Q1) What is the Difference between MySql Vs SQL Server Performance?

MySQl Server Vs SQL Server

Function MS SQL Server MySql

Developer Microsoft Oracle

License Commercial OpenSource

Cloud-based No No

Implementation Language C++ C & C++

XML Support Yes Yes

Supported Programming Lang It supports C#, PHP, Python, Ruby, R, Visual It supports c++, C#, Java, PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl,
Basic, Java etc Delphi, D etc

Server-Side Scripting. Net & TransaScripting. Yes, it supports

Concurreny It supports ,yes It supports ,yes

Consistency Concept's It enables immediate consistency It enables immediate consistency

Transaction concepts It supports ACID It supports ACID

Q2) What is normalization? Explain different levels of normalization?

It is the way to eliminate redundant data

1. Reduces null value

2. Enables efficient indexing

3. 1NF – Removes duplicated attributes, Attribute data should be atomic, and attribute should be same kind.

4. 2NF – Should be in 1NF and each non-key is fully dependent on the primary key.

5. 3NF – Should be in 2NF and all the non-key attributes which are not dependent on the primary key should be removed. All the attributes which are

dependent on the other non-key attributes should also be removed. Normalization is done in OLTP.

Q3) What is denormalization and when would you go for it?

1. It is the reverse process of normalization.

2. It increases the query performance by reducing the joins.

3. It is used for OLAP applications.

Q4) How do you implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables?

1. One to One –It can be implemented as a single table. Rarely it is implemented in two tables. For each instance in the first entity there is one and only

one in the second entity and vice versa.

2. One to Many –For each instance in the first entity there can be one or more in the second entity. For each instance in the second entity there can be one

and only one instance in the first entity.

3. Many to Many –For each instance in the first entity there can be one or more instance in the second entity and moreover, for each instance in the

second entity there can be one or more instance in the first entity.

Q5) Difference between Primary key and Unique key.

Primary Key

 1.Enforces uniqueness of the column in a table

 2.Default clustered index

 3.Does not Allow nulls

Unique Key

 1.Enforces uniqueness of the column in a table

 2.Default non-clustered index.

 3.Allows one null value

Q6) Define following keys:

Candidate key, Alternate key, Composite key.

 1.Candidate key –Key which can uniquely identify a row in table.

 2.Alternate key –If the table has more than one candidate keys and when one becomes a primary key the rest becomes alternate keys.

 3.Composite key –More than one key uniquely identify a row in a table.

Q7) What are defaults? Is there a column to which a default can’t be bound?

1.It is a value that will be used by a column if no value is supplied to that column while inserting data.

2.I can’t be assigned for identity and timestamp values.

Q8) What are user defined data types and when you should go for them?

Lets you extend the base SQL server data types by providing a descriptive name and format to the database.

E.g. Flight_num appears in many tables and all these tables have varchar(8)

Create a user defined data-type

Q9) What is a transaction and what are ACID properties?

A transaction is a logical unit of work in which, all the steps must be performed or none. ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability.

These are the properties of a transaction.

Q10) What part does database design have to play in the performance of a SQL Server-based application?

It plays a very major part. When building a new system, or adding to an existing system, it is crucial that the design is correct. Ensuring that the correct

data is captured and is placed in the appropriate tables, that the right relationships exist between the tables and that data redundancy is eliminated is an

ultimate goal when considering performance. Planning a design should be an iterative process, and constantly reviewed as an application is developed.

It is rare, although it should be the point that everyone tries to achieve, when the initial design and system goals are not altered, no matter how slightly.

Therefore, a designer has to be on top of this and ensure that the design of the database remains efficient..
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Q11) What can a developer do during the logical and physical design of a database in order to help ensure that their database and SQL

Server-based application will perform well?

A developer must investigate volumes of data (capacity planning), what types of information will be stored, and how that data will be accessed. If you are

dealing with an upgrade to an existing system, analyzing the present data and where existing data volumes occur, how that data is accessed and where

the current response bottlenecks are occurring, can help you search for problem areas in the design.
 A new system would require a thorough investigation of what data will be captured, and looking at volumes of data held in other formats also will aid

design. Knowing your data is just as important as knowing the constituents of your data. Also, constantly revisit your design. As your system is built,

check relationships, volumes of data, and indexes to ensure that the physical design is still at its optimum. Always be ready to check your system by

using tools like the SQL Server Profiler.

Q12) What are the main steps in Data Modeling?

 1.Logical – Planning, Analysis and Design

 2.Physical – Design, Implementation and Maintenance

DATABASE DEVELOPMENT / PROGRAMMING

Q13) What are cursors? Explain different types of cursors. What are the disadvantages of cursors? How can you avoid cursors?

Cursors allow row-by-row processing of the result sets.

Types of cursors:

Static – Makes a temporary copy of the data and stores in tempdb and any modifications on the base table does not reflected in data returned by fetches

made by the cursor.

Dynamic – Reflects all changes in the base table.

Forward-only – specifies that cursor can only fetch sequentially from first to last.

Keyset-driven – Keyset is the set of keys that uniquely identifies a row is built in a tempdb.

Disadvantages of cursors:

Each time you fetch a row from the cursor, it results in a network roundtrip, whereas a normal SELECT query makes only one roundtrip, however large

the result set is. Cursors are also costly because they require more resources and temporary storage (results in more IO operations). Further, there are

restrictions on the SELECT statements that can be used with some types of cursors.

Most of the times set-based operations can be used instead of cursors.

Here is an example:

If you have to give a flat hike to your employees using the following criteria:

Salary between 30000 and 40000 — 5000 hike

Salary between 40000 and 55000 — 7000 hike

Salary between 55000 and 65000 — 9000 hike

In this situation, many developers tend to use a cursor, determine each employee’s salary and update his salary according to the above formula. But the

same can be achieved by multiple update statements or can be combined in a single UPDATE statement as shown below:

UPDATE tbl_emp SET salary =

CASE

WHEN salary BETWEEN 30000 AND 40000 THEN salary + 5000

WHEN salary BETWEEN 40000 AND 55000 THEN salary + 7000

WHEN salary BETWEEN 55000 AND 65000 THEN salary + 10000

END

another situation in which developers tend to use cursors: You need to call a stored procedure when a column in a particular row meets certain

condition. You don’t have to use cursors for this. This can be achieved using WHILE loop, as long as there is a unique key to identify each row.

Q14) Write down the general syntax for a SELECT statement covering all the options.
Here’s the basic syntax: (Also checkout SELECT in books online for advanced syntax).

SELECT select_list

[HDEV:INTO new_table_]

FROM table_source

[HDEV:WHERE search_condition]

[HDEV:GROUP BY group_by_expression]

[HDEV:HAVING search_condition]

[ORDER BY order_expression [ASC | HDEV:DESC] ]

Q15) What is a Join and explain different types of Joins?

Joins are used in queries to explain how different tables are related. Joins also let you select data from a table depending upon data from another table.

Types of joins: INNER JOINs, OUTER JOINs, CROSS JOINs. OUTER JOINs are further classified as LEFT OUTER JOINS, RIGHT OUTER JOINS and

FULL OUTER JOINS.

Q16) Can you have a nested transaction?

Yes, very much. Check out BEGIN TRAN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVE TRAN and @@TRANCOUNT

Q17) What is an extended stored procedure? Can you instantiate a COM object by using T-SQL?

An extended stored procedure is a function within a DLL (written in a programming language like C, C++ using Open Data Services (ODS) API) that can

be called from T-SQL, just the way we call normal stored procedures using the EXEC statement.

Yes, you can instantiate a COM (written in languages like VB, VC++) object from T-SQL by using sp_OACreate stored procedure. Also see books online

for sp_OAMethod, sp_OAGetProperty, sp_OASetProperty, sp_OADestroy.

Q18) What is the system function to get the current user’s userid?

USER_ID(). Also check out other system functions like USER_NAME(), SYSTEM_USER, SESSION_USER, CURRENT_USER, USER, SUSER_SID(),

HOST_NAME().

Q19) What are triggers? How many triggers you can have on a table? How to invoke a trigger on demand?

Triggers are special kind of stored procedures that get executed automatically when an INSERT, UPDATE or DELETE operation takes place on a table.

In SQL Server 6.5 you could define only 3 triggers per table, one for INSERT, one for UPDATE and one for DELETE. From SQL Server 7.0 onwards,

this restriction is gone, and you could create multiple triggers per each action. But in 7.0 there’s no way to control the order in which the triggers fire. In

SQL Server 2000 you could specify which trigger fires first or fires last using sp_settriggerorder.

Triggers can’t be invoked on demand. They get triggered only when an associated action (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) happens on the table on which

they are defined. Triggers are generally used to implement business rules, auditing. Triggers can also be used to extend the referential integrity checks,

but wherever possible, use constraints for this purpose, instead of triggers, as constraints are much faster.

Till SQL Server 7.0, triggers fire only after the data modification operation happens. So in a way, they are called post triggers. But in SQL Server 2000

you could create pre triggers also – INSTEAD OF triggers.

Virtual tables – Inserted and Deleted form the basis of trigger architecture.

Q20) What is a self join? Explain it with an example.

Self join is just like any other join, except that two instances of the same table will be joined in the query. Here is an example: Employees table which

contains rows for normal employees as well as managers. So, to find out the managers of all the employees, you need a self join.

CREATE TABLE emp

(
empid int,

mgrid int,

empname char(10)

INSERT emp SELECT 1,2,’Vyas’

INSERT emp SELECT 2,3,’Mohan’

INSERT emp SELECT 3,NULL,’Shobha’

INSERT emp SELECT 4,2,’Shridhar’

INSERT emp SELECT 5,2,’Sourabh’

SELECT t1.empname [HDEV:Employee], t2.empname [HDEV:Manager]

FROM emp t1, emp t2

WHERE t1.mgrid = t2.empid

Here’s an advanced query using a LEFT OUTER JOIN that even returns the employees without managers (super bosses)

SELECT t1.empname [HDEV:Employee], COALESCE(t2.empname, ‘No manager’) [HDEV:Manager]

FROM emp t1

LEFT OUTER JOIN

emp t2

ON

t1.mgrid = t2.empid
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Q21) Write a SQL Query to find first Week Day of month?

SELECT DATENAME(dw, DATEADD(dd, – DATEPART(dd, GETDATE()) + 1, GETDATE())) AS FirstDay

Q22) How to find 6th highest salary from Employee table?

SELECT TOP 1 salary FROM (SELECT DISTINCT TOP 6 salary FROM employee ORDER BY salary DESC) a ORDER BY salary

Q23) How can I enforce to use particular index?

You can use index hint (index=index_name) after the table name. SELECT au_lname FROM authors (index=aunmind)

Q24) What is ORDER BY and how is it different than clustered index?

The ORDER BY clause sorts query results by one or more columns up to 8,060 bytes. This will happen by the time when we retrieve data from

database. Clustered indexes will physically sort data, while inserting/updating the table.

Q25) What is the difference between a UNION and a JOIN?

A JOIN selects columns from 2 or more tables. A UNION selects rows.

Q26) What is the Referential Integrity?

Referential integrity refers to the consistency that must be maintained between primary and foreign keys, i.e. every foreign key value must have a

corresponding primary key value

Q27) What is the purpose of UPDATE STATISTICS?

It updates information about the distribution of key values for one or more statistics groups (collections) in the specified table or indexed view.

Q28) What is the use of SCOPE_IDENTITY() function?

It returns the most recently created identity value for the tables in the current execution scope.
Q29) What do you consider are the best reasons to use stored procedures in your application instead of passing Transact-SQL code directly

to SQL Server?

First and foremost, a stored procedure is a compiled set of code, where passing T-SQL through languages such as VB, Visual FoxPro, etc., means that

the set of code needs to be compiled first. Although T-SQL within VB, etc., can be prepared before running, this is still slower than using a stored

procedure. Then, of course, there is the security aspect, where, by building a stored procedure, you can place a great deal of security around it. When

dealing with sensitive data, you can use an encrypted stored procedure to hide sensitive columns, calculations, and so on. Finally, by using a stored

procedure, I feel that transactional processing becomes a great deal easier and, in fact, using nested transactions become more insular and secure.

Having to deal with transactions within code that may have front end code, will slow up a transaction and therefore a lock will be held for longer than

necessary.

Q30) What are some techniques for writing fast performing stored procedures?

Fast performing stored procedures are like several other areas within T-SQL. Revisiting stored procedures every six months or so, to ensure that they

are still running at their optimum performance is essential. However, actual techniques themselves include working with as short a transaction area as

possible, as lock contention will certainly impact performance. Recompiling your stored procedures after index additions if you are unable or not wishing

to restart SQL Server, will also ensure that a procedure is using the correct index, if that stored procedure is accessing the table which has received the

new index. If you have a T-SQL command that joins several tables, and it takes a long time to return a value, first of all check out the indexes. But what

you may find tends to help, is to break down the code and try to determine which join it is that is causing the performance problem. Then analyze this

specific join and see why it is a problem.

Always check out a stored procedure’s performance as you build it up by using the SHOWPLAN commands.

Also, try to use EXISTS, rather than a JOIN statement. An EXISTS statement will only join on a table until one record is found, rather than joining all the

records . Also, try to look at using sub queries when you are trying to find a handful of values in the sub query statement, and there is no key on the

column you are looking up on.

Q31) When should SQL Server-based cursors be used, and not be used?

SQL Server cursors are perfect when you want to work one record at a time, rather than taking all the data from a table as a single bulk. However, they

should be used with care as they can affect performance, especially when the volume of data increases. From a beginner’s viewpoint, I really do feel

that cursors should be avoided every time because if they are badly written, or deal with too much data, they really will impact a system’s performance.

There will be times when it is not possible to avoid cursors, and I doubt if many systems exist without them. If you do find you need to use them, try to

reduce the number of records to process by using a temporary table first, and then building the cursor from this. The lower the number of records to

process, the faster the cursor will finish. Always try to think “out of the envelope”.

Q32) What alternatives do developers have over using SQL Server-based cursors? In other words, how can developers perform the same

function as a cursor without using a cursor?

Perhaps one of the performance gains least utilized by developers starting out in SQL Server are temporary tables. For example, using one or more

temporary tables to break down a problem in to several areas could allow blocks of data to be processed in their own individual way, and then at the end

of the process, the information within the temporary tables merged and applied to the underlying data. The main area of your focus should be, is there

an alternative way of doing things? Even if I have to break this down into several chunks of work, can I do this work without using cursors, and so result

in faster performance. Another area that you can look at is the use of CASE statements within your query. By using a CASE statement, you can check

the value within a column and make decisions and operations based on what you have found. Although you will still be working on a whole set of data,

rather than a subset found in a cursor, you can use CASE to leave values, or records as they are, if they do not meet the right criteria. Care should be

taken here though, to make sure that by looking at all the data, you will not be creating a large performance impact. Again, look at using a subset of the
 data by building a temporary table first, and then merging the results in afterwards. However, don’t get caught out with these recommendations and do

any of them in every case. Cursors can be faster if you are dealing with small amounts of data. However, what I have found, to be rule number one, is

get as little data in to your cursor as is needed.

Q33) If you have no choice but to use a SQL Server-based cursor, what tips do you have in order to optimize them?

Perhaps the best performance gain is when you can create a cursor asynchronously rather than needing the whole population operation to be completed

before further processing can continue. Then, by checking specific global variables settings, you can tell when there is no further processing to take

place. However, even here, care has to be taken. Asynchronous population should only occur on large record sets rather than those that only deal with a

small number of rows. Use the smallest set of data possible. Break out of the cursor loop as soon as you can. If you find that a problem has occurred, or

processing has ended before the full cursor has been processed, then exit. If you are using the same cursor more than once in a batch of work, and this

could mean within more than one stored procedure, then define the cursor as a global cursor by using the GLOBAL keyword, and not closing or

deallocating the cursor until the whole process is finished. A fair amount of time will be saved, as the cursor and the data contained will already be

defined, ready for you to use.

DATABASE PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION / TUNING

Q34) What are the steps you will take to improve performance of a poor performing query?

This is a very open ended question and there could be lot of reasons behind the poor performance of a query. But some general issues that you could

talk about would be:

1. No indexes

2. No Table scans

3. Missing or out of date statistics

4. Blocking

5. Excess recompilations of stored procedures

Q35) What is an ER Diagram?

An ER diagram or Entity-Relationship diagram is a special picture used to represent the requirements and assumptions in a system from a top down

perspective. It shows the relations between entities (tables) in a database.

Q36) What is a prime attribute?

A prime attribute is an attribute that is part of a candidate key.

Q37) What are the properties of a transaction?

The ACID properties. Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability.

Q38) What is a non-prime attribute?

A non-prime attribute is an attribute that is not a part of a candidate key.

Q39) What is Atomicity?

This means the transaction finish completely, or it will not occur at all.

Q40) What is Consistency?

Consistency means that the transaction will repeat in a predictable way each time it is performed.

Q41) What is Isolation?

The data the transactions are independent of each other. The success of one transaction doesn’t depend on the success of another.

Q42) What is Durability?

Guarantees that the database will keep track of pending changes so that the server will be able to recover if an error occurs.

Q43) What is a DBMS?

A DBMS is a set of software programs used to manage and interact with databases.

Q44) What is a RDBMS?

It is a set of software programs used to interact with and manage relational databases. Relational databases are databases that contain tables.

Q45) What is business intelligence?

Refers to computer-based techniques used in identifying, extracting, and analyzing business data, such as sales revenue by products and/or

departments, or by associated costs and incomes.

Q46) What is normalization?

Database normalization is the process of organizing the fields and tables of a relational database to minimize redundancy and dependency.

Q47) What is a relationship?

The way in which two or more concepts/entities are connected, or the state of being connected.

Q48) What are the different types of relationships?

One to one, one to many, many to many, many to fixed cardinality.

Q49) What is the difference between a OLTP and database?

An OLTP is the process of gathering the data from the users, and a database is the initial information.

Q50) What are the different kinds of relationships?

Identifying and non-identifying.

Q51) What is an entity?

Something that exists by itself, although it need not be of material existence.

Q52) What is a conjunction table?

A table that is composed of foreign keys that points to other tables.

Q53) What is a relational attribute?

An attribute that would not exist if it were not for the existence of a relation.

Q54) What are associative entities?

An associative entity is a conceptual concept. An associative entity can be thought of as both an entity and a relationship since it encapsulates

properties from both. It is a relationship since it is serving to join two or more entities together, but it is also an entity since it may have its own properties.

Q55) What is the difference between a derived attribute, derivedpersistent attribute, and computed column?

A derived attribute is a attribute that is obtained from the values of other existing columns and does not exist on it’s own. A derived persistent attribute is

a derived attribute that is stored. A computed attribute is a attribute that is computed from internal system values.

Q56) What are the types of attributes?

Simple, composite (split into columns), multi-valued (becomes a separate table), derived, computed, derived persistent.

Q57) Is the relationship between a strong and weak entity always identifying?

Yes, this is the requirement.

Q58) Do stand alone tables have cardinality?

No.

Q59) What is a simple key?

It is a key that in composed of one attribute.

Give/ recite the types of UDF functions.

Scalar, In-line, Multi

Q60) Describe what you know about PK, FK, and UK.

Primary keys – Unique clustered index by default, doesn’t accept null values, only one primary key per table.

Foreign Key – References a primary key column. Can have null values. Enforces referential integrity.

Unique key – Can have more than one per table. Can have null values. Cannot have repeating values. Maximum of 999 clustered indexes per table.

Q61) What do you mean by CTEs? How will you use it?

CTEs also known as common table expressions are used to create a temporary table that will only exist for the duration of a query. They are used to

create a temporary table whose content you can reference in order to simplify a queries structure.

Q62) What is a sparse column?

It is a column that is optimized for holding null values.

Q63) What would the command: DENY CREATE TABLE TO Peter do?

It wouldn’t allow the user Peter to perform the operation CREATE TABLE regardless of his role.

Q64) What does the command: GRANT SELECT ON project TO Peter do?

It will allow the SELECT operation on the table ‘project’ by Peter.

Q65) What does the command: REVOKE GRANT SELECT ON project TO Peter do?

It will revoke the permission granted on that table to Peter.

Q66) New commands in SQL 2008?

Database encryption, CDCs tables – For on the fly auditing of tables, Merge operation, INSERT INTO – To bulk insert into a table from another table,

Hierarchy attributes, Filter indexes, C like operations for numbers, resource management, Intellisense – For making programming easier in SSMS,

Execution Plan Freezing – To freeze in place how a query is executed.

What is new in SQL 2008 R2?

PowerPivot, maps, sparklines, data bars, and indicators to depict data.

Q67) What is faster? A table variable or temporary table?

A table variable is faster in most cases since it is held in memory while a temporary table is stored on disk. However, when the table variable’s size

exceeds memory size the two table types tend to perform similarly.

Q68) How big is a tinyint, smallint, int, and bigint?

1 byte, 2 bytes, 4 bytes, and 8 bytes.

Q69) What does @@trancount do?

It will give you the number of active transactions for the current user.

Q70) What are the drawbacks of CTEs?

It is query bound.

Q71) What is the transaction log?

It keeps a record of all activities that occur during a transaction and is used to roll back changes.

Q72) What are before images, after images, undo activities and redo activities in relation to transactions?

Before images refers to the changes that are rolled back on if a transaction is rolled back. After images are used to roll forward and enforce a

transaction. Using the before images is called the undo activity. Using after images is called the redo activity.

Q73) What are shared, exclusive and update locks?

A shared lock, locks a row so that it can only be read. An exclusive lock locks a row so that only one operation can be performed on it at a time. An

update lock basically has the ability to convert a shared lock into an exclusive lock.
Q74) What does WITH TIES do?

If you use TOP 3 WITH TIES *, it will return the rows, that have a similarity in each of their columns with any of the column values from the returned

result set.

Q75) How can you get a deadlock in SQL?

By concurrently running the same resources that access the same information in a transaction.

Q76) What is LOCK_TIMEOUT used for?

It is used for determining the amount of time that the system will wait for a lock to be released.

Q77) What is the ANY predicate used for?

SELECT * FROM emp_table WHERE enter_date > ANY (SELECT enter_date FROM works_on)

Q78) What is the ALL predicate used for?

SELECT * FROM emp_table WHERE enter_date > ALL (SELECT enter_date FROM works_on)

Q79) What are some control flow statements in SQL?

while, if, case, for each etc..

Q80) What is the EXISTS function used for?

It is used to determine whether a query returns one or more rows. If it does, the EXIST function returns TRUE, otherwise, it will return FALSE.

SQL Query Interview Questions with Answers

Inner Join: It is used to retrieve matching records from both the tables

Department:

Department_No Department_Name

10 ECE

20 ECE

30 CSE

40 IT

Employee Details:

Employee_No Emp_Name Address Age Department_No Salary

1 Anil Hyderabad 23 10 20000

2 Sunil Hyderabad 22 10 21000

3 Ajay Chennai 24 20 23000

4 Vijay Chennai 25 30 22000

5 James Hyderabad 24 50 230000

Q1) Write a Query to display employee details who are working in ECE department?
SELECT employee.employee_name, employee.address, employee.salary, employee.age,
FROM Department D
INNER JOIN Employees E
ON department.D_no=employee.D_no WHERE department.D_name= ‘ECE’

Q2) Write a Query to display employee details?

SELECT * FROM employee;

Q3) Write a Query to display employee details along with department_name?

SELECT employee.employee_no, employee.employee_name, employee.address, employee.salary, employee.age, department.department_name
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON department.D_no=employee.D_no

Q4) Write a Query to display employee details whose sal>20000 and who is working in ECE department?
SELECT employee.employee_no, employee.employee_name, employee.address, employee.salary, employee.age
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON dept.D_no=emp.D_no
WHERE dept.D_name=’ECE’ and E.salary>20000

5) Write a Query to display employee details along with department_name and who is working in ECE department, whose name starts with a?
SELECT emp.e_no, emp.e_name, emp.address, emp.salary, emp.age, dept.dname
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON dept.D_no=emp.D_no
WHERE dept.D_name=’ECE’ and emp.E_name like ‘a%’

Q6) Write a Query to display employee details along with department_name and whose age between 20 and 24?
SELECT emp.e_no, emp.e_name, emp.address, emp.salary, emp.age, dept.d_name
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON dept.D_no=emp.D_no
WHERE E.age between 20 and 24

Q7) Write a Query to display employee details along with department_name and who are staying in hyderabad?
SELECT emp.e_no, emp.e_name, emp.address, emp.salary, emp.age, dept.d_name
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON dept.D_no=emp.D_no
WHERE E.address=’hyd’

Q8) Write a Query to display employee details whose salary>20000 and whose age>20 & who is working in ECE department?
SELECT emp.e_no, emp.e_name, emp.address, emp.salary, emp.age, dept.d_name
FROM department D
INNER JOIN employee E
ON dept.D_no=emp.D_no
WHERE E.age>20 and E.salary>20000 and dept.D_name=’ECE’

State Table:

State ID State Name

S1 Telangana

S2 AP

S3 Tamil Nadu

S4 Karnataka

S5 Kerala

City

City ID City Name State ID

1 Hyderabad S1

2 Vizag S2

3 Vijayawada S2

4 Chennai S3

5 Madhurai S3

6 Bangalore S4

Blood Group Details

Blood Group ID Blood Group

B1 A+ve

B2 B+ve

B3 AB +ve

B4 A -ve

B5 O +ve

Donor Details

Donor ID Donor Name Phone Number City ID Blood Group ID

D1 Anil 9999 1 B1

D2 Sunil 8888 1 B1

D3 Ajay 7777 2 B1

D4 John 6666 4 B3

D5 James 5555 4 B5

Q9) Write a Query to display city names belongs to AP?

SELECT C.City_Name
FROM State S
INNER JOIN City C
ON S.State_ID
WHERE S.State_Name ‘AP’

Q10) Write a Query to display Donor_ID, Donor_Name, Phone No, City?

SELECT D.Donor_ID, D_Name, D_Phone No, C.City_Name
FROM Donor D
INNER JOIN City C
ON D.City_ID=C.City_ID

Q11) Write a Query to display Donor_ID, Donor_Name, Phone No, Blood Group?
SELECT D.Donor_ID, D_Name, D_Phone No, B.Blood_Group
FROM Donor D
INNER JOIN Blood B
ON D.Blood_ID=B.Blood_ID;

Q12) Write a Query to display Donor_ID, Donor_Name, Phone No and who are staying in hyderabad?
SELECT D.Donor_ID, D_Name, D_Phone No, C.City_Name
FROM Donor D
INNER JOIN City C
ON C.City_ID=D.City_ID
WHERE C.City_Name=’hyderabad’

Q13) Write a Query to display donor details whose blood group is A +ve?
SELECT D.Donor_ID, D_Name, D_Phone No
FROM Donor D
INNER JOIN Blood B
ON D.Donor_ID=B.Blood_ID
WHERE B.Blood_Group=’A+ve’

Q14) Write a Query to display Donor_ID, Donor_Name, Phone No, City, Blood Group?
SELECT D.Donor_ID, D_Name, D_Phone No, C.City_Name B.Blood_Group
FROM Blood B
INNER JOIN Donor D
ON D.Blood_ID=B.Donor_Name
INNER JOIN City C
ON D.City_ID=C.City_ID

Q15) Write a Query to display Donor_Name, Phone No, Blood Group of the donors who is staying in hyderabad and whose blood group is

A+ve?
 SELECT D.Donor_Name, D. Phone_Number, B.Blood_Group
FROM Donor D
INNER JOIN Blood B
ON D.Blood_ID=B.Blood_ID
INNER JOIN City C
ON D.City_ID=C.City_ID
WHERE C.City_Name=’hyderabad’ and B.Blood_Group=’A+ve’

Outer Join A join that includes rows even if they do not have related rows in the joined table is an Outer Join.. You can create three different outer join

to specify the unmatched rows to be included:

 Left Outer Join

 Right Outer Join

 Full Outer Join

Employee Details Table

Employee_No Employee_Name Dept_No

101 Anil 10

102 Sunil 20

103 Ajay 30

104 Vijay 40

105 Null Null

Department Details Table

Dept_No Depat_Name

10 EEE

20 EEE

30 CSE

Null Null

50 IT

Q16) Write a Query to display only left records?

SELECT e.*
FROM Employee E
LEFT OUTER JOIN Department D
ON E.D_no
WHERE D.D_No IS NULL

Q17) Write a Query to display employee details where employee no is 101?

SELECT *
FROM Employee E
WHERE E_No=101

Q18) Write a Query to display employee details where employee number is null?
SELECT *
FROM Employee E
WHERE E_No IS NULL

Q19) Write a Query to display only right records?

SELECT D.*
FROM Employee E
RIGHT OUTER JOIN Department D
ON E.D.No=D.D_No
WHERE E.D_No IS NULL

Q20) Write a Query to display all the records from the table except matching records?
SELECT E.*, D.*
FROM Employee E
FULL JOIN Department D
ON E.D_No=D.D_No
WHERE E.D_No IS NULL or D.D_No IS NULL

Department Details Table

Dept_No Dept_Name

1 ECE

2 CSE

3 EEE

Course Details Table

Course_ID Course_Name Cr

1 EDC 4

2 PDC 4

3 SS 4

4 DAA 4

5 OS 4

Student Details Table

Student_No Student_Name

101 Anil

102 Sunil

103 Ajay

104 Vijay

105 John

Enroll Details Table

Enroll_Date Student_No Dpet_No S_ID

1/2/2014 101 10 S1

3/2/2016 102 10 S1

3/2/2016 103 10` S1

3/2/2016 104 20 S2

3/2/2016 105 20 S2

Address Table

Emp_No Address

E1 Hyderabad
E2 Vizag

E3 Hyderabad

E4 Bangalore

E5 Hyderabad

Employee Details Table

Emp_No Emp_Name

E1 Arun

E2 Kiran

E3 Kumar

E4 Anus

E5 James

Semester Details Table

Semester Sn

S1 1

S2 2-1

S3 2-2

S4 3-1

S5 3-2

S6 4-1

S7 4-2

Course Department Details

Dept_No Course_ID

10 1

10 2

10 3

20 4

20 5

Syllabus Table

Dept_No Course_ID S_ID

10 1 S1

10 2 S1
10 3 S1

20 4 S2

20 5 S2

Instructor Details Table

Emp_No Dept_No

E1 10

E2 10

E3 10

E4 20

E5 30

Course Instructor Table

Course_ID Emp_No S_ID Dept_No

1 E1 S1 10

1 E1 S1 20

1 E2 S1 30

2 E3 S1 10

4 E4 S2 20

5 E4 S2 20

5 E5 S1 10

Q) Write a query to display Student No, Student Name, Enroll Date, Department Name?
SELECT S.Student_No, S.Student_Name, S.Enroll_Date, D.Dept_Name
FROM Student S
INNER JOIN Enroll E
ON S.Student_No=E.Student_No
INNER JOIN Department D
ON D.Dept_No=E.Dept_No

Q) Write a query to display Employee Number, Employee Name and address, department name?
SELECT E.Emp_No, E.Emp_Name, A.Address, D.Dept_Name
FROM Employee E
INNER JOIN Address A
ON E.Emp_No=A.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Instructor I
ON A.Emp_No=I.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Department D
ON I.Dept_No=D.Dept_No

Q) Write a query to display course name belongs to ECE department?

SELECT C.Course_Name
FROM Department D
INNER JOIN Course Department CD
ON D.Dept_NO=CD.Dept_NO
INNER JOIN Course C
ON CD.CourseDept_ID=C.Course_ID
WHERE D.Dept_Name=’ECE’

Q) ) Write a query to display student number, student name, enroll date, dept name, semester name?
SELECT S.Student_No, S.Student_Name, S.Enroll_Date, D.Dpet_Name, Sem.Student_Name
FROM Enroll E
INNER JOIN Student S
ON S.Student_No=E.Student_No
INNER JOIN Deprtment D
ON E.Dept_No=D.Dept_No
INNER JOIN Semester SE
ON E.Student_ID=Sem.Student_ID

Q) Write a query to display the syllabus of ECE department 1st year?

SELECT C.Course_Name
FROM Department D
INNER JOIN Syllabus Sy
ON D.Dept_No=Sy.Dept_No
INNER JOIN Course C
ON Sy.Course_ID=C.Course_ID
INNER JOIN Semester Se
ON Syllabus_Sy_ID=Se_Sy_ID
WHERE D.Dept_Name=’ECE’ and Se.Semester=’1’

Q) Write a query to display the employee names and faculty names of ECE dept 1st year?
SELECT E.Emp_Name
FROM Employee E
INNER JOIN Course Instructor Ci
ON E.Emp_No=Ci.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Semester Se
ON Se.Student_ID=Ci.Student_ID
INNER JOIN Dept D
ON Ci.Dept_No=D.Dept_No
WHERE D.Dept_Name=’ECE’ and Se.Student_Name=’1’

Q) ) Write a query to display student details who enrolled for ECE department?
SELECT S.Student_NO, S.Student_Name, S.Enroll_Date
FROM Student S
INNER JOIN Enroll E
ON S.Student_No=E.Student_No
INNER JOIN Department D
ON E.Dept_No=D.Dept_No
WHERE D.Dept_Name=’ECE’

Q) ) Write a query to display student details along with dept name who are enrolled in ECE department first year?
SELECT S.Student_No, S.Student_Name, S.Enroll_Date, D.Dept_Name
FROM Student S
INNER JOIN Enrollment E
ON S.Student_No=E.Student_No
INNER JOIN Department D
ON D.Dept_No=E.Dept_No
INNER JOIN Semester Se
ON E.Student_ID=Se.Student_ID
WHERE D.Dept_Name=’ECE’ and Se.Student_Name=’1’

Q) ) Write a query to display employee name who is teaching EDC?

SELECT E.Emp_Name
FROM Employee E
INNER JOIN Course Instructor Ci
ON E.Emp_No=Ci.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Course C
ON Ci.Course_ID=C.Course_ID
WHERE C.Course_Name=’EDC’

Q) ) Write a query to display employee details along with dept name who are staying in Hyderabad?
SELECT E.Emp_No, Emp_Name, D.Dept_Name
FROM Employee E
INNER JOIN Address A
ON E.Emp_No=A.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Instructor I
ON A.Emp_No=I.Emp_No
INNER JOIN Department D
ON I.Dept_No=D.Dept_No
WHERE A.Address=’hyderabad’

Emp_No Emp_Name Salary Age Dept_Name

101 Anil 20,000 22 ECE

102 Sunil 23000 23 EEE

103 Vijay 32000 24 CSE

Using Range Operator:: BETWEEN, NOT BETWEEN

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose salary > 20000 and whose age >23?
SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Salary>20000 AND Age>23;

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose salary >20000 and who is working in ECE department?
SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Salary>20000 AND Dept_Name=’ECE’

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose age is BETWEEN 18 and 22?
SELECT * FROM Employee Details
WHERE Age BETWEEN 18 AND 22;

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose salary range BETWEEN 20000 and 23000?
SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Salary BETWEEN 20000 AND 23000;

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose age is NOT BETWEEN 18 & 22?
SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Age NOT BETWEEN 18 AND 22;

Using String Operators:: LIKE, NOT LIKE

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose name starts with a?

SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Emp_Name LIKE ‘a%’

a% ----> starts with a

%a ----> ends with a

Q) Write a Query to display employee details and whose age>20 & whose name starts with a?
SELECT * FROM Employee
WHERE Salary>20000 AND Age>20 AND Emp_Name LIKE ‘a%’

Q) Write a Query to display employee details whose name not starts with a?
SELECT * FROM employee
WHERE Emp_Name NOT LIKE ‘a%’

List of Related Microsoft Certification Courses:

SSIS Power BI

SSRS SharePoint

SSAS SQL Server DBA

SCCM BizTalk Server

Team Foundation Server BizTalk Server Administrator

1. What is a Database?
A database is a collection of information in an organized form for faster and better access, storage and manipulation. It can also be defined as a collection of tables,
schema, views, and other database objects.

2. What is Data warehouse?

Data warehouse refers to a central repository of data from multiple sources of information. Those data are consolidated, transformed and made available for the
mining as well as online processing.
80 Most Popular SQL Interview Questions And Answers | Software Testing Material

Last Updated on January 3, 2019 by Rajkumar

Basic & Advanced SQL Interview Questions And Answers:

Congratulations! You got the interview! In this SQL Server Developer Interview Questions post, we have put together both basic and advanced SQL Interview
Questions and Answers. This post contains Top SQL Interview Questions for Experienced as well as Freshers.

I have segregated this “SQL Server Interview Questions” post into two types.

1. Common SQL Interview Questions

2. Practical SQL Query Interview Questions (SQL Server Queries examples with answers).

I don’t want to take much time of yours but I couldn’t move further without mentioning about this inevitable job interview question which every hiring manager asks
you in any interview i.e., Tell Me About Yourself. Answering these questions is very easy if you follow the link. It contains sample answers for both freshers and
experienced. Now, Let’s move on to the actual post.

General SQL Interview Questions:

1. What is a Database?
A database is a collection of information in an organized form for faster and better access, storage and manipulation. It can also be defined as a collection of tables,
schema, views, and other database objects.

2. What is Data warehouse?

Data warehouse refers to a central repository of data from multiple sources of information. Those data are consolidated, transformed and made available for the
mining as well as online processing.

3. What is a Table in a Database?

A table is a database object used to store records in a field in the form of columns and rows that holds data.

4. What is a Field in a Database?

A field in a Database table is a space allocated to store a particular record within a table.

5. What is a Record in a Database?

A record (also called a row of data) is an ordered set of related data in a table.

6. What is a column in a Table?

A column is a vertical entity in a table that contains all information associated with a specific field in a table.

7. What is DBMS?
Database Management System is a collection of programs that enables a user to store, retrieve, update and delete information from a database.

8. What are the types of DBMS?

There are two types of DBMS
1. Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)
2. Non-Relational Database Management System

9. What is RDBMS?
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS is a database management system (DBMS) that is based on the relational model. Data from a
relational database can be accessed using Structured Query Language (SQL)

10. What are the popular Database Management Systems in the IT Industry?
Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Sybase, MongoDB, DB2, and Microsoft Access etc.,
11. What is SQL?
SQL Overview: SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is an American National Standard Institute (ANSI) standard. It is a standard language for accessing and
manipulating databases. Using SQL, some of the action we could do are to create databases, tables, stored procedures (SP’s), execute queries, retrieve, insert,
update, delete data against a database.

12. What are the different types of SQL commands?

SQL commands are segregated into the following types:

DDL – Data Definition Language

DML – Data Manipulation Language
DQL – Data Query Language
DCL – Data Control Language
TCL – Transaction Control Language
View Complete Post
13. What are the different DDL commands in SQL?
DDL commands are used to define or alter the structure of the database.

CREATE: To create databases and database objects

ALTER: To alter existing database objects
DROP: To drop databases and databases objects
TRUNCATE: To remove all records from a table but not its database structure
RENAME: To rename database objects
14. What are the different DML commands in SQL?
DML commands are used for managing data present in the database.

SELECT: To select specific data from a database

INSERT: To insert new records into a table
UPDATE: To update existing records
DELETE: To delete existing records from a table
15. What are the different DCL commands in SQL?
DCL commands are used to create roles, grant permission and control access to the database objects.

GRANT: To provide user access

DENY: To deny permissions to users
REVOKE: To remove user access
16. What are the different TCL commands in SQL?
TCL commands are used to manage the changes made by DML statements.

COMMIT: To write and store the changes to the database

ROLLBACK: To restore the database since the last commit
17. What is an Index?
An index is used to speed up the performance of queries. It makes faster retrieval of data from the table. The index can be created on one column or a group of
columns.

18. What are all the different types of indexes?

There are three types of indexes
1. Unique Index: Unique Indexes helps maintain data integrity by ensuring that no two rows of data in a table have identical key values. A unique index can be applied
automatically when a primary key is defined. It ensures that the values in the index key columns are unique.
2. Clustered Index: Clustered Index reorders the physical order of the table and search based on the key values. There will be only one clustered index per table.
3. Non-Clustered Index: Non-Clustered Index doesn’t alter the physical order of the table and maintains a logical order of the data. Each table can have many non-
clustered indexes.

19. What is the difference between Cluster and Non-Cluster Index?

The difference between the clustered and non-clustered index in SQL is as follows:
Clustered Index:
It is used for easy retrieval of data from the database and it is faster.
One table can only have one clustered index
It alters the way records are stored in a database as it sorts out rows by the column which is set to be clustered index.
Non-Clustered Index:
It is slower compared to the Clustered index.
One table can have multiple non clustered index
It doesn’t alter the way it was sorted but it creates a separate object within a table which points back to the original table rows after searching.

20. What is a View?

A view is like a subset of a table which is stored logically in a database. A view is a virtual table. It contains rows and columns similar to a real table. The fields in the
view are fields from one or more real tables. Views do not contain data of their own. They are used to restrict access to the database or to hide data complexity.

CREATE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name1, column_name2 FROM table_name WHERE CONDITION;
1
CREATE VIEW view_name AS SELECT column_name1, column_name2 FROM table_name WHERE CONDITION;
21. What are the advantages of Views?
Some of the advantages of Views are

Views occupy no space

Views are used to simply retrieve the results of complicated queries that need to be executed often.
Views are used to restrict access to the database or to hide data complexity.
22. What is a relationship and what are they?
Database Relationship is defined as the connection between the tables in a database. There are various database relationships namely
1. One to One Relationship
2. One to Many Relationship
3. Many to One Relationship
4. Self-Referencing Relationship

23. What is a query?

A database query is a request for data or information from a database table or combination of tables. A database query can be either a select query or an action
query.

24. What is a Subquery?

A Subquery is a SQL query within another query. It is a subset of a Select statement whose return values are used in filtering the conditions of the main query.

25. What are the types of subquery?

There are two types of subquery:
1. Correlated: In a SQL database query, a correlated subquery is a subquery that uses values from the outer query in order to complete. Because a correlated
subquery requires the outer query to be executed first, the correlated subquery must run once for every row in the outer query. It is also known as a synchronized
subquery.
2. Non-Correlated: A Non-correlated subquery is a subquery in which both outer query and inner query are independent to each other.

26. What is Synchronized Subquery?

Refer Correlated Subquery.

27. What is the difference between Local Variables and Global Variables?
Local Variables: Local variables can be used or exist only inside the function. These variables are not used or referred by any other functions. These are not known to
other functions. Variables can be created whenever that function is called.
Global Variables: Global variables can be used or exist throughout the program. Same variable declared in global cannot be used in functions. Global variables cannot
be created whenever that function is called.

28. What is data Integrity?

Data integrity defines the accuracy and consistency of the data stored in a database. It also defines integrity constraints to enforce business rules on the data when it
is entered into an application or a database.

29. What is Auto Increment in SQL?

It is one of the important Oracle DBA Interview Questions.
Auto increment keyword allows the user to create a unique number to get generated when a new record is inserted into a table. Auto increment keyword can be
used whenever Primary Key is used.

AUTO INCREMENT keyword is used in Oracle and IDENTITY keyword is used in SQL Server.

30. What is a temp table?

Ans. A temp table is a temporary storage structure to store the data temporarily.

31. How to avoid duplicate records in a query?

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT query is used to return only unique values. It eliminates all the duplicated values.
View Detailed Post

32. What is the difference between Rename and Alias?

‘Rename’ is a permanent name given to a table or column
‘Alias’ is a temporary name given to a table or column.
33. What is a Join?
Join is a query, which retrieves related columns or rows from multiple tables.

34. What are the different types of joins?

Types of Joins are as follows:

INNER JOIN
LEFT JOIN
RIGHT JOIN
OUTER JOIN
View Complete Post
35. What is the difference between an inner and outer join?
An inner join returns rows when there is at least some matching data between two (or more) tables that are being compared.
An outer join returns rows from both tables that include the records that are unmatched from one or both the tables.

36. What are SQL constraints?

SQL constraints are the set of rules that enforced some restriction while inserting, deleting or updating of data in the databases.

37. What are the constraints available in SQL?

Some of the constraints in SQL are – Primary Key, Foreign Key, Unique Key, SQL Not Null, Default, Check and Index constraint.

38. What is a Unique constraint?

A unique constraint is used to ensure that there are no duplication values in the field/column.

39. What is a Primary Key?

A PRIMARY KEY constraint uniquely identifies each record in a database table. All columns participating in a primary key constraint must not contain NULL values.

40. Can a table contain multiple PRIMARY KEY’s?

The short answer is no, a table is not allowed to contain multiple primary keys but it allows to have one composite primary key consisting of two or more columns.

41. What is a Composite PRIMARY KEY?

Composite PRIMARY KEY is a primary key created on more than one column (combination of multiple fields) in a table.

42. What is a FOREIGN KEY?

A FOREIGN KEY is a key used to link two tables together. A FOREIGN KEY in a table is linked with the PRIMARY KEY of another table.
43. Can a table contain multiple FOREIGN KEY’s?
A table can have many FOREIGN KEY’s.

44. What is the difference between UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY constraints?
There should be only one PRIMARY KEY in a table whereas there can be any number of UNIQUE Keys.
PRIMARY KEY doesn’t allow NULL values whereas Unique key allows NULL values.

45. What is a NULL value?

A field with a NULL value is a field with no value. A NULL value is different from a zero value or a field that contains spaces. A field with a NULL value is one that has
been left blank during record creation. Assume, there is a field in a table is optional and it is possible to insert a record without adding a value to the optional field
then the field will be saved with a NULL value.

46. What is the difference between NULL value, Zero, and Blank space?
As I mentioned earlier, Null value is field with no value which is different from zero value and blank space.
Null value is a field with no value.
Zero is a number
Blank space is the value we provide. The ASCII value of space is CHAR(32).

47. How to Test for NULL Values?

A field with a NULL value is a field with no value. NULL value cannot be compared with other NULL values. Hence, It is not possible to test for NULL values with
comparison operators, such as =, <, or <>. For this, we have to use the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL operators.

SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NULL;

1
SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NULL;
SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;
1
SELECT column_names FROM table_name WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;
48. What is SQL NOT NULL constraint?
NOT NULL constraint is used to ensure that the value in the filed cannot be a NULL

49. What is a CHECK constraint?

A CHECK constraint is used to limit the value that is accepted by one or more columns.

E.g. ‘Age’ field should contain only the value greater than 18.

CREATE TABLE EMP_DETAILS(EmpID int NOT NULL, NAME VARCHAR (30) NOT NULL, Age INT CHECK (AGE &gt; 18), PRIMARY KEY (EmpID));
1
CREATE TABLE EMP_DETAILS(EmpID int NOT NULL, NAME VARCHAR (30) NOT NULL, Age INT CHECK (AGE &gt; 18), PRIMARY KEY (EmpID));
50. What is a DEFAULT constraint?
DEFAULT constraint is used to include a default value in a column when no value is supplied at the time of inserting a record.

51. What is Normalization?

Normalization is the process of table design to minimize the data redundancy.

52. What are all the different Normalization?

There are different types of Normalization forms in SQL.

First Normal Form (1NF)

Second Normal Form (2NF)
Third Normal Form (3NF)
Boyce and Codd Normal Form (BCNF)
53. What is Denormalization?
Denormalization is a database optimization technique used to increase the performance of a database infrastructure. It involves in the process of adding redundant
data to one or more tables. In a normalized database, we store data in separate logical tables and attempt to minimize redundant data.

54. What is Stored procedure?

A Stored Procedure is a collection of SQL statements that have been created and stored in the database to perform a particular task. The stored procedure accepts
input parameters and processes them and returns a single value such as a number or text value or a result set (set of rows).

55. What is a Trigger?

A Trigger is a SQL procedure that initiates an action in response to an event (Insert, Delete or Update) occurs. When a new Employee is added to an Employee_Details
table, new records will be created in the relevant tables such as Employee_Payroll, Employee_Time_Sheet etc.,

56. Explain SQL Data Types?

In SQL Server, each column in a database table has a name and a data type. We need to decide what type of data to store inside each and every column of a table
while creating a SQL table.

View Detailed Post

57. What are the possible values that can be stored in a BOOLEAN data field?
TRUE and FALSE
58. What is the largest value that can be stored in a BYTE data field?
The largest number that can be represented in a single byte is 11111111 or 255. The number of possible values is 256 (i.e. 255 (the largest possible value) plus 1
(zero), or 28).

59. What are Operators available in SQL?

SQL Operator is a reserved word used primarily in an SQL statement’s WHERE clause to perform operations, such as arithmetic operations and comparisons. These
are used to specify conditions in an SQL statement.

There are three types of Operators.

Arithmetic Operators
Comparison Operators
Logical Operators
View Detailed Post

60. Which TCP/IP port does SQL Server run?

By default, it is 1433

61. List out the ACID properties and explain?

Following are the four properties of ACID. These guarantees that the database transactions are processed reliably.
Atomicity
Consistency
Isolation
Durability
62. Define the SELECT INTO statement.
The SELECT INTO statement copies data from one table into a new table. The new table will be created with the column-names and types as defined in the old table.
You can create new column names using the AS clause.

SELECT * INTO newtable FROM oldtable WHERE condition;

1
SELECT * INTO newtable FROM oldtable WHERE condition;
63. What is the difference between Delete, Truncate and Drop command?
The difference between the Delete, Truncate and Drop command is

Delete command is a DML command, it is used to delete rows from a table. It can be rolled back.
Truncate is a DDL command, it is used to delete all the rows from the table and free the space containing the table. It cant be rolled back.
Drop is a DDL command, it removes the complete data along with the table structure(unlike truncate command that removes only the rows). All the tables’ rows,
indexes, and privileges will also be removed.
64. What is the difference between Delete and Truncate?
The difference between the Delete, and Truncate are

DELETE TRUNCATE
Delete statement is used to delete rows from a table. It can be rolled back. Truncate statement is used to delete all the rows from the table and free the space
containing the table. It cant be rolled back.
We can use WHERE condition in DELETE statement and can delete required rows We cant use WHERE condition in TRUNCATE statement. So we cant delete
required rows alone
We can delete specific rows using DELETE We can only delete all the rows at a time using TRUNCATE
Delete is a DML command Truncate is a DDL command
Delete maintains log and performance is slower than Truncate Truncate maintains minimal log and performance wise faster
We need DELETE permission on Table to use DELETE command We need at least ALTER permission on the table to use TRUNCATE command
65. What is the difference between Union and Union All command?
This is one of the tricky SQL Interview Questions. Interviewer may ask you this question in another way as what are the advantages of Union All over Union.

Both Union and Union All concatenate the result of two tables but the way these two queries handle duplicates are different.

Union: It omits duplicate records and returns only distinct result set of two or more select statements.
Union All: It returns all the rows including duplicates in the result set of different select statements.

Performance wise Union All is faster than Union, Since Union All doesn’t remove duplicates. Union query checks the duplicate values which consumes some time to
remove the duplicate records.

Assume: Table1 has 10 records, Table2 has 10 records. Last record from both the tables are same.

If you run Union query.

SELECT * FROM Table1

UNION
SELECT * FROM Table2
1
2
3
SELECT * FROM Table1
UNION
SELECT * FROM Table2
Output: Total 19 records

If you run Union query.

SELECT * FROM Table1

UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM Table2
1
2
3
SELECT * FROM Table1
UNION ALL
SELECT * FROM Table2
Output: Total 20 records

Data type of all the columns in the two tables should be same.

66. What is CLAUSE in SQL?

SQL CLAUSE helps to limit the result set by providing a condition to an SQL Query. A CLAUSE helps to filter the rows from the entire set of records. SQL CLAUSES are
WHERE & HAVING.

67. What is the difference between Having and Where clause?

Where clause is used to fetch data from a database that specifies particular criteria whereas a Having clause is used along with ‘GROUP BY’ to fetch data that meets
particular criteria specified by the Aggregate functions. Where clause cannot be used with Aggregate functions, but the Having clause can.

68. What are aggregate functions in SQL?

SQL aggregate functions return a single value, calculated from values in a column. Some of the aggregate functions in SQL are as follows

AVG() – This function returns the average value

COUNT() – This function returns the number of rows
MAX() – This function returns the largest value
MIN() – This function returns the smallest value
ROUND() – This function rounds a numeric field to the number of decimals specified
SUM() – This function returns the sum
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69. What are string functions in SQL?

SQL string functions are used primarily for string manipulation. Some of the widely used SQL string functions are

LEN() – It returns the length of the value in a text field

LOWER() – It converts character data to lower case
UPPER() – It converts character data to upper case
SUBSTRING() – It extracts characters from a text field
LTRIM() – It is to remove all whitespace from the beginning of the string
RTRIM() – It is to remove all whitespace at the end of the string
CONCAT() – Concatenate function combines multiple character strings together
REPLACE() – To update the content of a string.
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70. What are user defined functions?

As the name suggests these are written by users as per their requirement. User-defined functions are the functions written to use a logic whenever required.

71. What are all types of user-defined functions?

There are three types of user-defined function, namely
• Scalar Functions
• Inline Table-valued functions
• Multi-statement valued functions

Scalar functions return unit, variant defined the return clause.

Inline Table-valued functions and Multi-statement valued functions return table as a return.

72. What is Self-Join?

A self-join is a join in which a table is joined with itself, especially when the table has a Foreign Key which references its own Primary Key.

73. What is Cross-Join?

Cross join produces a result set which is the number of rows in the first table multiplied by a number of rows in the second table if no WHERE clause is used along
with Cross join. This kind of result is known as Cartesian Product. If suppose, Where clause is used in cross join then the query will work like an Inner join.

74. What is Collation?

Collation is defined as a set of rules that determine how character data can be sorted as well as compared. Character data is sorted using rules that define the correct
character sequence along with options for specifying case-sensitivity, character width, accent marks, kana character types.

75. What are all different types of collation sensitivity?

Different types of collation sensitivity are as follows
Case Sensitivity: A and a and B and b.
Kana Sensitivity: Japanese Kana characters.
Width Sensitivity: Single byte character and double byte character.
Accent Sensitivity.

Practical SQL Interview Questions:

In this part, we will see SQL practice questions which contain both complex SQL queries interview questions and basic SQL Interview Questions. Let’s see important
SQL queries for interview

76. How to get unique records from a table?

By using DISTINCT keyword, we can get unique records from a table

SELECT DISTINCT Col1, Col2 from Table1

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SELECT DISTINCT Col1, Col2 from Table1
77. What is the command used to fetch the first 5 characters of a string?
Some of the ways to fetch the first 5 characters of a string are as follows:

SELECT RIGHT(EmpName,5) AS EmployeeName FROM Employee

SELECT SUBSTRING(EmpName,1,5) AS EmployeeName FROM Employee
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SELECT RIGHT(EmpName,5) AS EmployeeName FROM Employee
SELECT SUBSTRING(EmpName,1,5) AS EmployeeName FROM Employee
78. How to add new Employee details in an Employee_Details table with the following details
Employee_Name: John, Salary: 5500, Age: 29?

INSERT into Employee_Details (Employee_Name, Salary, Age) VALUES (‘John’, 5500 , 29);
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INSERT into Employee_Details (Employee_Name, Salary, Age) VALUES (‘John’, 5500 , 29);
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79. How to add a column ‘Salary’ to a table Employee_Details?

ALTER TABLE Employee_Details ADD (Salary);

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ALTER TABLE Employee_Details ADD (Salary);
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80. How to change a value of the field ‘Salary’ as 7500 for an Employee_Name ‘John’ in a table Employee_Details?

UPDATE Employee_Details set Salary = 7500 where Employee_Name = ‘John’;

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UPDATE Employee_Details set Salary = 7500 where Employee_Name = ‘John’;
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81. Write an SQL Query to select all records from the table?

Select * from table_name;

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Select * from table_name;
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82. How To Get List of All Tables From A DataBase?

To view the tables available on a particular DataBase

USE TestDB
GO
SELECT * FROM sys.Tables
GO
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USE TestDB
GO
SELECT * FROM sys.Tables
GO
83. Define SQL Delete statement.
The SQL Delete statement is used to delete records from a table.

DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value;

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DELETE FROM table_name WHERE some_column=some_value;
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84. Write the command to remove all Players named Sachin from the Players table.

DELETE from Players WHERE Player_Name = ‘Sachin’

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DELETE from Players WHERE Player_Name = ‘Sachin’
85. How to fetch values from TestTable1 that are not in TestTable2 without using NOT keyword?

--------------
| TestTable1 |
--------------
| 11 |
| 12 |
| 13 |
| 14 |
--------------
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2
3
4
5
6
7
8
--------------
| TestTable1 |
--------------
| 11 |
| 12 |
| 13 |
| 14 |
--------------
--------------
| TestTable2 |
--------------
| 11 |
| 12 |
--------------
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2
3
4
5
6
--------------
| TestTable2 |
--------------
| 11 |
| 12 |
--------------
By using the except keyword
SELECT * FROM TestTable1 EXCEPT SELECT * FROM TestTable2;
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SELECT * FROM TestTable1 EXCEPT SELECT * FROM TestTable2;
86. How to get each name only once from an employee table?
By using the DISTINCT keyword, we could get each name only once.

SELECT DISTINCT employee_name FROM employee_table;

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SELECT DISTINCT employee_name FROM employee_table;
87. How to rename a column in the output of SQL query?
By using SQL AS keyword

SELECT column_name AS new_name FROM table_name;

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SELECT column_name AS new_name FROM table_name;
88. What is the order of SQL SELECT?
Order of SQL SELECT statement is as follows

SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY.

89. How to display the current date in SQL?

In SQL, there is a built-in function called GetDate() which helps to return the current date.

SELECT GetDate();
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SELECT GetDate();
90. Write an SQL Query to find an Employee_Name whose Salary is equal or greater than 5000 from the below table Employee_Details.

| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| John | 2500 |
| Emma | 3500 |
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
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| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| John | 2500 |
| Emma | 3500 |
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
Syntax:

SELECT Employee_Name FROM Employee_Details WHERE Salary>=5000;

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SELECT Employee_Name FROM Employee_Details WHERE Salary>=5000;
Output:

| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
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3
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5
| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
91. Write an SQL Query to find list of Employee_Name start with ‘E’ from the below table

| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| John | 2500 |
| Emma | 3500 |
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| John | 2500 |
| Emma | 3500 |
| Mark | 5500 |
| Anne | 6500 |
-----------------------------
Syntax:

SELECT * FROM Employee_Details WHERE Employee_Name like 'E%';

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SELECT * FROM Employee_Details WHERE Employee_Name like 'E%';
Output:

| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| Emma | 3500 |
-----------------------------
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| Employee_Name | Salary|
-----------------------------
| Emma | 3500 |
-----------------------------
92. Write SQL SELECT query that returns the FirstName and LastName from Employee_Details table.

SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Employee_Details;

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SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM Employee_Details;
93. How to rename a Table?

SP_RENAME TABLE 'SCOREBOARD', 'OVERALLSCORE'

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SP_RENAME TABLE 'SCOREBOARD', 'OVERALLSCORE'
To rename Table Name & Column Name

sp_rename OldTableName,NewTableName
sp_rename 'TableName.OldColumnName', 'NewColumnName'
1
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sp_rename OldTableName,NewTableName
sp_rename 'TableName.OldColumnName', 'NewColumnName'
94. How to select all the even number records from a table?
To select all the even number records from a table:

Select * from table where id % 2 = 0

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Select * from table where id % 2 = 0

95. How to select all the odd number records from a table?
To select all the odd number records from a table:

Select * from table where id % 2 != 0

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Select * from table where id % 2 != 0
96. What is the SQL CASE statement?
SQL Case statement allows embedding an if-else like clause in the SELECT statement.

97. Can you display the result from the below table TestTable based on the criteria M,m as M and F, f as F and Null as N and g, k, I as U

SELECT Gender from TestTable

1
SELECT Gender from TestTable
| Gender |
------------
| M |
| F |
| NULL |
| m |
| f |
| g |
| H |
| i |
------------
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9
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11
| Gender |
------------
| M |
| F |
| NULL |
| m |
| f |
| g |
| H |
| i |
------------
By using the below syntax we could achieve the output as required.

SELECT Gender,
case
when Gender='i' then 'U'
when Gender='g' then 'U'
when Gender='H' then 'U'
when Gender='NULL' then 'N'
else upper(Gender)
end as newgender from TestTable GROUP BY Gender
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SELECT Gender,
case
when Gender='i' then 'U'
when Gender='g' then 'U'
when Gender='H' then 'U'
when Gender='NULL' then 'N'
else upper(Gender)
end as newgender from TestTable GROUP BY Gender
98. What will be the result of the query below?

select case when null = null then 'True' else 'False' end as Result;
1
select case when null = null then 'True' else 'False' end as Result;
This query returns “False”. In the above question, we could see null = null is not the proper way to compare a null value. To compare a value with null, we use IS
operator in SQL.

So the correct way is as follows

select case when null is null then 'True' else 'False' end as Result;
1
select case when null is null then 'True' else 'False' end as Result;
99. What will be the result of the query below?

select case when null is null then 'Queries In SQL Server' else 'Queries In MySQL' end as Result;
1
select case when null is null then 'Queries In SQL Server' else 'Queries In MySQL' end as Result;
This query will returns “Queries In SQL Server”.

100. How do you update F as M and M as F from the below table TestTable?

| Name | Gender |
------------------------
| John | M |
| Emma | F |
| Mark | M |
| Anne | F |
------------------------
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2
3
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5
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7
| Name | Gender |
------------------------
| John | M |
| Emma | F |
| Mark | M |
| Anne | F |
------------------------
By using the below syntax we could achieve the output as required.

UPDATE TestTable SET Gender = CASE Gender WHEN 'F' THEN 'M' ELSE 'F' END
1
UPDATE TestTable SET Gender = CASE Gender WHEN 'F' THEN 'M' ELSE 'F' END
101. Describe SQL comments?
Single Line Comments: Single line comments start with two consecutive hyphens (–) and ended by the end of the line
Multi-Line Comments: Multi-line comments start with /* and end with */. Any text between /* and */ will be ignored.

102. What is the difference between NVL function, IFNULL function, and ISNULL function?
These three functions work in the same way. These functions are used to replace NULL value with another value. Oracle developers use NVL function, MySQL
developers use IFNULL function and SQL Server developers use ISNULL function.
Assume, some of the values in a column are NULL.
If you run below statement, you will get result as NULL

SELECT col1 * (col2 + col3) FROM Table1

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SELECT col1 * (col2 + col3) FROM Table1
Suppose any of the value in col3 is NULL then as I said your result will be NULL.

To overcome this we use NVL() function, IFNULL() function, ISNULL() Function.

103. What is Database Testing?

It is AKA back-end testing or data testing.
Database testing involves in verifying the integrity of data in the front end with the data present in the back end. It validates the schema, database tables, columns,
indexes, stored procedures, triggers, data duplication, orphan records, junk records. It involves in updating records in a database and verifying the same on the front
end.

104. What is the difference between GUI Testing and Database Testing?

GUI Testing is AKA User Interface Testing or Front-end testing

Database Testing is AKA back-end testing or data testing.
GUI Testing deals with all the testable items that are open to the user to interaction such as Menus, Forms etc.
Database Testing deals with all the testable items that are generally hidden from the user.
The tester who is performing GUI Testing doesn’t need to know Structured Query Language
The tester who is performing Database Testing needs to know Structured Query Language
GUI Testing includes invalidating the text boxes, check boxes, buttons, drop-downs, forms etc., majorly the look and feel of the overall application
Database Testing involves in verifying the integrity of data in the front end with the data present in the back end. It validates the schema, database tables, columns,
indexes, stored procedures, triggers, data duplication, orphan records, junk records. It involves in updating records in a database and verifying the same on the front
end.