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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallOracle groups SQL statements into six categories: data definition language (DDL), data manipulation language (DML), transaction control, session control, system control, and embedded SQL. In Oracle’s taxonomy, SELECT is DML—a limited form that reads data without changing what is stored. The practical distinction to remember is that DDL implicitly commits the current transaction, while DML does not implicitly commit it in the cited Oracle 19c reference.
Oracle’s six SQL statement categories
Oracle’s Concepts overview groups statements by what they do. The SQL Language Reference supplies detailed statement lists, which can vary by release. The examples below reflect the categories and representative statements in Oracle’s documentation.
| Category | What it affects | Representative statements |
|---|---|---|
| DDL (Data Definition Language) | Schema structure, schema objects, privileges, and roles | CREATE, ALTER, DROP, GRANT, REVOKE, TRUNCATE |
| DML (Data Manipulation Language) | Data in existing schema objects; includes queries | SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, MERGE, CALL, EXPLAIN PLAN, LOCK TABLE |
| Transaction control | Work performed in a transaction and its boundaries | COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVEPOINT, SET TRANSACTION, SET CONSTRAINT |
| Session control | Properties of the current user session | ALTER SESSION, SET ROLE |
| System control | Properties of the database instance | ALTER SYSTEM |
| Embedded SQL | SQL statements incorporated into a procedural-language program | DDL, DML, and transaction-control statements embedded in a program |
For the official functional summaries, see Oracle’s Oracle Database 26 Concepts overview. For statement lists, consult the Oracle Database 19c SQL Language Reference for the release you use.
Is SELECT DML in Oracle?
Yes. Oracle’s SQL Language Reference classifies SELECT as DML and calls it a limited form of DML. A query accesses data and can manipulate the data it accesses while producing results, but it does not change the data stored in the database.
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Some instructional material calls queries “DQL” (Data Query Language) to distinguish them from statements that change stored data. That is an alternate teaching convention, not a separate category in Oracle’s six-category classification.
How the categories differ in practice
DDL defines or administers schema objects
Statements such as CREATE TABLE, ALTER TABLE, and DROP TABLE create, modify, or remove database objects. Oracle’s DDL category also includes privilege and role operations such as GRANT and REVOKE, as well as TRUNCATE.
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DDL has an important transaction consequence. Oracle Database’s Oracle AI Database SQL Language Reference, Chapter 10, “Types of SQL Statements,” states: “The database implicitly commits the current transaction before and after every DDL statement.” That wording is from the Oracle Database 26 reference. A DDL statement can therefore commit earlier DML work in the current transaction; check the SQL Language Reference matching your database release for its exact behavior.
DML queries or changes data
INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and MERGE operate on data in existing objects. In the Oracle Database 19c SQL Language Reference, DML statements do not implicitly commit the current transaction. That lets related data changes remain part of a transaction until you commit or roll them back.
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Transaction control governs DML work
Oracle describes a transaction as a sequence of statements treated as a unit. For example, when a manager leaves, a transaction might insert a row into JOB_HISTORY and update the relevant employees’ MANAGER_ID values. The changes can be committed together or undone as appropriate.
COMMITends the transaction and makes its changes permanent.ROLLBACKundoes all or part of the transaction’s work.SAVEPOINTmarks a point within the transaction so you can roll back only the work performed after that point.SET TRANSACTIONandSET CONSTRAINTare also listed as transaction-control statements in Oracle Database 19c.
See Oracle’s Database Development Guide discussion of transactions for the transaction concept and explanations of COMMIT, ROLLBACK, and SAVEPOINT.
Session control differs from system control by scope
ALTER SESSION and SET ROLE change settings or roles for the current session. ALTER SYSTEM changes properties of the database instance, so its scope is broader than one session.
Embedded SQL places statements inside a program
Embedded SQL describes SQL statements incorporated into a procedural-language program. It is a category about how SQL is used in a program, rather than a single statement that performs one particular database operation.
Keep SQL classification separate from OCI processing
Oracle’s SQL Language Reference classifies statements by their function in SQL. Oracle’s OCI introduction uses categories relevant to client processing, including queries, DML, PL/SQL, embedded SQL, DDL, and control statements. For OCI applications, Oracle says transaction, session, and system control statements are treated as if they were DML for processing. That is an OCI handling convention, not a replacement for Oracle’s SQL-language taxonomy.
Oracle’s 19c SQL reference also notes that session-control statements and ALTER SYSTEM are not supported in PL/SQL; transaction-control support has exceptions for certain forms of COMMIT and ROLLBACK. DDL can be supported in PL/SQL through DBMS_SQL. These details are release- and context-dependent, so consult the matching reference before relying on them in an application.
For OCI-specific categories and processing behavior, see Oracle’s Oracle Database 19c OCI introduction.
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