2003

SQL:2003 is the fifth revision of the SQL database query language. The standard consists of 9 parts which are described in detail in SQL. It was updated by 2006.

New features

The SQL:2003 standard makes minor modifications to all parts of 1999 (also known as SQL3), and officially introduces a few new features such as:^[1]

XML-related features (SQL/XML)
Window functions
the sequence generator, which allows standardized sequences
two new column types: auto-generated values and identity-columns
the new MERGE statement
extensions to the CREATE TABLE statement, to allow "CREATE TABLE AS" and "CREATE TABLE LIKE"
removal of the poorly implemented "BIT" and "BIT VARYING" data types
OLAP capabilities (initially added in 1999) were extended with a window function.^[2]

Documentation availability

The SQL standard is not freely available but may be purchased from ISO or ANSI. A late draft is available as a zip archive from Whitemarsh Information Systems Corporation. The zip archive contains a number of PDF files that define the parts of the SQL:2003 specification.