Cracking the Coding Interview

70 Database Questions and Answers

Introduction

Conclusion

About Author

 
This book is dedicated to all database programmers.
 
Copyright © 2015-2035 Chinmoy Mukherjee
All rights reserved. No text of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without
written permission from the publisher or author, except in
the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages
embodied in critical articles or in a review.
Introduction
We present 70 interesting database interview questions and
answers for readers to practice and crack any database
interview. The reader is encouraged to try to solve these
questions himself/herself before checking the answers.
Database Interview Question-1. What is “index” used for?
 
Answer: Index is a lookup table for database records in
physical disk. Index makes record searching faster, it is
similar to book index. Below figure explains the concept of
index pictorially.
Database Interview Question-2. When to not use index?
 
Answer: Index should not be used for following cases:
· If number of records are small
· If records need to be updated/inserted/deleted on a daily
basis
· If column value can be null very often
 
Database Interview Question-3. What is tempdb?
 
Answer: tempdb is temporary database which can be used
by all users/processes to maintain temporary tables, etc.
Content of tempdb is erased when database server is
restarted.
Database Interview Question-4. How will you find out all the
stored procedures present in a database?
 
Answer: SELECT object_name, object_type
FROM user_objects
WHERE object_type = 'PROCEDURE'
Database Interview Question-5. What are the differences
between TRUNCATE and DELETE?
 
Answer: TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The
operation cannot be rolled back, also triggers are not
executed for TRUNCATE
Database Interview Question-6. What is the difference
between IN and EXISTS ?
 
Answer: EXISTS checks if any such record exists. e.g.
SELECT * FROM Orders o WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT * FROM Products p where p.ProductNumber =
o.ProductNumber)
IN is used to find presence of a record among multiple
records. e.g.
SELECT * FROM Orders WHERE ProductNumber IN (1, 10,
100)
Database Interview Question-7. What database parameters
can be tuned for performance?"
 
Answer: Buffer pool, Log level, etc.
Database Interview Question-8. What is bcp?
 
Answer: bcp in Sybase helps to copy table into a flat file and
vice versa.
Database Interview Question-9. Suppose you are logged
onto a database DB1. What query will you run in DB1 to
retrieve data from the table table1 present in another
database DB2?
 
Answer: We can use either select * from DB2..table1 or use
DB2;select * from table1
Database Interview Question-10. What are main Open
source databases?
Answer: PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.
Database Interview Question-11. What is a View?
 
Answer: A view is the representation of a SQL statement
that is stored in memory so that it can easily be re-used as
example
CREATE VIEW [MyProductList] AS
SELECT ProductID,ProductName
FROM Products
WHERE Discontinued=No
SELECT * FROM [MyProductList]
Database Interview Question-12. There is a table
“Employee” having two columns – Emp_Name and
Office_Locations. Write a query that will display all office
locations and the number of employees in each of these
locations.
 
Answer: Select Office_Locations, COUNT(Emp_Name) FROM
Employee GROUP BY Office_Locations;
Database Interview Question-13. Write a query to get the
employees, who are also managers
 
Answer: Select name from employees where id in (select
manager from employees)
Or
Select e1.name from employees e1 inner join employees e2
ON e1.id = e2.manager
Database Interview Question-14. How to get name of
database?
 
Answer: select db_name();
Database Interview Question-15. How to get database
version?
 
Answer: select @@version
Database Interview Question-16. If table is truncated, can it
be roll backed?
Answer: No
Database Interview Question-17. What is clustered index?
How many Clustered indexes can you have on a table.
 
Answer: A clustered index physically sorts the records on
the disk based on the index. Hence only one clustered index
per table is feasible
Database Interview Question-18. What is “MINUS” used for?
 
Answer: MINUS returns only those results from first result
set which are not present in second result set
Database Interview Question-19. Write a query to get all the
employees who are managers
 
Answer: select distinct e.NAME as Employee, m.NAME as
Manager from EMPLOYEE e inner join EMPLOYEE m on e.ID =
m.MANAGER;
Database Interview Question-20. Write a query to get all the
employees who do not have managers
 
Answer: Select ID, NAME from employee where MANAGER is
NULL;
Database Interview Question-21. Suppose a table X has 3
duplicate rows and you want to delete 2 redundant rows
ID Name Level
Jack
101 3
Jack
101 3
Jack
101 3
 
Answer: BEGIN; set rowcount 2; delete from X; END;
Database Interview Question-22. There is a table
“Employee” having two columns – Emp_Name and
Office_Locations. Write a query that will display all office
locations having more than 100 employees.
 
Answer: select Office_Locations from (select
Office_Locations, COUNT(Emp_name) as count1 from
employee_table GROUP BY Office_Locations) HAVING
count1>=100;
Database Interview Question-23. Can a table span multiple
partitions?
Answer: Yes
 
Database Interview Question-24. What is foreign key?
Answer: Foreign key is a column or a combination of
columns that is used to establish and enforce a link between
two table
Database Interview Question-25. How to remove duplicates
from a table?
 
SELECT DISTINCT * INTO NODUPLICATES FROM DUPLICATES;
DROP TABLE DUPLICATES;
RENAME TABLE NODUPLICATES TO DUPLICATES
Database Interview Question-26. How do you measure
performance of a stored proc?
 
Answer: There are three ways to measure performance of
stored procedure.
First way:
DECLARE @start datetime, @stop datetime
 
SET @start = GETDATE()
 
EXEC mystoredprocedure
 
SET @stop = GETDATE()
Second way:
SET STATISTICS TIME ON
 
EXEC mystoredprocedure
Third way:
SET STATISTICS IO ON
 
EXEC mystoredprocedure
Database Interview Question-27. How do you define
constraints?
 
Answer: CREATE TABLE myTable
(
column_name1 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name2 data_type(size) constraint_name,
column_name3 data_type(size) constraint_name,
....
);
As example, we have “NOT NULL” and “primary key”
constraints in below table
CREATE TABLE Persons
(
ID int NOT NULL,
LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL,
FirstName varchar(255),
Address varchar(255),
City varchar(255),
CONSTRAINT pk_ID PRIMARY KEY (ID)
)
Database Interview Question-28. What all constraints are
supported by MYSQL?
 
Answer: We have the following constraints:
A. NOT NULL – The constraint ensures that a column cannot
store NULL value
B. UNIQUE - The constraint ensures that column cannot
have duplicate value
C. PRIMARY KEY – This constraint is combination of UNIQUE
and NOT NULL
D. FOREIGN KEY – This constraint ensures that referential
integrity among multiple table is maintained
E. CHECK - This constraint ensures that the value in a
column meets a specific condition
F. DEFAULT - This constraint specifies a default value for a
column
Database Interview Question-29. What are the differences
between WHERE clause and HAVING clause?
Answer: WHERE clause cannot be used with aggregates, but
the HAVING clause can be used.
WHERE is less expensive than that of HAVING
Database Interview Question-30. Write a simple Stored
Procedure.
Answer: Here is a sample stored procedure
CREATE PROCEDURE
GetEmployeenameEmailInOutputVariable
(
 
@ID INT, --Input parameter
@NAME VARCHAR (200) OUT, -- Output parameter to collect
name
@EMAIL VARCHAR (200)OUT -- Output Parameter to
collectemail
)
AS
BEGIN
SELECT @NAME= Firstname+' '+Lastname,
@EMAIL=EMAIL FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE ID=@ID
END
Database Interview Question-31. What are the
disadvantages of normalization?
 
Answer: More one normalizes database, more tables, more
joins are required and takes lot of time to retrieve required
records
Database Interview Question-32. Write SQL query to fetch
all bank account details whose name starts with “Shyam”
 
Answer: Select * from account where name LIKE
‘%Shyam%’;
Database Interview Question-33. Write SQL query to fetch
top 3 accounts having highest balance
 
Answer: SYBASE: select top 3 * from account order by
balance desc;
MYSQL: select * from employee order by salary desc limit
1,3
Oracle: select * from employee order by salary where
rownum < 3
Database Interview Question-34. Write SQL query to fetch
bottom 3 accounts having lowest balance
 
Answer: SYBASE: select top 3 * from account order by
balance asc;
MYSQL: select * from employee order by salary asc limit 1,3
Oracle: select * from account order by balance asc where
rownum<3;
Database Interview Question-35. Write SQL query to update
balance of all account with 6% interest
 
Answer: UPDATE account SET BALANCE = BALANCE * 1.06;
Database Interview Question-36. Write SQL query to find out
total balances maintained in whole bank
 
Answer: SELECT SUM(balance) AS total FROM account;
Database Interview Question-37. Write SQL query to find out
number of customers having balance 100000.
 
Answer: SELECT COUNT(balance) AS "Number of customers"
FROM account WHERE balance = 100000;
Database Interview Question-38. Write a SQL query to
return first 100 account records.
 
Answer: select top 100 * from account;
Database Interview Question-39. Write SQL query to return
count of customers having balance between 100000 to
200000 group by balance
 
Answer: select balance, COUNT(*) from account where
balance > 100000 AND balance < 200000 GROUP BY
balance
Database Interview Question-40. In SQL which runs faster
“sub queries” or join?
 
Answer: Join
Database Interview Question-41. Which of the following SQL
clauses is used to sort a result set?
 

1. SORT
 

2. ORDER BY
 

3. ARRANGE
 

4. SORTED BY
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-42. The FROM SQL keyword is
used to
 
A. Specify the table we are modifying.
B. Specify the table we are inserting data in.
C. Specify the table we are selecting or deleting from.
 
Answer: C
Database Interview Question-43. What does ACID stand for?
A. Access. Constraint. Index. Data.
B. Atomicity. Consistency. Isolation. Durability.
C. Access. Consistency. Isolation. Data.
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-44. Which of the following SQL
statements deletes all rows in table called SalesData?
 
A. DELETE * FROM SalesData
B. DELETE FROM SalesData
C. DELETE SalesData
D. DELETE ALL SalesData
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-45. Which of the following SQL
clauses is used to select data from 2 or more tables?
 
A. HAVING
B. WHERE
C. JOIN
 
Answer: JOIN
Database Interview Question-46. The INNER JOIN clause…
 
A. returns all rows that have matching value in the field on
which the 2 tables are joined.
 
B. returns all rows from 2 tables.
C. returns only the rows from the first table, which have
non-matching values with the second table in the field on
 which the 2 tables are joined.
 
Answer: A
Database Interview Question-47. The TRUNCATE TABLE…
A. checks if the table has primary key specified
B. deletes all rows from a table
C. deletes the table
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-48. The table columns are also
known as

1. Attributes
 

2. Fields
 

3. Records
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-49. The UNION SQL clause can
be used with…
 

1. the SELECT clause only

 

2. the UPDATE clause only

 

3. the DELETE and UPDATE clauses

 

4. none of the other three

 
Answer: A
Database Interview Question-50. The HAVING clause can be
used only with
 

1. JOIN clause.
 

2. INSERT clause
 

3. SELECT clause
 

4. DELETE clause.
 
Answer: C
Database Interview Question-51. Which SQL keyword is
used to retrieve only unique values?
 

1. DISTINCT
 

2. DISTINCTIVE
 

3. DIFFERENT
 

4. UNIQUE
 
Answer: A
Database Interview Question-52. Which of the following is
true?
 
 1. TRUNCATE TABLE has to be used along with a WHERE
clause
 

2. TRUNCATE TABLE deletes table from a database

 

3. TRUNCATE TABLE is identical to DELETE statement

without WHERE clause and both remove all rows in a
table.
 
 
Answer: C
Database Interview Question-53. What does the FROM SQL
keyword specify?
 

1. The FROM SQL keyword specifies the tables, views, and

joined tables used in SELECT, UPDATE and DELETE SQL
statements.
 

2. The FROM SQL keyword specifies a search condition.

 

3. The FROM SQL keyword specifies a column list.

 
Answer: A
Database Interview Question-54. What is the purpose of the
SQL AS clause?

1. The AS SQL clause is used change the name of a column

in the result set or to assign a name to a derived
column.
2. The AS clause defines a search condition.
3. The AS clause is used with the JOIN clause only.
 
Answer: A
Database Interview Question-55. What does the UNION
operator do?
 

1. The UNION operator sorts the selected result set.

 

2. The UNION operator combines the results of two or

more queries into a one result that includes all the rows
from the queries in the union.
 

3. The UNION operator behaves the same as the JOIN SQL

clause.
 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-56. The UPDATE SQL clause
can…
 

1. update only one row at a time.

 

2. update more than one row at a time.

 

3. delete only one row at a time.

 

4. delete more than one row at a time.

 
Answer: B
Database Interview Question-57. What all can be optimized
in Database
 
Answer: Following parameters can be optimized
 1. Memory
· Database buffer cache · Redo log buffer · Shared pool ·
Large pool

2. Disk I/O: Database files needs to be properly sized and

placed to provide maximum disk subsystem throughput
3. Database Contention: Check whether database locks,
latches and wait events can be removed/moved
4. Operating System: Monitor and tune operating system
CPU, I/O and memory utilization
Database Interview Question-58. What is the command to
check database statistics?
 
Answer: SHOW STATISTICS
Database Interview Question-59. How to set storage engine
for a table
Answer: SET storage_engine=MYISAM; or
CREATE TABLE test (id INTEGER) ENGINE = MYISAM;
 
Database Interview Question-60. Did you perform any
database optimization tasks?
 
Answer: Yes, please explain with example, like you created a
new index or added index in an existing query to reduce
“query execution” time, if you are working in database, you
must be able to come up with a real life example from your
database project
Database Interview Question-61. How to find out server
name
 
Answer: select @@servername
Database Interview Question-62. Can primary key be null?
 
Answer: No
Database Interview Question-63. Create an employee table
with ID, Name and Salary, insert 10 records into the
 employee table
 
Answer: create table TEST(employeeid INTEGER,
employeename VARCHAR(20), employeesalary INTEGER);
insert into TEST values(1,'A',1000);
insert into TEST values(2,'B', 1000);
insert into TEST values(3,'C', 1000);
insert into TEST values(4,'D', 1000);
insert into TEST values(5,'E', 1000);
insert into TEST values(6,'F', 1000);
insert into TEST values(7,'G', 1000);
insert into TEST values(8,'H', 1000);
insert into TEST values(9,'I', 1000);
insert into TEST values(10,'J',4);
 
Database Interview Question-64. Explain constraint with
example
 
Answer: Create table EMPLOYEE(
ID INTEGER,
NAME STRING,
SALARY INTEGER not null constraint check_salary SALARY (
> 0) and (SALARY < 1000))
Answer: Query plan is collection of steps required to fetch
records corresponding to the query
Below set of questions are left as an exercise for the reader.
Write SQL query to create following tables
Employee (ID, NAME, LOCATION, DEPARTMENT,
BANKACCOUNTID, SEX)
Bank Account (BANKACCOUNTID, OPENINGDATE, BALANCE)
Insert 5 employee (male and female) details for each of 5
departments (e.g. Finance, IT, Admin, Facility, Legal) and
corresponding bank account details.
 
Database Interview Question-65. Write SQL query to retrieve
all employees having bank balance more than 10000.
Database Interview Question-66. Write SQL query to
increase balance of all female employees by 5000.
Database Interview Question-67. Write SQL query to find out
count of all male employees having balance between
5000 to 1000
Database Interview Question-68. Increase balance of each
of the above employees by 1000
Database Interview Question-69. Write SQL query to find the
total balance of all employees working in finance
department
Database Interview Question-70. Write SQL query to find
department wise average balance for employee.
Conclusion
 
Hope this database interview questions and answers book
makes you better prepared for next interview. Please devote
some time to write new database queries/stored procedures
on a daily basis. This will help you to keep up to date with
latest database technology developments.
About Author
 
Chinmoy is an author, innovator, entrepreneur and solution
architect. He has written dozen books on "software
technology", "social science" and "adult coloring". He loves
mentoring people. Please feel free to contact him at
http://www.linkedin.com/in/chinmoym