Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standardized programming language that is used to manage relational databases and perform various operations on the data in them. Initially created in the 1970s, SQL is regularly used not only by database administrators, but also by developers writing data integration scripts and data analysts looking to set up and run analytical queries.

SQL is used for the following:

• modifying database table and index structures;
• adding, updating and deleting rows of data; and
• retrieving subsets of information from within relational database management systems (RDBMSes) -- this information can be used for transaction processing, analytics applications and other applications that require communicating with a relational database.