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Modification of the Database

The content of the database may be modified using the following operations:

All these operations are expressed using the assignment operator ( ←).

1.Deletion

A delete request is expressed similarly to a query, except instead of displaying tuples to the user, the selected tuples are removed from the database.

In deletion, tuples are deleted from the relation.

You can only delete whole tuples; you cannot delete values from specific attributes.

A deletion is expressed in relational algebra by: r ← r - E

Where r is a relation and E is a relational algebra expression.

Example _of_Deletion

2.Insertion

Similar to deletion, but uses the union operator (∪) instead of the difference operator (-).

In insertion, tuples are added to the relation.

To insert data into a relation, you can either:

Specify a tuple to be inserted, or

Write a query whose result is a set of tuples to be inserted.

An insertion is expressed in relational algebra by: r ← r ∪ E

Where r is a relation and E is a relational algebra expression.

The insertion of a single tuple is expressed by letting E be a constant relation containing one tuple.

Example _of_insertion Examples:

1.Insert information into the database specifying that Smith has $1200 in account A-973 at the Perryridge branch.

2.Insert tuples based on the result of a query:

⇒ Provide a $200 savings account as a gift for all loan customers at the Perryridge branch. Let the loan number serve as the account number for the new savings account.

3.Updating

Updating is a mechanism to change a value in a tuple without changing all values in the tuple.

Use the generalized projection operator to perform this task.

Each Fi can be either:

The attribute of r, or

An expression involving only constants and the attributes of r that gives the new value for the attribute.

Note:The schema of the expression resulting from the generalized projection expression must match the original schema of r.

Example
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