Query by Example

Originally limited only for the purpose of retrieving data, QBE was later extended to allow other operations, such as inserts, deletes and updates, as well as creation of temporary tables.

The motivation behind QBE is that a parser can convert the user's actions into statements expressed in a database manipulation language, such as SQL.

QBE represents seminal work in end-user development, frequently cited in research papers as an early example of this topic.

The term also refers to a general technique influenced by Zloof's work whereby only items with search values are used to "filter" the results.

For Example Form C: Resulting SQL: More advanced versions of QBE have other comparison operator options, often via a pull-down menu, such as "Contains", "Not Contains", "Starts With", "Greater-Than", and so forth.