query by example

[′kwir·ē bī ig′zam·pəl] (computer science) A software product used to search a data base for information having formats or ranges of values specified by English-like statements that indicate the desired results. Abbreviated QBE.

Query By Example

(database, language)(QBE) A user-friendly query languagedeveloped by Mosh? Zloof of IBM in 1975.

http://informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/indices/a-tree/z/Zloof:Mosh=eacute=_M=.html.

[Mosh? M. Zloof, "Query By Example", AFIPS NCC 1975: 431-438].

[Mosh? M. Zloof, "Query-by-Example: A Data Base Language", IBMSystems Journal 16(4): 324-343, 1977].

["QBE/OBE: A Language for Office and Business Automation",M.M. Zloof, Computer pp.13-22, May 1981].

query by example

A method for describing a database query originally developed by IBM for mainframes. A replica of an empty record is displayed and the search conditions are typed in under their respective columns (fields). This visual approach has been adopted by nearly every modern query program. Although there are differences from one to another with regard to expressing complicated queries, everything is selected from a menu by the user. The program turns the visual query into the command language, such as SQL, necessary to interrogate the database.

Query By Example (QBE)

This query selects all Pennsylvania records that have a balance due of $5000 or more.