Summary -

In this topic, we described about the OR Condition with detailed example.

OR Condition is used to specify multiple conditions in WHERE clause to fetch matched rows or values which satisfy any one of the condition from specified conditions. OR Condition used in SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE statements.

SELECT Syntax -

SELECT column1, column2, …, columnN 
FROM table_name
[WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR … OR conditionN]; 

UPDATE Syntax –

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1, column2 = value2, …, columnN = valueN
[WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR … OR conditionN]; 

DELETE Syntax –

DELETE FROM table_name
[WHERE condition1 OR condition2 OR … OR conditionN]; 

  • column1, column2, …, columnN – Specifies the column names.
  • condition1, condition2, …, conditionN – Specifies the conditions that are used to filter the rows.
  • table_name – Specifies the name of the table.

Example -

Let us consider the employee_details table as follows –

employee_details -

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
001 Employee1 Director 2019-07-11 45000.00 1000
002 Employee2 Director 2019-07-11 40000.00 2000
003 Employee3 Manager Employee1 2019-07-11 27000.00 1000
004 Employee4 Manager Employee2 2019-10-08 25000.00 2000
005 Employee5 Analyst Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000
006 Employee6 Analyst Employee3 2019-10-08 18000.00 1000
007 Employee7 Clerk Employee3 2019-07-11 15000.00 1000
008 Employee8 Salesman Employee4 2019-09-09 14000.00 2000
009 Employee9 Salesman Employee4 2019-10-08 13000.00 2000

Scenario – Fetch rows using OR condition.

Requirement1 – Fetch all details of employees whose manager is "Employee1" or employee id is 006. The query was as follows –

SELECT * FROM employee_details
WHERE manager_id = "Employee1" OR emp_id = 006; 

By executing above, we can get results as shown below –

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
003 Employee3 Manager Employee1 2019-07-11 27000.00 1000
006 Employee6 Analyst Employee3 2019-10-08 18000.00 1000

Requirement2 – Fetch all details whose department is 2000 or salary is 25000. The query was as follows –

SELECT * FROM employee_details WHERE dept_id = 2000 OR NOT salary=25000; 

By executing above, we can get results as shown below –

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
001 Employee1 Director 2019-07-11 45000.00 1000
002 Employee2 Director 2019-07-11 40000.00 2000
003 Employee3 Manager Employee1 2019-07-11 27000.00 1000
005 Employee5 Analyst Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000
006 Employee6 Analyst Employee3 2019-10-08 18000.00 1000
007 Employee7 Clerk Employee3 2019-07-11 15000.00 1000
008 Employee8 Salesman Employee4 2019-09-09 14000.00 2000
009 Employee9 Salesman Employee4 2019-10-08 13000.00 2000

Requirement3– Fetch all employee details whose emp_id is 005 or designation is "Manager" and dept is 2000. The query was as follows –

SELECT * FROM employee_details WHERE emp_id = 005
 OR (designation = "Manager" AND dept_id = 2000); 

By executing above, we can get results as shown below –

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
004 Employee4 Manager Employee2 2019-10-08 25000.00 2000
005 Employee5 Analyst Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000

Scenario – Update the rows using OR condition.

Requirement - Update the employee salary whose employee id is 008 or designation is "Clerk". The query was as follows –

UPDATE employee_details set salary =20000
WHERE emp_id = 008 OR designation = "Clerk"; 

By executing above query, we can update the salary to 20000 for the employees whose emp_id is 008 or designation is "Clerk". The table rows after the update is was as follows-

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
001 Employee1 Director 2019-07-11 45000.00 1000
002 Employee2 Director 2019-07-11 40000.00 2000
003 Employee3 Manager Employee1 2019-07-11 27000.00 1000
004 Employee4 Manager Employee2 2019-10-08 25000.00 2000
005 Employee5 Analyst Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000
006 Employee6 Analyst Employee3 2019-10-08 18000.00 1000
007 Employee7 Clerk Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000
008 Employee8 Salesman Employee4 2019-09-09 20000.00 2000
009 Employee9 Salesman Employee4 2019-10-08 13000.00 2000

Scenario – Deleting a row using OR condition.

Requirement – Delete employee details whose designation is "Salesman" or emp_id is 009. The query was as follows –

DELETE FROM Employee details WHERE designation = "Salesman" OR emp_id = 009; 

By executing above query, we can delete employee details whose designation is "Salesman" or emp_id is 009. The output was as follows -

emp_id emp_name designation manager_id date_of_hire salary dept_id
001 Employee1 Director 2019-07-11 45000.00 1000
002 Employee2 Director 2019-07-11 40000.00 2000
003 Employee3 Manager Employee1 2019-07-11 27000.00 1000
004 Employee4 Manager Employee2 2019-10-08 25000.00 2000
005 Employee5 Analyst Employee3 2019-07-11 20000.00 1000
006 Employee6 Analyst Employee3 2019-10-08 18000.00 1000
007 Employee7 Clerk Employee3 2019-07-11 15000.00 1000