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“Mastering Snowflake: Top 10 SQL Commands for Efficient Data Management”

SQL is the primary language used for querying data in Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehousing solution that has become increasingly popular due to its scalability, ease of use, and versatility. SQL commands offer a wide range of options for performing various tasks, and in this blog post, we will discuss the top 10 SQL commands used in Snowflake along with examples.

SELECT Command:

The SELECT command retrieves data from one or more tables in Snowflake. It is the most commonly used command in SQL, and its syntax is simple.
Example: Retrieve all columns from the “employee” table where the salary is greater than 50,000.


SELECT * FROM employee WHERE salary > 50000;


INSERT Command:

The INSERT command is used to add new records to a table in Snowflake. It is used to insert a new record into an existing table.
Example: Insert a new record into the “employee” table.


INSERT INTO employee (id, name, salary) VALUES (1001, ‘John’, 75000);


UPDATE Command:

The UPDATE command is used to modify existing records in a table in Snowflake.

Example: Update the salary of the employee with ID 1001 to 80000.


UPDATE employee SET salary = 80000 WHERE id = 1001;


DELETE Command:

The DELETE command is used to remove records from a table in Snowflake.


Example: Delete all records from the “employee” table where the salary is less than 50000.


DELETE FROM employee WHERE salary < 50000;


CREATE Command:

The CREATE command is used to create a new table in Snowflake.

Example: Create a new table called “customer” with columns “id”, “name”, and “email”.


CREATE TABLE customer (id INT, name VARCHAR(50), email VARCHAR(50));


ALTER Command:

The ALTER command is used to modify the structure of an existing table in Snowflake.


Example: Add a new column called “phone” to the “customer” table.


ALTER TABLE customer ADD phone VARCHAR(20);


DROP Command: The DROP command is used to delete an existing table in Snowflake.
Example: Delete the “customer” table.


DROP TABLE customer;


JOIN Command: The JOIN command is used to combine data from two or more tables in Snowflake.
Example: Retrieve all columns from the “employee” and “department” tables where the department IDs match.


SELECT * FROM employee JOIN department ON employee.department_id = department.id;


GROUP BY Command: The GROUP BY command is used to group data based on a specific column in Snowflake.
Example: Retrieve the total salary of employees in each department.


SELECT department, SUM(salary) FROM employee GROUP BY department;


ORDER BY Command: The ORDER BY command is used to sort data in ascending or descending order in Snowflake.
Example: Retrieve all columns from the “employee” table and sort the results by salary in descending order.


SELECT * FROM employee ORDER BY salary DESC;


In conclusion, these top 10 SQL commands are essential for working with data in Snowflake or any SQL based databases, mastering them can improve your efficiency in data management. Understanding these commands and their syntax can help you query and manipulate data. 

Thanks for reading!

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