The Data Control Language is a subset of the Structured Query Language. Database administrators use DCL to configure security access to relational databases. It complements the Data Definition Language, which adds and removes database objects, and the Data Manipulation Language, which retrieves, inserts, and modifies the contents of a database.

DCL is the simplest of the SQL subsets, as it consists of only three commands: GRANT, REVOKE, and DENY. Combined, these three commands give administrators the flexibility to set and remove database permissions in a granular manner.

The GRANT command adds new rights to a database user. The syntax is very simple and is defined as follows:

Below is an overview of the parameters you can specify with this command: