SQL | Definition & Facts - Britannica

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External Websites

• BCcampus Open Publishing - Database Design � 2nd Edition - SQL Structured Query Language
• Liveabout.com - What is SQL?
• National Institute of Standards and Technology - Database Language SQL
• Frontiers - Frontiers in Psychology - Effect of semantic distance on learning structured query language: An empirical study
• IBM - What is structured query language (SQL)?
• NASA - Technical Reports Server - Introduction to SQL
• IEEE Spectrum - The Rise of SQL
• Engineering LibreTexts - SQL Structured Query Language
• Open Library Publishing Platform - Database Design – 2nd Edition - SQL Data Manipulation Language

SQL computer language Ask Anything Homework Help Also known as: structured query language Written and fact-checked by Britannica Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Britannica Editors Last updated Jan. 17, 2026 •History Britannica AI Ask Anything Table of Contents Table of Contents Ask Anything

SQL, computer language designed for eliciting information from databases.

In the 1970s computer scientists began developing a standardized way to manipulate databases, and out of that research came SQL. The late 1970s and early ’80s saw the release of a number of SQL-based products. SQL gained popularity when the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) adopted the first SQL standard in 1986. Continued work on relational databases led to improvements in SQL, making it one of the most popular database languages in existence. Some large software companies, such as Microsoft Corporation and Oracle Corporation, produced their own versions of SQL, and an open-source version, MySQL, became extremely popular.

SQL works by providing a way for programmers and other computer users to get desired information from a database using something resembling normal English. On the simplest level, SQL consists of only a few commands: Select, which grabs data; Insert, which adds data to a database; Update, which changes information; and Delete, which deletes information. Other commands exist to create, modify, and administer databases.

In full: structured query language (Show more) Related Topics: computer programming language MySQL query language fourth-generation language (Show more) On the Web: Open Library Publishing Platform - Database Design – 2nd Edition - SQL Data Manipulation Language (Jan. 17, 2026) (Show more) See all related content Britannica Quiz Computers and Technology Quiz

SQL is used in everything from government databases to e-commerce sites on the Internet. As the popularity of SQL grew, programmers and computer scientists continued to optimize the way that relational databases work.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Erik Gregersen.