9EQH4K5">MUMPS</a>.</li>
<li>New features for user privileges.</li>
<li>New integrity-checking functionality such as within a <a href="/facts/Check_Constraint/4oMErcot">CHECK constraint</a>.</li>
<li>A new <i>information schema</i>—read-only views about database metadata like what tables it contains, etc. For example, SELECT * FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES;.</li>
<li>Dynamic execution of queries (as opposed to prepared).</li>
<li>Better support for remote database access.</li>
<li>Temporary tables; CREATE TEMP TABLE etc.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Database_transaction/q1Etrsl8">Transaction</a> <a href="/facts/Isolation_(database_systems)/DnrN4uew">isolation levels</a>.</li>
<li>New operations for changing data types on the fly via CAST (expr AS type).</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cursor_(databases)/4PSbd1CC">Scrolled cursors</a>.</li>
<li>Compatibility flagging for backwards and forwards compatibility with other SQL standards.</li></ul>
<h2 id="extensions">Extensions</h2>
<p>Two significant extensions were published after standard (but before the next major iteration.)
</p>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/SQL%2fCLI/dWP26Hcf">SQL/CLI</a> (<a href="/facts/Call_Level_Interface/5vLhb53u">Call Level Interface</a>) in 1995</li>
<li><a href="/facts/SQL%2fPSM/8c26p5km">SQL/PSM</a> (<a href="/facts/Stored_procedure/50xRehaI">stored procedures</a>) in 1996</li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~shadow/sql/sql1992.txt">The SQL-92 standard</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Jim Melton; Alan R. Simon (1993). Understanding The New SQL: A Complete Guide. Morgan Kaufmann. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-1-55860-245-8. <a href="978-1-55860-245-8" target="_blank">978-1-55860-245-8</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>C. J. Date with Hugh Darwen: A Guide to the SQL standard : a users guide to the standard database language SQL, 4th ed., Addison Wesley, USA 1997, ISBN 978-0-201-96426-4 <a href="/wiki/C._J._Date" target="_blank">/wiki/C._J._Date</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

SQL-92 open-in-new

SQL-92