SQL Interview Questions

● You can ask SQL questions: fuzzy matching and regular expressions can help
you search for information even with incorrect spellings.
● SQL is a shapeshifter. With the ability to transform data dynamically, PIVOT
and UNPIVOT can transform data from column to row and vice versa.

Basic SQL Interview Questions for Freshers

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1. Define Database.

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A database is an organized collection of structured data that can be stored, easily
accessed, managed, and retrieved digitally from a remote or local computer
system. Databases can be complex and vast and are built with a fixed design and
modeling approach. While smaller databases can be stored on a file system, large
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ones are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage.

2. What is the difference between DBMS and RDBMS?

A database management system or DBMS is system software that can create,

retrieve, update, and manage a database. It ensures the consistency of data and
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sees to it that it is organized and easily accessible by acting as an interface between

the database and its end-users or application software. DBMS can be classified into
four types:
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● Hierarchical Database: It has a treelike structure with the data being

stored in a hierarchical format. A parent in a hierarchical database can
have multiple children, but a child can have only one parent.
● Network Database: This type of database is presented as a graph that
can have many-to-many relationships, allowing entities to have multiple
connections.

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● Relational Database: It is the most widely used and easy-to-use database.

It is represented as a table and the values in the columns and rows are
related to each other.
● Object-Oriented Database: The data values and operations are stored as
objects in this type of database, and these objects have multiple
relationships among them.

An RDBMS stores data in the form of a collection of tables. The relations are
defined between the common fields of these tables. MS SQL Server, MySQL, IBM

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DB2, Oracle, and Amazon Redshift are all based on RDBMS.

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DBMS Vs. RDBMS

Parameters DBMS RDBMS

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Access Data elements need Multiple data elements can be
to be accessed accessed at the same time
separately

Relationship No relationship Data in tables are related to each

Between Data between data other
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Normalization It is not present It is present

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Distributed It does not support It supports distributed database

Database distributed
databases.

Data Storage Data is stored in Data is stored in a tabular structure

Format either a navigational with headers being the column
or hierarchical form names and the rows containing the
corresponding values

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Amount of Data It deals with a small It deals with a larger amount of data
quantity of data

Data Redundancy It is prevalent Keys and indexes do not allow data

redundancy

Number of Users It supports a single It supports multiple users

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user

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Data Fetching It is slower for large It is speedy due to the relational
amounts of data approach

Data Security Low-security levels Multiple levels of data security exist

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when it comes to
data manipulation

Software and Low High

Hardware
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Requirements

Examples XML, Window MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft

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Registry, etc. Access, PostgreSQL, etc.

3. What is SQL?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is the standard language for RDBMS
and is useful in handling organized data with entities or variables with relations
between them. SQL is used for communicating with databases.

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According to ANSI, SQL is used for maintaining RDBMS and for performing different
operations of data manipulation on different datatypes by using the features of
SQL. It is a database language that is used for the creation and deletion of
databases. It can also be used, among other things, to fetch and modify the rows of
a table.

4. What is normalization and what are its types?

Normalization is used to reduce data redundancy and dependency by organizing

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fields and tables in databases. It involves constructing tables and setting up

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relationships between those tables according to certain rules. The redundancy and
inconsistent dependency can be removed using these rules to make normalization
more flexible.

The different forms of normalization are as follows:

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● First Normal Form: If every attribute in a relation is single-valued, then it
is in the first normal form. If it contains a composite or multi-valued
attribute, it violates the first normal form.
● Second Normal Form: A relation is said to be in the second normal form
if it has met the conditions for the first normal form and does not have
any partial dependency, i.e., it does not have a non-prime attribute that
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relies on any proper subset of any candidate key of the table. Often, the
solution to this problem is to specify a single-column primary key.
● Third Normal Form: A relation is in the third normal form when it meets
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the conditions for the second normal form and there is not any transitive
dependency between the non-prime attributes, i.e., all the non-prime
attributes are decided only by the candidate keys of the relation and not
by other non-prime attributes.
● Boyce-Codd Normal Form: A relation is in the Boyce-Codd normal form
or BCNF if it meets the conditions of the third normal form, and for every
functional dependency, the left-hand side is a super key. A relation is in
BCNF if and only if X is a super key for every non-trivial functional
dependency in form X –>; Y.

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5. What is denormalization?

Denormalization is the opposite of normalization; redundant data is added to

speed up complex queries that have multiple tables that need to be joined.
Optimization of the read performance of a database is attempted by adding or
grouping redundant copies of data.

Know the most common methods for executing function in sql by exploring our blog on
how to run function in SQL!

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6. What are Joins in SQL?

JOINS in SQL is used to combine rows from two or more tables based on a related
column between them. Various types of JOINS can be used to retrieve data,
depending on the relationship between tables.
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There are four types of Joins:

● Inner Join
● Left Join
● Right Join
● Full Join
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Check out the Postgre Interview Questions to prepare for your next interview.

7. Explain the types of SQL joins.

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There are four different types of SQL Joins:

(Inner) Join: An inner join is used to retrieve the records that have matching values
in tables involved in the join. It combines rows from two tables based on a related
column and returns only the matching record. Inner Join is mostly used to join
queries.

1 SELECT *

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2 FROM Table_A

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3 JOIN Table_B;

4 SELECT *
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5 FROM Table_A

6 INNER JOIN Table_B;

Left (Outer) Join: The use of left join is to retrieve all the records or rows from the
left and the matched ones from the right.
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1 SELECT *
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2 FROM Table_A A

3 LEFT JOIN Table_B B

4 ON A.col = B.col;

Right (Outer) Join: The use of Right join is to retrieve all the records or rows from
the right and the matched ones from the left.

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1 SELECT *

2 FROM Table_A A

3 RIGHT JOIN Table_B B

4 ON A.col = B.col;

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Full (Outer) Join: The use of Full join is to retrieve the records that have a match

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either in the left table or the right table.

1 SELECT *
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2 FROM Table_A A

3 FULL JOIN Table_B B

4 ON A.col = B.col;
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Ace your next SQL interview with our expert-written Sql Join Query Interview
Questions.
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8. What are the subsets of SQL?

SQL queries are divided into four main categories:

● Data Definition Language (DDL)

DDL queries are made up of SQL commands that can be used to define
the structure of the database and modify it.
○ CREATE: Used to create databases, tables, indexes, views, and
other database objects.

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○ DROP: Used to delete databases, tables, views, and other

database objects.
○ ALTER TABLE … DROP COLUMN: Used to remove a column
from an existing table.
○ ALTER: Used to modify the structure of an existing table, such
as adding, deleting, or modifying columns.
○ TRUNCATE: Used to remove all records from a table but
retains the table’s structure for future use.
○ ALTER TABLE … ADD COLUMN: Used to add a new column to

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an existing table.

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● Data Manipulation Language (DML)
These SQL queries are used to manipulate data in a database.
○ SELECT INTO: Selects data from one table and inserts it into
another
○ INSERT: Inserts data or records into a table
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○ UPDATE: Updates the value of any record in the database
○ DELETE: Deletes records from a table
● Data Control Language (DCL)
These SQL queries manage the access rights and permission control of
the database.
○ GRANT:Grants access rights to database objects
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○ REVOKE:Withdraws permission from database objects

● Transaction Control Language (TCL)
TCL is a set of commands that essentially manages the transactions in a
database and the changes made by the DML statements. TCL allows
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statements to be grouped together into logical transactions.

○ COMMIT:
○ Commits an irreversible transaction, i.e., the previous image of
the database before the transaction cannot be retrieved.
When a transaction is committed using the COMMIT
statement in SQL, it permanently saves the changes made
within the transaction to the database. Once committed, the
changes cannot be rolled back or undone, and the previous
state of the database before the transaction cannot be

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retrieved without restoring from a backup or utilizing other

data recovery methods.
○ ROLLBACK:Reverts the steps in a transaction in case of an
error
○ SAVEPOINT:Sets a savepoint in the transaction to which
rollback can be executed
○ SET TRANSACTION:Sets the characteristics of the transaction

Discover the syntax for not equal to operator in SQL as well as how to use this

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operator to compare and omit the value in the data.

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9. What are the applications of SQL?

The major applications of SQL are listed below:

● Writing data integration scripts

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● Setting and running analytical queries
● Retrieving subsets of information within a database for analytics
applications and transaction processing
● Adding, updating, and deleting rows and columns of data in a database

10. What is a DEFAULT constraint?

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Constraints in SQL are used to specify some sort of rules for processing data and
limiting the type of data that can go into a table. Now, let us understand what a
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default constraint is.

A default constraint is used to define a default value for a column so that it is added
to all new records if no other value is specified. For example, if we assign a default
constraint for the E_salary column in the following table and set the default value to
85000, all the entries in this column will have the default value of 85000, unless no
other value has been assigned during the insertion.

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Now, let us go through how to set a default constraint. We will start by creating a

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new table and adding a default constraint to one of its columns.

Code:

create table stu1(s_id int, s_name varchar(20), s_marks int

1
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default 50)

2
select *stu1

Output:
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Now, we will insert the records.

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Code:

1 insert into stu1(s_id,s_name) values(1,’Sam’)

2 insert into stu1(s_id,s_name) values(2,’Bob’)

3 insert into stu1(s_id,s_name) values(3,’Matt’)

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4 select *from stu1

Output:

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Also, learn from our blog on MySQL Interview Questions and Answers to crack any

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Interview.

11. What is a UNIQUE constraint?

Unique constraints ensure that all the values in a column are different. For
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example, if we assign a unique constraint to the e_name column in the following
table, then every entry in this column should have a unique value.
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First, we will create a table.

1 create table stu2(s_id int unique, s_name varchar(20))

Now, we will insert the records.

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1 insert into stu2 values(1,’Julia’)

2 insert into stu2 values(2,’Matt’)

3 insert into stu2 values(3,’Anne’)

Output:

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A PRIMARY KEY constraint will automatically have a UNIQUE constraint. However,
unlike a PRIMARY KEY, multiple UNIQUE constraints are allowed per table.
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12. What is meant by table and field in SQL?

An organized data in the form of rows and columns is said to be a table. Simply put,
it is a collection of related data in a table format.
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Here rows and columns are referred to as tuples and attributes, and the number of
columns in a table is referred to as a field. In the record, fields represent the
characteristics and attributes and contain specific information about the data.
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Prepare yourself for PostgreSQL from our PostgreSQL interview questions blog.

13. What is a primary key?

A primary key is used to uniquely identify all table records. It cannot have NULL
values and must contain unique values. Only one primary key can exist in one table,
and it may have single or multiple fields, making it a composite key.

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Now, we will write a query to demonstrate the use of a primary key for the
employee table:

1 //

2 CREATE TABLE Employee (

3 ID int NOT NULL,

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4 Employee_name varchar(255) NOT NULL,

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5 Employee_designation varchar(255),

6 Employee_Age int,
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7 PRIMARY KEY (ID)

8 );

14. What is a unique key?

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A key that can accept only a null value and cannot accept duplicate values is called a
unique key. The role of a unique key is to make sure that all columns and rows are
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unique.

The syntax for a unique key will be the same as the primary key. So, the query using
a unique key for the employee table will be as follows:

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1 //

2 CREATE TABLE Employee (

3 ID int NOT NULL,

4 Employee_name varchar(255) NOT NULL,

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5 Employee_designation varchar(255),

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6 Employee_Age int,

7 UNIQUE(ID)
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8 );

15. What is the difference between a primary key and a

unique key?
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Both primary and unique keys carry unique values but a primary key cannot have a
null value, while a unique key can. In a table, there cannot be more than one
primary key, but there can be multiple unique keys.
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16. What is a foreign key?

A foreign key is an attribute or a set of attributes that reference the primary key of
some other table. Basically, a foreign key is used to link together two tables
together.

Let us create a foreign key for the following table:

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1 CREATE TABLE Orders (
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2 OrderID int NOT NULL,

3 OrderNumber int NOT NULL,

4 PersonID int,
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5 PRIMARY KEY (OrderID),

6 FOREIGN KEY (PersonID) REFERENCES Persons(PersonID)

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7 )

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17. What are the benefits of SQL database over NoSQL

database?

SQL (Structured Query Language) and NoSQL (Not Only SQL) are different database
management systems, each offering unique advantages. Here, we will discuss the
benefits of SQL over NoSQL in a comprehensive manner.

1. Schema and Data Consistency: SQL databases enforce a predefined

schema, ensuring the data is structured and follows specific rules. It

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results in a higher level of data consistency, reducing the risk of data

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corruption or inconsistencies. On the other hand, NoSQL databases are
schema-less, allowing for more flexibility but potentially sacrificing
consistency.
2. ACID Compliance: SQL databases are designed to follow the ACID
(Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) principles. These properties
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guarantee transactional integrity, ensuring that database operations are
reliable and maintain data integrity. NoSQL databases may sacrifice
some of these properties for scalability and performance advantages.
3. Advanced Querying Capabilities:SQL databases provide a rich set of
powerful querying capabilities through SQL. It allows for complex joins,
aggregations, filtering, and data sorting. SQL queries are expressive and
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can handle complex relationships between tables efficiently. NoSQL

databases may have limited querying capabilities, often requiring
additional programming logic to achieve similar results.
4. Data Integrity and Validation:SQL databases offer built-in mechanisms
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for data integrity and validation through constraints, such as unique

keys, foreign key relationships, and check constraints. These features
ensure data quality and prevent invalid or inconsistent data insertion.
NoSQL databases may require additional application-level logic to
enforce data integrity.
5. Mature Ecosystem and Tooling:SQL databases have been around for
decades and have a well-established ecosystem with many tools,
libraries, and frameworks. It includes robust backup and recovery
solutions, monitoring tools, and mature integration options. Being

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relatively newer, NoSQL databases may have a more limited tooling and
ecosystem.

Interested in SQL? Check out this blog on How to Become an SQL Developer to get ahead
in your career.

18. Explain the different types of SQL commands.

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Types of SQL Languages

● DDL: DDL is that part of SQL that defines the data structure of the
database in the initial stage when the database is about to be created. It
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is mainly used to create and restructure database objects. Commands in

DDL are:
○ Create table
○ Alter table
○ Drop table
● DML: DML is used to manipulate already existing data in a database, i.e.,
it helps users to retrieve and manipulate data. It is used to perform
operations such as inserting data into the database through the insert

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command, updating data with the update command, and deleting data
from the database through the delete command.
● DCL: DCL is used to control access to the data in the database. DCL
commands are normally used to create objects related to user access
and to control the distribution of privileges among users. The commands
that are used in DCL are Grant and Revoke.
● TCL: TCL is used to control the changes made by DML commands. It also
authorizes the statements to assemble in conjunction with logical
transactions. The commands that are used in TCL are Commit, Rollback,

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Savepoint, Begin, and Transaction.

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Also, Have a look at SQL Command Cheatsheet.

19. What are the uses of SQL?

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The following operations can be performed by using a SQL database:

● Creating new databases

● Inserting new data
● Deleting existing data
● Updating records
● Retrieving the data
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● Creating and dropping tables

● Creating functions and views
● Converting data types
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20. What is an index?

Indexes help speed up searching in a database. If there is no index on a column in

the WHERE clause, then the SQL Server has to skim through the entire table and
check each and every row to find matches, which may result in slow operations with
large data.

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Indexes are used to find all rows matching with some columns and then to skim
through only those subsets of the data to find the matches.

Syntax:

1 CREATE INDEX INDEX_NAME ON TABLE_NAME (COLUMN)

21. Explain the types of indexes.

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Single-Column Indexes: A single-column index is created for only one column of a

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table.

Syntax:

1 CREATE INDEX index_name

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2 ON table_name(column_name);

Composite-Column Indexes: A composite-column index is created for two or more

columns of a table.
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Syntax:

1 CREATE INDEX index_name

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2 ON table_name (column1, column2)

Unique Indexes: A unique index is used to maintain the data integrity of a table. A
unique index does not allow multiple values to be inserted into the table.

Syntax:

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1 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index

2 ON table_name(column_name)

22. What are entities and relationships?

Entities: An entity can be a person, place, thing, or any identifiable object for which

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data can be stored in a database.

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For example, in a company’s database, employees, projects, salaries, etc., can be
referred to as entities.

Relationships: A relationship between entities can be referred to as a connection

between two tables or entities.
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For example, in a college database, the student entity and the department entity
are associated with each other.

That ends the section of basic interview questions. Let us now move on to the next
section of intermediate interview questions.
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Intermediate SQL Interview Questions and

Answers
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23. What are SQL operators?

SQL operators are the special keywords or characters that perform specific
operations. They are also used in SQL queries. These operators can be used within
the WHERE clause of SQL commands. Based on the specified condition, SQL
operators filter the data.

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The SQL operators can be categorized into the following types:

● Arithmetic Operators:For mathematical operations on numerical data

○ addition (+)
○ subtraction (-)
○ multiplication (*)
○ division (/)
○ remainder/modulus (%)
● Logical Operators: For evaluating the expressions and returning results

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in True or False
○ ALL

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○ AND
○ ANY
○ ISNULL
○ EXISTS
○ BETWEEN
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○ IN
○ LIKE
○ NOT
○ OR
○ UNIQUE
● Comparison Operators: For comparisons of two values and checking
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whether they are the same or not

○ equal to (=)
○ not equal to (!= or <>)
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○ less than (<),

○ greater than (>;)
○ less than or equal to (&<=)
○ greater than or equal to (>=)
○ not less than (!<)
○ not greater than (!>)
● Bitwise Operators: For bit manipulations between two expressions of
integer type. It first performs the conversion of integers into binary bits
and then applied operators

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○ AND (& symbol)

○ OR (|, ^)
○ NOT (~)
● Compound Operators: For operations on a variable before setting the
variable’s result to the operation’s result
○ Add equals (+=)
○ subtract equals (-=)
○ multiply equals (*=)
○ divide equals (/=)

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○ modulo equals (%=)

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● String Operators: For concatenation and pattern matching of strings
○ + (String concatenation)
○ += (String concatenation assignment)
○ % (Wildcard)
○ [] (Character(s) matches)
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○ [^] (Character(s) not to match)
○ _ (Wildcard match one character)

24. What do you mean by data integrity?

Data integrity is the assurance of the accuracy and consistency of data over its
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whole life cycle. It is a critical aspect of the design, implementation, and usage of
systems that store, process, or retrieve data.

Data integrity also defines integrity constraints for enforcing business rules on data
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when it is entered into a database or application.

25. What is a data warehouse?

A data warehouse is a large store of accumulated data, from a wide range of

sources, within an organization. The data helps drive business decisions.

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26. How would you find the second highest salary from
the following table?

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Code:

1 select * from employee

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2 select max(e_salary) from employee

3 where e_salary not in (select max(e_salary)

4 from employee)
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Output:
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27. Why is the FLOOR function used in SQL Server?

The FLOOR() function helps to find the largest integer value for a given number,
which can be an equal or lesser number.

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28. State the differences between clustered and

non-clustered indexes

● Clustered Index: It is used to sort the rows of data by their key values. A
clustered index is like the contents of a phone book. We can directly
open the book on David’s index (for “David, Thompson”) and find
information for all Davids right next to each other. Since the data are
located next to each other, it helps a lot in fetching the data based on
range-based queries. A clustered index is actually related to how the

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data is stored; only one clustered index is possible per table.

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● Non-Clustered Index: It stores data at one location and indexes at
another location. The index has pointers that point to the location of the
data. As the indexes in a non-clustered index are stored in a different
place, there can be many non-clustered indexes for a table.
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State the differences between the Clustered and Non-clustered indexesState the
differences between the Clustered and Non-clustered indexes

Now, we will see the major differences between clustered and non-clustered
indexes:

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Parameters Clustered Index Non-Clustered Index

Used For Sorting and storing Creating a logical order for data
records physically in rows; pointers are used for physical
memory data files

Methods for Stores data in the leaf Never stores data in the leaf nodes

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Storing nodes of the index of the index

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Size Quite large Comparatively, small

Data Accessing Fast Slow

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Additional Disk Not required Required to store indexes
Space separately

Type of Key By default, the primary It can be used with the unique
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key of a table is a constraint on the table that acts as

clustered index a composite key

Main Feature Improves the performance Should be created on columns used

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of data retrieval in Joins

29. What do you know about CDC in SQL Server?

CDC refers to change data capture. It captures recent INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE
activity applied to SQL Server tables. It records changes to SQL Server tables in a
compatible format.

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30. What is the difference between SQL and MySQL?

Now Let’s compare the difference between SQL and MySQL.

SQL MySQL

It is a structured query language It is a database management system

used in a database

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It is used for query and operating It allows data handling, storing, and
database systems, modification in an organized manner

It is always the same It keeps updating

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It supports only a single storage It supports multiple storage engines
engine

The server is independent During backup sessions, the server blocks the
database
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31. State the differences between SQL and PL/SQL

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SQL PL/SQL

It is a database-structured query It is a programming language for a

language database that uses SQL

It is an individual query that is used to It is a block of codes used to write the

execute DML and DDL commands entire procedure or a function

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It is a declarative and data-oriented It is a procedural and

language application-oriented language

It is mainly used for data manipulation It is used for creating applications

It provides interaction with the database It does not provide interaction with
server the database server

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It cannot contain PL/SQL code It can contain SQL because it is an
extension of SQL
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32. What is the ACID property in a database?

The full form of ACID is atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability. ACID
properties are used to check the reliability of transactions.
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● Atomicity refers to completed or failed transactions, where a transaction

refers to a single logical operation on data. This implies that if any aspect
of a transaction fails, the whole transaction fails and the database state
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remains unchanged.
● Consistency means that the data meets all validity guidelines. The
transaction never leaves the database without finishing its state.
● Concurrency management is the primary objective of isolation.
● Durability ensures that once a transaction is committed, it will occur
regardless of what happens in between such as a power outage, fire, or
some other kind of disturbance.

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33. What is the need for group functions in SQL?

Group functions operate on a series of rows and return a single result for each
group. COUNT(), MAX(), MIN(), SUM(), AVG(), and VARIANCE() are some of the most
widely used group functions.

34. What do you understand about a character

manipulation function?

t
Character manipulation functions are used for the manipulation of character data

aa
types.
Some of the character manipulation functions are as follows:

UPPER: It returns the string in uppercase.

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Syntax:

1 UPPER(‘string’)

Example:
te

1 SELECT UPPER(‘demo string’) from String;

Output:
In

1 DEMO STRING

LOWER: It returns the string in lowercase.

Syntax:

1 LOWER(‘STRING’)

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Example:

1 SELECT LOWER (‘DEMO STRING’) from String

Output:

1 demo string

t
INITCAP: It converts the first letter of the string to uppercase and retains others in

aa
lowercase.

Syntax:

1 Initcap(‘sTRING’)
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Example:

1 SELECT Initcap(‘dATASET’) from String

Output:
te

1 Dataset
In

CONCAT: It is used to concatenate two strings.

Syntax:

1 CONCAT(‘str1’,’str2’)

Example:

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SQL Interview Questions

1 SELECT CONCAT(‘Data’,’Science’) from String

Output:

1 Data Science

LENGTH: It is used to get the length of a string.

t
Syntax:

aa
1 LENGTH(‘String’)

Example:
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1 SELECT LENGTH(‘Hello World’) from String

1 Output: 11
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35. What is AUTO_INCREMENT?

In

AUTO_INCREMENT is used in SQL to automatically generate a unique number

whenever a new record is inserted into a table.

Since the primary key is unique for each record, this primary field is added as the
AUTO_INCREMENT field so that it is incremented when a new record is inserted.

The AUTO-INCREMENT value starts at 1 and is incremented by 1 whenever a new

record is inserted.

Syntax:

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SQL Interview Questions

1 CREATE TABLE Employee(

2 Employee_id int NOT NULL AUTO-INCREMENT,

3 Employee_name varchar(255) NOT NULL,

4 Employee_designation varchar(255)

t
5 Age int,

aa
6 PRIMARY KEY (Employee_id)

7 )
lliP
Check out our Blog on PL/SQL Interview Questions to crack your SQL Interview.

36. What is a “TRIGGER” in SQL?

The trigger can be defined as an automatic process that happens when an event
te

occurs in the database server. It helps to maintain the integrity of the table. The
trigger is activated when the commands, such as insert, update, and delete, are
given.
In

The syntax used to generate the trigger function is as follows:

1 CREATE TRIGGER trigger_name

37. Where are usernames and passwords stored in SQL

Server?

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SQL Interview Questions

In SQL Server, usernames and passwords are stored in the main database in the
sysxlogins table.

38. What are the types of relationships in SQL Server

databases?

Relationships are developed by interlinking the columns of one table with the
column of another table. There are three different types of relationships, which are

t
as follows:

aa
● One-to-one relationship
● Many-to-one relationship
● Many-to-many relationship

39. How can you handle expectations in SQL Server?

lliP
TRY and CATCH blocks handle exceptions in SQL Server. Put the SQL statement in
the TRY block and write the code in the CATCH block to handle expectations. If
there is an error in the code in the TRY block, then the control will automatically
move to the CATCH block.
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Advanced SQL Interview Questions for

Experienced
In

40. Which command is used to find out the SQL Server

version?

The following command is used to identify the version of SQL Server:

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1 Select SERVERPROPERTY('productversion')

41. What is the COALESCE function?

The COALESCE function takes a set of inputs and returns the first non-null value.

Syntax:

t
aa
1 COALESCE(val1,val2,val3,……,nth val)

Example:

1 SELECT COALESCE(NULL, 1, 2, ‘MYSQL’)

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Output:

1 1
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42. What do you know about magic tables in SQL Server?

A magic table can be defined as a provisional logical table that is developed by an

SQL Server for tasks such as insert, delete, or update (DML) operations. The
In

operations recently performed on the rows are automatically stored in magic

tables. Magic tables are not physical tables; they are just temporary internal tables.

43. Explain Inner Join with an example.

Inner Join gives us those records that have matching values in two tables.

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Let us assume that we have two tables: Table A and Table B. When we apply Inner
Join to these two tables, we will get only records common to both Table A and Table
B.

Syntax:

1 SELECT columns

2 FROM table1

t
aa
3 INNER JOIN table2

4 ON table1.column_x=table2.column_y;

Example:
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1 select * from employee

2 select * from department

te

Output:
In

Now, we will apply Inner Join to both these tables, where the e_dept column in the
employee table is equal to the d_name column of the department table.

Syntax:

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select employee.e_name, employee.e_dept, department.d_name,

1
department.d_location

2
from employee inner join department

3
on

4
employee.e_dept=department.d_name

t
aa
Output:
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After applying Inner Join, we have only those records where the departments match
in both tables. As we can see, the matched departments are Support, Analytics, and
Sales.
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44. What are the types of views in SQL?

In SQL, the views are classified into four types. They are the following:
In

● Simple View: It is a view based on a single table and does not have a
GROUP BY clause or other features.
● Complex View: It is a view built from several tables and includes a
GROUP BY clause as well as functions.
● Inline View: It is a view built on a subquery in the FROM clause, which
provides a temporary table and simplifies a complicated query.
● Materialized View: It is a view that saves both the definition and the
details. It builds data replicas by physically preserving them.

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SQL Interview Questions for 3 Years

Experienced

45. How many authentication modes are there in SQL

Server? What are they?

t
Two authentication modes are available in SQL Server. They are as follows:

aa
● Windows Authentication Mode: It allows authentication for Windows but
not for SQL Server.
● Mixed Mode: It allows both types of authentication—Windows and SQL
Server.
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46. What is a function in SQL Server?

A function is an SQL Server database object. It is basically a set of SQL statements

that allow input parameters, perform processing, and return results only. A
function can only return a single value or table. The ability to insert, update, and
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delete records in database tables is not available.

47. What is SQL Server Agent?

In

SQL Server Agent plays an important role in the daily work of SQL Server
administrators or DBAs. This is one of the important parts of SQL Server. The aim of
the server agent is to easily implement tasks using a scheduler engine that enables
the tasks to be performed at scheduled times. SQL Server Agent uses SQL Server to
store scheduled management task information.

48. What are views? Give an example.

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Views are virtual tables used to limit the tables that we want to display. Views are
nothing but the result of an SQL statement that has a name associated with it. Since
views are not physically present, they take less space to store.

t
aa
lliP
Let us consider an example. In the following employee table, say we want to
perform multiple operations on the records with the gender “Female”. We can
create a view-only table for the female employees from the entire employee table.

Now, let us implement it on SQL Server.

te

This is the employee table:

1 select * from employee

In

Now, we will write the syntax for the view.

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Syntax:

create view female_employee as select * from employee where

1
e_gender=’Female’

2
select * from female_employee

Output:

t
aa
49. State the differences between views and tables.
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Views Tables

A view is a virtual table that is A table is structured with a set number of

extracted from a database. columns and a boundless number of rows.
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A view does not hold the data itself. A table contains data and stores it in
databases.
In

A view is utilized to query certain A table holds fundamental client

information contained in a few information and cases of a characterized
distinct tables. object.

In a view, we will get frequently In a table, changing the information in the

queried information. database changes the information that
appears in the view.

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50. What do you understand by Self Join? Explain using

an example

t
aa
Self Join in SQL is used for joining a table with itself. Here, depending on some
conditions, each row of the table is joined with itself and with other rows of the
table.

Syntax:
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1 SELECT a.column_name, b.column_name

2 FROM table a, table b

3 WHERE condition
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Example:

Consider the customer table given below.

In

ID Name Age Address Salary

1 Anand 32 Ahmedabad 2,000.00

2 Abhishek 25 Delhi 1,500.00

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3 Shivam 23 Kota 2,000.00

4 Vishal 25 Mumbai 6,500.00

5 Sayeedul 27 Bhopal 8,500.00

t
6 Amir 22 MP 4,500.00

aa
7 Arpit 24 Indore 10,000.00

We will now join the table using Self Join:

lliP
SQL > SELECT a.ID, b.NAME, a.SALARY
FROM CUSTOMERS a, CUSTOMERS b
WHERE a.SALARY < b.SALARY;[/code] Output:

ID Name Salary
te

2 Anand 1,500.00

2 Abhishek 1,500.00
In

1 Vishal 2,000.00

2 Vishal 1,500.00

3 Vishal 2,000.00

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6 Vishal 4,500.00

1 Sayeedul 2,000.00

2 Sayeedul 1,500.00

t
3 Sayeedul 2,000.00

aa
4 Sayeedul 6,500.00

6 Sayeedul 4,500.00
lliP
1 Amir 2,000.00

2 Amir 1,500.00
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3 Amir 2,000.00

1 Arpit 2,000.00
In

2 Arpit 1,500.00

3 Arpit 2,000.00

4 Arpit 6,500.00

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SQL Interview Questions

5 Arpit 8,500.00

6 Arpit 4,500.00

51. What is the difference between Union and Union All

operators?

t
The union operator is used to combine the result set of two or more select

aa
statements. For example, the first select statement returns the fish shown in Image
A, and the second statement returns the fish shown in Image B. The Union operator
will then return the result of the two select statements as shown in Image A U B. If
there is a record present in both tables, then we will get only one of them in the
lliP
final result.
te
In

Syntax:

1 SELECT column_list FROM table1

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Union:

1 SELECT column_list FROM table2

Now, we will execute it in the SQL Server.

These are the two tables in which we will use the Union operator.

t
aa
lliP
1 select * from student_details1

Union:
te

1 select * from student_details2

Output:
In

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The Union All operator gives all the records from both tables including the
duplicates.

t
aa
Let us implement it in the SQL Server.

Syntax:
lliP
1 select * from student_details1

Union All:

1 select * from student_details2

te

Output:
In

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SQL Interview Questions

52. Can you identify the employee who has the

third-highest salary from the given employee table (with
salary-related data)?

Consider the following employee table. In the table, Sabid has the third-highest
salary (60,000).

Name Salary

t
aa
Tarun 70,000

Sabid 60,000
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Adarsh 30,000

Vaibhav 80,000

Below is a simple query to find out which employee who has the third-highest
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salary. The functions RANK, DENSE RANK, and ROW NUMBER are used to obtain the
increasing integer value by imposing the ORDER BY clause in the SELECT statement,
based on the ordering of the rows. The ORDER BY clause is necessary when the
RANK, DENSE RANK, or ROW NUMBER functions are used. On the other hand, the
In

PARTITION BY clause is optional.

1
WITH CTE AS
2
(
3

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SQL Interview Questions

4 SELECT Name, Salary, RN = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY Salary

DESC) FROM EMPLOYEE
5
)

SELECT Name, Salary FROM CTE WHERE RN =3

53. How would you find the second-highest salary in a

t
table?

aa
There are several ways to find the second highest salary in a table.

1. Using the ORDER BY, LIMIT, and OFFSET Clauses:

lliP
SELECT distinct(salary) from table_name ORDER BY salary DESC
1
LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

2. Using Subquery:
te

1 SELECT MAX(salary) AS salary

2 FROM table_name WHERE salary <> (SELECT MAX(salary)

In

3 FROM table_name);

6 Where,

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SQL Interview Questions

7 table_name: your table name

8 salary: salary column present in your table

54. What is an effective way to prevent SQL injection in

your queries?

t
The effective way to prevent SQL injection attacks is through input validation and

aa
parameterized queries, which include prepared statements. The developer can
sanitize all the inputs, not only just the web form input, because the application
code should never use the input directly.

55. What is the significance of an index in a database,

lliP
and how do you use it?

Database indexing helps the DBMS find the specific rows in a table very quickly. The
most common database index is the B-tree Index. A B-tree index is a situation
where the data has few distinct values, such as name, dates or state codes.
te

56. What is the significance of transactions, and how do

you ensure their consistency?
In

Transactions help to ensure the data consistency and integrity of the data; they also
protect against errors by grouping many actions into a single unit.

Transaction funds from one account to another are the best example of ensuring
data consistency; the total value of the funds in both accounts is the same at the
start and end of each transaction.

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57. How will you optimize a slow-moving SQL query?

What are some of the optimization techniques?

We can optimize a slow-moving SQL query by using indexing in the DBMS to find
the specific rows in a table very quickly.

There are several optimization techniques:

1. Indexing

t
2. Using Distinct

aa
3. Having and Where clauses
4. Avoiding correlated subqueries
5. Limit
6. Column statistics
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SQL Interview Questions for 5 Years
Experienced
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58. What is wrong with the following SQL query?

SELECT gender, AVG(age) FROM employee WHERE AVG(age)&>30

1
GROUP BY gender
In

When this command is executed, it gives the following error:

1 Msg 147, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

Aggregation may not appear in the WHERE clause unless it is in a subquery

contained in the HAVING clause or a select list; the column being aggregated is an
outer reference.

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1 Msg 147, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

2 Invalid column name ‘gender’.

This means that whenever we work with aggregate functions and use the GROUP
BY clause, we cannot use the WHERE clause. Therefore, instead of the WHERE
clause, we should use the HAVING clause.

t
When we use the HAVING clause, the GROUP BY clause should come first, followed

aa
by the HAVING clause.

select e_gender, avg(e_age) from employee group by e_gender

1
having avg(e_age)>30
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Output:

59. What do you know about the stuff() function?

te

The stuff() function deletes a part of the string and then inserts another part into
the string, starting at a specified position.
In

Syntax:

1 STUFF(String1, Position, Length, String2)

Here, String1 is the one that will be overwritten. The position indicates the starting
location for overwriting the string. Length is the length of the substitute string, and
String2 is the string that will overwrite String1.

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Example:

1 select stuff(‘SQL Tutorial’,1,3,’Python’)

This will change ‘SQL Tutorial’ to ‘Python Tutorial’

Output:

1 Python Tutorial

t
aa
60. What is a stored procedure? Give an example.

A stored procedure is a prepared SQL code that can be saved and reused. In other
words, we can consider a stored procedure to be a function consisting of many SQL
lliP
statements to access the database system. We can consolidate several SQL
statements into a stored procedure and execute them whenever and wherever
required.

A stored procedure can be used as a means of modular programming, i.e., we can

create a stored procedure once, store it, and call it multiple times as required. This
also supports faster execution when compared to executing multiple queries.
te

Syntax:
In

1 CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name

2 AS

3 Sql_statement

4 GO;

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5 To execute we will use this:

6 EXEC procedure_name

Example:

We are going to create a stored procedure that will help us extract the age of the
employees.

t
aa
1 create procedure employee_age

2 as

3 select e_age from employee

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4 go

Now, we will execute it.

1 exec employee_age
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Output:
In

61. What do you understand about a temporary table?

Write a query to create a temporary table

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A temporary table helps us store and process intermediate results. Temporary

tables are created and can be automatically deleted when they are no longer used.
They are very useful in places where temporary data needs to be stored.

Syntax:

1 CREATE TABLE #table_name();

2 The below query will create a temporary table:

t
aa
3 create table #book(b_id int, b_cost int)

4 Now, we will insert the records.

5 insert into #book values(1,100)

lliP
6 insert into #book values(2,232)

7 select * from #book

Output:
te
In

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SQL Interview Questions

62. What is a database cursor? How to use a database

cursor?

A database cursor is a control that allows you to navigate around a table’s rows or
documents. It can be referred to as a pointer for a row in a set of rows. Cursors are
extremely useful for database traversal operations such as extraction, insertion,
and elimination.

● After any variable declaration, DECLARE a cursor. A SELECT statement

t
must always be aligned with the cursor declaration.

aa
● To initialize the result set, OPEN statements must be called before
fetching the rows from the result table.
● To grab and switch to the next row in the result set, use the FETCH
statement.
● To deactivate the cursor, use the CLOSE expression.
lliP
● Finally, use the DEALLOCATE clause to uninstall the cursor description
and clear all the resources associated with it.

Here is an example SQL cursor:

1 DECLARE @name VARCHAR(50)

te

2 DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR FOR

3 SELECT name
In

4 From myDB.company

5 WHERE employee_name IN (‘Jay’, ‘Shyam’)

6 OPEN db_cursor

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SQL Interview Questions

7 FETCH next

8 FROM db_cursor

9 Into @name

10 Close db_cursor

t
11 DEALLOCATE db_cursor

aa
63. What is the use of the INTERSECT operator?

The INTERSECT operator helps combine two select statements and returns only
lliP
those records that are common to both select statements. After we get Table A and
Table B over here, and if we apply the INTERSECT operator on these two tables,
then we will get only those records that are common to the result of the select
statements of these two tables.
te
In

Syntax:

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SQL Interview Questions

1 SELECT column_list FROM table1

2 INTERSECT

3 SELECT column_list FROM table2

Now, let us take a look at an example of the INTERSECT operator.

t
aa
1 select * from student_details1

2 select * from student_details1

Output:
lliP
te

1 select * from student_details1

In

2 intersect

3 select * from student_details2

Output:

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64. Describe how to delete duplicate rows using a single

statement but without any table creation.

Let us create an employee table where the column names are ID, NAME,

t
DEPARTMENT, and EMAIL. Below are the SQL scripts for generating the sample
data:

aa
1 CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE

2 (
lliP
3 ID INT,

4 NAME Varchar(100),

5 DEPARTMENT INT,
te

6 EMAIL Varchar(100)
In

7 )

8 INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (1,'Tarun',101,'[email

protected]')
9
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (2,'Sabid',102,'[email
10 protected]')

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SQL Interview Questions

11 INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (3,'Adarsh',103,'[email

protected]')
12
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (4,'Vaibhav',104,'[email
protected]')
13

–These are the duplicate rows:

14

t
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (5,'Tarun',101,'[email
protected]')

aa
INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE VALUES (6,'Sabid',102,'[email
protected]')
lliP
te

We can see the duplicate rows in the above table.

DELETE e1 FROM EMPLOYEE e1, EMPLOYEE e2 WHERE e1.name =

In

1
e2.name AND e1.id > e2.id

The SQL query above will delete the rows, where the name fields are duplicated,
and it will retain only those unique rows in which the names are unique and the ID
fields are the lowest, i.e., the rows with IDs 5 and 6 are deleted, while the rows with
IDs 1 and 2 are retained.

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65. Explain database white box testing and black box

testing.

t
The white box testing method mainly deals with the internal structure of a

aa
particular database, where users hide specification details. The white box testing
method involves the following:

● As the coding error can be detected by testing the white box, it can
eliminate internal errors.
lliP
● To check for the consistency of the database, it selects the default table
values.
● This method verifies the referential integrity rule.
● It helps perform the module testing of database functions, triggers,
views, and SQL queries.

The black box testing method generally involves interface testing and database
te

integration. The black box testing method involves the following:

● Mapping details
● Verification of incoming data
In

● Verification of outgoing data from the other query functions

66. What is Blocking and Troubleshooting?

Blocking: Blocking occurs when one session holds a lock on a specific resource and
a second SPID attempts to acquire a conflicting lock type on the same resource.

Troubleshooting: To start the troubleshooting, you first have to define the

symptoms. Troubleshooting starts with identifying the biggest CPU resource users.

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The most common SQL server performance symptoms are CPU, memory, network,
and slow-running queries.

67. What is an Optimal Disk Configuration for a server?

Optimal Disk Configuration involves strategically organizing and using storage

resources on a server, which helps us achieve the best performance and reliability
for a specific workload. The main aim of optimal disk configuration is to minimize
bottlenecks and ensure efficient support for the read and write demands of the

t
database.

aa
68. What is a Deadlock or a live Deadlock, and how do
you resolve it?
lliP
A deadlock is a situation where a set of processes are blocked because each
process is holding the resource and waiting for the other resource. A live deadlock
is just like a deadlock-like situation where the processes block each other with a
repeated state change yet make no progress.

There are several ways to prevent a deadlock or live deadlock situation:

te

1. Acquired multiple locks for a thread.

2. Abort and restart the process.
3. Timeouts
4. Transaction Rollback
In

69. What are statistics in SQL, and how do you update

them?

Statistics in SQL help us compute the standard statistics, which help us execute the
SQL queries more efficiently. The statistics will help us understand the total
structure of the data. There are various functions that we can use in statistics, such

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SQL Interview Questions

as MEAN, MAX, MIN, MEDIAN, MODE, and Standard Deviation, and we can also use
inferential statistics in SQL, like t-test, f-test, ANOVA, and analytics functions.

Updating statistics for a specific table

1. Go to the menu of the table and choose Definition.

2. Open the Optimizer Statistics tab page.
3. Choose the Update option in the context menu of the Table Statistics
field.
4. Define the sample type and size that you want to use to generate the

t
statistics.

aa
70. What is an efficient structure to speed up the table
reads?
lliP
With the help of Database Indexing we can improve the speed of the table read.

Database indexing helps DBMS find the specific rows in a table very quickly. The
most common database index is the B-tree Index.that has few distinct values, such
as name, dates, or state codes.
te

SQL Technical Interview Questions

In

71. What is the difference between the DELETE and

TRUNCATE commands?

● DELETE:This query is used to delete or remove one or more existing

tables.
● TRUNCATE:This statement deletes all the data inside a table.

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t
aa
The differences between DELETE and TRUNCATE commands are the following:
lliP
● TRUNCATE is a DDL command, and DELETE is a DML command.
● With TRUNCATE, we cannot really execute and trigger, while with DELETE,
we can accomplish a trigger.
● If a table is referenced by foreign key constraints, then TRUNCATE will
not work. So, if we have a foreign key, we have to use the DELETE
command.
te

The syntax for the DELETE command is as follows:

1 DELETE FROM table_name

In

2 [WHERE condition];

Example:

1 select * from stu

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Output:

1 delete from stu where s_name=’Bob’

Output:

t
aa
The syntax for the TRUNCATE command:
lliP
1 TRUNCATE TABLE

2 Table_name;

Example:
te

1 select * from stu1

In

Output:

1 truncate table stu1

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SQL Interview Questions

Output:

This deletes all the records from a table.

t
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72. What is the difference between the DROP and
TRUNCATE commands?
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If a table is dropped, all things associated with that table are dropped as well. This
includes the relationships defined on the table with other tables, access privileges,
and grants that the table has, as well as the integrity checks and constraints.

To create and use the table again in its original form, all the elements associated
with the table need to be redefined.
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However, if a table is truncated, there are no such problems as mentioned above.

The table retains its original structure.
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73. What are the third-party tools that are used in SQL
Server?

The following is the list of third-party tools that are used in SQL Server:

● SQL CHECK
● SQL DOC 2
● SQL Backup 5

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● SQL Prompt
● Litespeed 5.0

74. Can we link SQL Server with others?

Yes, SQL Server can be linked with other database systems using various methods.
One common method is through the use of linked servers. Linked servers allow SQL
Server to establish connections and access data from other database platforms. By
configuring appropriate settings and creating the necessary connections, SQL

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Server can interact with databases such as MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and more,

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enabling data integration and querying across multiple systems.

Also, check out the blog on PostgreSQL vs. MySQL.

75. What are some common clauses used with SELECT

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queries in SQL?

There are many SELECT statement clauses in SQL. Some of the most commonly
used clauses with SELECT queries are as follows:

● FROM
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The FROM clause defines the tables and views from which data can be
interpreted. The tables and views listed must exist at the time the
question is given.
● WHERE
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The WHERE clause defines the parameters that are used to limit the
contents of the results table. You can test for basic relationships or for
relationships between a column and a series of columns using
subselects.
● GROUP BY
The GROUP BY clause is commonly used for aggregate functions to
produce a single outcome row for each set of unique values in a set of
columns or expressions.

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● ORDER BY
The ORDER BY clause helps in choosing the columns on which the table’s
result should be sorted.
● HAVING
The HAVING clause filters the results of the GROUP BY clause by using an
aggregate function.

76. Explain the difference between OLTP and OLAP.

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OLTP: It stands for online transaction processing, and we can consider it a category

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of software applications that are efficient for supporting transaction-oriented
programs. One of the important attributes of the OLTP system is its potential to
maintain consistency. The OLTP system often follows decentralized planning to
avoid single points of failure. This system is generally designed for a large audience
of end users to perform short transactions. The queries involved in such databases
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are generally simple, require a fast response time, and, in comparison, return only
a few records. So, the number of transactions per second acts as an effective
measure for those systems.
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OLAP: It stands for online analytical processing, and it is a category of software

programs that are identified by a comparatively lower frequency of online

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transactions. For OLAP systems, the efficiency of computing depends heavily on the
response time. Hence, such systems are generally used for data mining or
maintaining aggregated historical data, and they are usually used in
multidimensional schemas.

77. What is Hybrid OLAP?

Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) uses a combination of multidimensional data structures and

relational database tables to store multidimensional data. The aggregations for a

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HOLAP partition are stored by analysis services in a multidimensional structure. The

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facts are stored in a relational database.

78. How can you copy data from one table to another
table?
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Here, we have our employee table.

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We have to copy this data into another table. For this purpose, we can use the

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INSERT INTO SELECT operator. Before we go ahead and do that, we will have to
create another table that will have the same structure as the above-given table.

Syntax:
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1 create table employee_duplicate(

2 e_id int,

3 e_name varchar(20),
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4 e_salary int,

5 e_age int,
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6 e_gender varchar(20)

7 e_dept varchar(20)

8 )

For copying the data, we will use the following query:

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1 insert into employee_duplicate select * from employees

Let us take a look at the copied table.

1 select * from employee_duplicate

Output:

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79. What is the difference between BETWEEN and IN
operators in SQL?

The BETWEEN operator is employed to identify rows that fall within a specified
range of values, encompassing numerical, textual, or date values. It returns the
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count of values that exist between the two defined boundaries.

On the other hand, the IN operator serves as a condition operator utilized for
searching values within a predetermined range. When multiple values are available
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for selection, the IN operator is utilized.

Check out how to use IN and BETWEEN Operators in SQL with examples.

80. What is the difference between HAVING and WHERE

clauses?

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The main difference between the ‘HAVING’ and ‘WHERE’ clauses in SQL is that the
‘WHERE’ clause operates on individual rows of data, while the ‘HAVING’ clause is
used to filter aggregated data. The ‘WHERE’ clause cannot be used with aggregate
functions, whereas the ‘HAVING’ clause specifically filters results based on
aggregate conditions.

Let us consider the employee table below.

Name Department Salary

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Tarun Production 50,000

Tarun Testing 60,000

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Sabid Marketing 70,000

Adarsh Production 80,000

Vaibhav Testing 90,000

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The following will select the data on a row-by-row basis:

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1 SELECT Name, Salary FROM Employee WHERE Salary >=50000

Output:

Name Salary

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SQL Interview Questions

Tarun 50,000

Tarun 60,000

Sabid 70,000

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Adarsh 80,000

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Vaibhav 90,000

The HAVING clause, on the other hand, operates on the aggregated results.
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SELECT Department, SUM(Salary) AS total FROM Employee GROUP
1
BY Department

Output:
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Department Total

Marketing 70,000
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Production 130,000

Testing 150,000

Now, let us see the output when we apply HAVING to the above query.

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SELECT Department, SUM(Salary) AS total FROM Employee GROUP BY

1
Department HAVING SUM(Salary)>70000

Output:

Department Total

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Production 130,000

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Testing 150,000
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81. How can you create empty tables with the same
structure as another table?

This can be achieved by fetching the records of one table into a new table using the
INTO operator while fixing a WHERE clause to be false for all records. In this way,
SQL prepares the new table with a duplicate structure to accept the fetched
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records. However, there are no records that will get fetched due to the WHERE
clause in action. Therefore, nothing is inserted into the new table, thus creating an
empty table.
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1 SELECT * INTO Students_copy

2 FROM Students WHERE 1 = 2;

82. How will you update the prices in a product column

by increasing 5% of the prices in each row?

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We can update the prices of the product columns by using the UPDATE method,
which is part of the DML.

1 UPDATE table_name SET price = price*1.05;

Where,
table_name: your table name
price: price column present in your table

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With this code, we can easily modify the price of each product by 5%.

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83. How will you fetch the most recent entries in a
database?

We can fetch the most recent entries in a database by using the ORDER BY clause
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along with the timestamp column in descending order.

1 SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY timestamp_column DESC;

Where,
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table_name: your table name

timestamp_column: datetime column present in your table

84. How will you calculate the average price of products

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in each category?

To calculate the average price of products in each category, we can use the
aggregate function (AVG) with the price column and group it by the category
column.

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SQL Interview Questions

SELECT category, AVG(price) as average_price FROM table_name

1
GROUP BY category;

Where,
table_name: table name
category: category column in your table
price: price column in your table

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85. How will you calculate the total sales in each

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category of a product sales table?

To calculate the total sales in each category of a product sales table, we can use the
aggregate function (SUM) with the sales amount column and group it by the
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category column.

SELECT category, SUM(sales_amount) as total_sales FROM sales

1
GROUP BY category;

Where,
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sales: table name

category: category column in your table
sales_amount: sales_amount column in your table
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86. How will you find the IDs or details where there have
been no entries in terms of sales?

To find the IDs or details where there have been no entries in terms of sales, we
can use the LEFT JOIN or NOT EXISTS clause.

Assume we have two tables: ‘product’ with product details and ‘sales’ with sales
data.

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Left Joins:

SELECT p.product_id, p.product_name FROM product p LEFT JOIN

1 sales s on p.product_id = s.product_id WHERE s.product_id is
NULL;

Where,
p.product_id: product id in the product table
p.product_name: product name in the product table

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s.product_id: product id in the sales table

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Here, the WHERE s.product_id is NULL condition helps us filter out the rows where
a match in the sales table is not found.

Not Exists:
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SELECT p.product_id, p.product_name FROM products p WHERE NOT
1 EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM sales s WHERE s.product_id = p.product_id
);
2

3
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Where,
4
p.product_id: product id in the product table
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5
p.product_name: product name in the product table
6
s.product_id: product id in the sales table

SQL Scenario-Based Interview Questions

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87. Suppose there is a database where information

about the employees in various verticals is stored. Your
task is to find the average salary of each vertical and the
highest salary among the lot.

To find the average salary of each vertical and the highest salary among the
employees, we can use the group by clause along with the aggregate functions
(AVG and MAX).

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SELECT vertical, AVG(salary) as average_salary, MAX(salary) as
1
highest_salary FROM employees GROUP BY vertical;

Where,
vertical: column that you want to group
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salary: column in the table
employees: table name

88. Given data where store inventory is stored, your task

is to find the top 3 products in each category in terms of
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prices.

To find the top 3 products in each category in terms of price, we can group by
clause along with the aggregate function (MAX) with the price column and set the
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limit as 3 in descending order.

SELECT category, product_name, MAX(price) as max_price FROM

1 inventory GROUP BY category, product_name ORDER BY category,
max_price DESC LIMIT 3;

Where,
category: column name having different categories

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product_name: name of the product column

price: column having the price details
inventory: table name

89. Write an SQL query to find the month-on-month

sales of a specific product in a store.

To calculate the month-on-month sales of a specific product in a store, we can use a

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combination of date functions and aggregate functions.

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SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR_MONTH FROM sale_date) AS year_month,
1 SUM(quantity_sold) AS total_sales FROM sales WHERE product_id =
'your_product_id' GROUP BY year_month ORDER BY year_month;

Where,
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sale_date: date of the sales column
quantity_sold: number of quantity sold column
sales: table name
product_id: Id of the product column
your_product_id: pass the product ID for which you want to check.
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90. Suppose in an organization, employees are mapped

under managers. Write a SQL query that will fetch you
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the managers and employees working under them.

To fetch the managers and employees working under them, we can use a self-join
to fetch the managers and the employees working under them.

SELECT M.manager_id AS manager_id, M.manager_name AS

manager_name, E.employee_id AS employee_id, E.employee_name AS
1
employee_name FROM employees E JOIN employees M ON E.manager_id
= M.employee_id ORDER BY M.manager_id, E.employee_id;

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Where,
manager_id: manager id column
manager_name: manager name column
employee_id: employee id column
employee_name: employee name column

91. In a store inventory, your task is to fetch the total

quantity of the top product purchased by the customers.

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To fetch the total quantity of the top product purchased by the customers, we can

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use a group by clause along with the limit in descending order.

SELECT product_id, SUM(quantity_purchased) AS

1 total_quantity_purchased FROM purchases GROUP BY product_id
ORDER BY total_quantity_purchased DESC LIMIT 1;
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Where,
product_id: product id column
quantity_purchased: column having the no. of the quantity purchased
purchases: table name
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92. Mention different types of replication in SQL Server?

In SQL Server, three different types of replications are available:

In

● Snapshot replication
● Transactional replication
● Merge replication

SQL Cheat Sheets

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SQL Interview Questions

Go through the following SQL Cheat Sheets and download their PDF:

● Download the PDF of the SQL Basics Cheat Sheet

● Download the PDF for SQL Constraints, Joins, Set Operators Cheat Sheet
● Download the PDF of SQL Grouping, inbuilt, subquery, views, and temp
table Cheat Sheet
● Download the PDF for SQL User Define Function Cheat Sheet
● Download the PDF for SQL Exception Handling Index, Pivot, Transactions
Cheat Sheet

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Check out this exclusive blog on SQL Cheat Sheet to know more!

SQL Developer Salary on the basis of Experience

Job Role Average Salary in Average Salary in the

India USA

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SQL Developer – Experience(0 – 9) Minimum – 4 LPA Minimum – 60,000

years USD

Average – 5 LPA Average – 90,000 USD

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Highest – 8 LPA Highest – 130,000 USD

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SQL Trends in 2024
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics US, the projected growth in demand for
roles like SQL Developers and Database Administrators is expected to rise 8% faster
than the average rate from 2022 to 2032.

1. Global Demand: With more than 400,000 active jobs on LinkedIn in the
United States alone for SQL and related roles, the tally moves to more
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than 100,000 jobs for the related roles.

2. Growth Projections: The growth suggested by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics might increase and reach double digits in the next several years
as the demand for skilled professionals who are proficient in SQL is
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increasing.

Job Opportunities in SQL

The job opportunities in SQL can be different for various departments; the
inclusivity of SQL enhances business solutions and hence is required in most
domains and processes. Some of the job opportunities in SQL are as follows:

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Job Role Description

Database Administrator The primary role is to ensure the

efficient working of the database
without any issues.

Business Analyst The use of SQL skills often helps

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business analysts retrieve data for
reporting and analysis.

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Data Analyst Among data analysts, SQL helps them
analyze large amounts of data stored in
the databases.
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Data Scientist A very efficient tool for data scientists
to access and analyze large amounts of
data.

Software Engineer To interact with the databases while

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working on software solutions

ETL Developer Use SQL to access and manage data,

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but it is primarily used in the ETL

process.

Data Modeler Data model optimization through SQL is

indicated by performance.

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Server Engineer To manage servers and handle data

storage and retrieval requests.

Roles and Responsibilities of a SQL Developer

A typical job description for a SQL developer is as follows:

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The roles and responsibilities of a SQL developer are quite diverse and vary for
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different departments. Some of the most important roles and responsibilities of a

SQL developer are as follows:

1. Database design, development, and solutions: To create, design, and

develop database systems and solutions for various processes and
requirements.
2. Data security: Maintain data security and manage databases that are
monitored for suggested security measures.

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3. Data migration from third party resources: Ability to efficiently retrieve

data from third-party resources without hampering data integrity.
4. Documentation: The documentation for the database systems for easier
collaboration.
5. Troubleshooting: Troubleshoot databases for optimization and
performance.
6. Performance optimization: To be able to optimize the processes and
enhance performance in terms of data retrieval, manipulation, etc.
7. Quality assurance: Assuring a seamless delivery of database solutions

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and enhancing their performance.

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Conclusion

SQL is an essential skill in the 21st century, time and again proved by its
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requirement in every major breakthrough role.Owing to its simplicity and powerful
applications, SQL isn’t limited to any specific domain or professionals, you can learn
and master SQL for any job role, and help improve the entire workflow. Enroll in
SQL Certification training to get an in-depth understanding of SQL workflows or join
the path of excellence with SQL Master Program for an enriching learning
experience.
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If you have any questions, post your queries at intellipaat community space or let us
know in the comments, and we’ll get back to you.
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