Let’s prepare sample data for SQL practice.
Sample Table – Worker
WORKER_ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME SALARY JOINING_DATE DEPA
001 Monika Arora 100000 2021-02-20 09:00:00 HR
002 Niharika Verma 80000 2021-06-11 09:00:00 Admin
003 Vishal Singhal 300000 2021-02-20 09:00:00 HR
004 Amitabh Singh 500000 2021-02-20 09:00:00 Admin
005 Vivek Bhati 500000 2021-06-11 09:00:00 Admin
006 Vipul Diwan 200000 2021-06-11 09:00:00 Accoun
007 Satish Kumar 75000 2021-01-20 09:00:00 Accoun
008 Geetika Chauhan 90000 2021-04-11 09:00:00 Admin
Worker
Sample Table – Bonus
WORKER_REF_ID BONUS_DATE BONUS_AMOU
1 2023-02-20 00:00:00 5000
2 2023-06-11 00:00:00 3000
3 2023-02-20 00:00:00 4000
1 2023-02-20 00:00:00 4500
2 2023-06-11 00:00:00 3500
Bonus
Sample Table – Title
WORKER_REF_ID WORKER_TITLE AFFECTED_FROM
1 Manager 2023-02-20 00:00:00
2 Executive 2023-06-11 00:00:00
8 Executive 2023-06-11 00:00:00
5 Manager 2023-06-11 00:00:00
4 Asst. Manager 2023-06-11 00:00:00
7 Executive 2023-06-11 00:00:00
6 Lead 2023-06-11 00:00:00
3 Lead 2023-06-11 00:00:00
Title
To prepare the sample data, you can run the following queries in your
database query executor or on the SQL command line. We’ve tested
them with MySQL Server 5.7 and MySQL Workbench 6.3.8 query
browser. You can also download these tools and install them to execute
the SQL queries.
SQL Script to Seed Sample Data.
CREATE DATABASE ORG;
SHOW DATABASES;
USE ORG;
CREATE TABLE Worker (
WORKER_ID INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
FIRST_NAME CHAR(25),
LAST_NAME CHAR(25),
SALARY INT(15),
JOINING_DATE DATETIME,
DEPARTMENT CHAR(25)
);
INSERT INTO Worker
(WORKER_ID, FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME, SALARY, JOINING_DATE,
DEPARTMENT) VALUES
(001, 'Monika', 'Arora', 100000, '21-02-20 09.00.00', 'HR'),
(002, 'Niharika', 'Verma', 80000, '21-06-11 09.00.00',
'Admin'),
(003, 'Vishal', 'Singhal', 300000, '21-02-20 09.00.00',
'HR'),
(004, 'Amitabh', 'Singh', 500000, '21-02-20 09.00.00',
'Admin'),
(005, 'Vivek', 'Bhati', 500000, '21-06-11 09.00.00',
'Admin'),
(006, 'Vipul', 'Diwan', 200000, '21-06-11 09.00.00',
'Account'),
(007, 'Satish', 'Kumar', 75000, '21-01-20 09.00.00',
'Account'),
(008, 'Geetika', 'Chauhan', 90000, '21-04-11 09.00.00',
'Admin');
CREATE TABLE Bonus (
WORKER_REF_ID INT,
BONUS_AMOUNT INT(10),
BONUS_DATE DATETIME,
FOREIGN KEY (WORKER_REF_ID)
REFERENCES Worker(WORKER_ID)
ON DELETE CASCADE
);
INSERT INTO Bonus
(WORKER_REF_ID, BONUS_AMOUNT, BONUS_DATE) VALUES
(001, 5000, '23-02-20'),
(002, 3000, '23-06-11'),
(003, 4000, '23-02-20'),
(001, 4500, '23-02-20'),
(002, 3500, '23-06-11');
CREATE TABLE Title (
WORKER_REF_ID INT,
WORKER_TITLE CHAR(25),
AFFECTED_FROM DATETIME,
FOREIGN KEY (WORKER_REF_ID)
REFERENCES Worker(WORKER_ID)
ON DELETE CASCADE
);
INSERT INTO Title
(WORKER_REF_ID, WORKER_TITLE, AFFECTED_FROM) VALUES
(001, 'Manager', '2023-02-20 00:00:00'),
(002, 'Executive', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(008, 'Executive', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(005, 'Manager', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(004, 'Asst. Manager', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(007, 'Executive', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(006, 'Lead', '2023-06-11 00:00:00'),
(003, 'Lead', '2023-06-11 00:00:00');
Once the above SQL runs, you’ll see a result similar to the one attached
below.
Creating Sample Data to Practice SQL Skill.
Start practice with 50 SQL query interview
questions.
Q-1. Write an SQL query to fetch “FIRST_NAME” from
the Worker table using the alias name
<WORKER_NAME>.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select FIRST_NAME AS WORKER_NAME from Worker;
Q-2. Write an SQL query to fetch “FIRST_NAME” from
the Worker table in upper case.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select upper(FIRST_NAME) from Worker;
Q-3. Write an SQL query to fetch unique values of
DEPARTMENT from the Worker table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select distinct DEPARTMENT from Worker;
Q-4. Write an SQL query to print the first three
characters of FIRST_NAME from the Worker table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select substring(FIRST_NAME,1,3) from Worker;
Q-5. Write an SQL query to find the position of the
alphabet (‘a’) in the first name column ‘Amitabh’ from
the Worker table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select INSTR(FIRST_NAME, BINARY'a') from Worker where FIRST_NAME =
'Amitabh';
Notes.
The INSTR does a case-insensitive search.
Using the BINARY operator will make INSTR work as the case-
sensitive function.
Q-6. Write an SQL query to print the FIRST_NAME from
the Worker table after removing white spaces from the
right side.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select RTRIM(FIRST_NAME) from Worker;
Q-7. Write an SQL query to print the DEPARTMENT
from the Worker table after removing white spaces
from the left side.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select LTRIM(DEPARTMENT) from Worker;
Q-8. Write an SQL query that fetches the unique
values of DEPARTMENT from the Worker table and
prints its length.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select distinct length(DEPARTMENT) from Worker;
Q-9. Write an SQL query to print the FIRST_NAME from
the Worker table after replacing ‘a’ with ‘A’.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select REPLACE(FIRST_NAME,'a','A') from Worker;
Q-10. Write an SQL query to print the FIRST_NAME and
LAST_NAME from the Worker table into a single column
COMPLETE_NAME. A space char should separate them.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select CONCAT(FIRST_NAME, ' ', LAST_NAME) AS 'COMPLETE_NAME' from Worker;
Q-11. Write an SQL query to print all Worker details
from the Worker table order by FIRST_NAME
Ascending.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker order by FIRST_NAME asc;
Q-12. Write an SQL query to print all Worker details
from the Worker table order by FIRST_NAME Ascending
and DEPARTMENT Descending.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker order by FIRST_NAME asc,DEPARTMENT desc;
Q-13. Write an SQL query to print details for Workers
with the first names “Vipul” and “Satish” from the
Worker table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where FIRST_NAME in ('Vipul','Satish');
Q-14. Write an SQL query to print details of workers
excluding first names, “Vipul” and “Satish” from the
Worker table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where FIRST_NAME not in ('Vipul','Satish');
Q-15. Write an SQL query to print details of Workers
with DEPARTMENT name as “Admin”.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where DEPARTMENT like 'Admin%';
Q-16. Write an SQL query to print details of the
Workers whose FIRST_NAME contains ‘a’.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where FIRST_NAME like '%a%';
Q-17. Write an SQL query to print details of the
Workers whose FIRST_NAME ends with ‘a’.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where FIRST_NAME like '%a';
Q-18. Write an SQL query to print details of the
Workers whose FIRST_NAME ends with ‘h’ and contains
six alphabets.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where FIRST_NAME like '_____h';
Q-19. Write an SQL query to print details of the
Workers whose SALARY lies between 100000 and
500000.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where SALARY between 100000 and 500000;
Q-20. Write an SQL query to print details of the
Workers who joined in Feb 2021.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where year(JOINING_DATE) = 2021 and
month(JOINING_DATE) = 2;
Q-21. Write an SQL query to fetch the count of employees
working in the department ‘Admin’.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM worker WHERE DEPARTMENT = 'Admin';
At this point, you have acquired a good understanding of the basics of
SQL, let’s move on to some more intermediate-level SQL query
interview questions. These questions will require us to use more
advanced SQL syntax and concepts, such as GROUP BY, HAVING, and
ORDER BY.
Q-22. Write an SQL query to fetch worker names with salaries
>= 50000 and <= 100000.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT CONCAT(FIRST_NAME, ' ', LAST_NAME) As Worker_Name, Salary
FROM worker
WHERE WORKER_ID IN
(SELECT WORKER_ID FROM worker
WHERE Salary BETWEEN 50000 AND 100000);
Q-23. Write an SQL query to fetch the number of workers for
each department in descending order.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT DEPARTMENT, count(WORKER_ID) No_Of_Workers
FROM worker
GROUP BY DEPARTMENT
ORDER BY No_Of_Workers DESC;
Q-24. Write an SQL query to print details of the Workers who
are also Managers.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT DISTINCT W.FIRST_NAME, T.WORKER_TITLE
FROM Worker W
INNER JOIN Title T
ON W.WORKER_ID = T.WORKER_REF_ID
AND T.WORKER_TITLE in ('Manager');
Q-25. Write an SQL query to fetch duplicate records having
matching data in some fields of a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT WORKER_TITLE, AFFECTED_FROM, COUNT(*)
FROM Title
GROUP BY WORKER_TITLE, AFFECTED_FROM
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
Q-26. Write an SQL query to show only odd rows from a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT * FROM Worker WHERE MOD (WORKER_ID, 2) <> 0;
Q-27. Write an SQL query to show only even rows from a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT * FROM Worker WHERE MOD (WORKER_ID, 2) = 0;
Q-28. Write an SQL query to clone a new table from another
table.
Ans.
The general query to clone a table with data is:
SELECT * INTO WorkerClone FROM Worker;
The general way to clone a table without information is:
SELECT * INTO WorkerClone FROM Worker WHERE 1 = 0;
An alternate way to clone a table (for MySQL) without data is:
CREATE TABLE WorkerClone LIKE Worker;
Q-29. Write an SQL query to fetch intersecting records of two
tables.
Ans.
The required query is:
(SELECT * FROM Worker)
INTERSECT
(SELECT * FROM WorkerClone);
Q-30. Write an SQL query to show records from one table that
another table does not have.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT * FROM Worker
MINUS
SELECT * FROM Title;
Q-31. Write an SQL query to show the current date and time.
Ans.
The following MySQL query returns the current date:
SELECT CURDATE();
Whereas the following MySQL query returns the current date and time:
SELECT NOW();
Here is a SQL Server query that returns the current date and time:
SELECT getdate();
Find this Oracle query that also returns the current date and time:
SELECT SYSDATE FROM DUAL;
Q-32. Write an SQL query to show the top n (say 10) records of
a table.
Ans.
MySQL query to return the top n records using the LIMIT method:
SELECT * FROM Worker ORDER BY Salary DESC LIMIT 10;
SQL Server query to return the top n records using the TOP command:
SELECT TOP 10 * FROM Worker ORDER BY Salary DESC;
Oracle query to return the top n records with the help of ROWNUM:
SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM Worker ORDER BY Salary DESC)
WHERE ROWNUM <= 10;
Now, that you should have a solid foundation in intermediate SQL, let’s
take a look at some more advanced SQL query questions. These
questions will require us to use more complex SQL syntax and
concepts, such as nested queries, joins, unions, and intersects.
Q-33. Write an SQL query to determine the nth (say n=5)
highest salary from a table.
Ans.
MySQL query to find the nth highest salary:
SELECT Salary FROM Worker ORDER BY Salary DESC LIMIT n-1,1;
SQL Server query to find the nth highest salary:
SELECT TOP 1 Salary
FROM (
SELECT DISTINCT TOP n Salary
FROM Worker
ORDER BY Salary DESC
)
ORDER BY Salary ASC;
Q-34. Write an SQL query to determine the 5th highest salary
without using the TOP or limit method.
Ans.
The following query is using the correlated subquery to return the 5th
highest salary:
SELECT Salary
FROM Worker W1
WHERE 4 = (
SELECT COUNT( DISTINCT ( W2.Salary ) )
FROM Worker W2
WHERE W2.Salary >= W1.Salary
);
Use the following generic method to find the nth highest salary without
using TOP or limit.
SELECT Salary
FROM Worker W1
WHERE n-1 = (
SELECT COUNT( DISTINCT ( W2.Salary ) )
FROM Worker W2
WHERE W2.Salary >= W1.Salary
);
Q-35. Write an SQL query to fetch the list of employees with
the same salary.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select distinct W.WORKER_ID, W.FIRST_NAME, W.Salary
from Worker W, Worker W1
where W.Salary = W1.Salary
and W.WORKER_ID != W1.WORKER_ID;
Q-36. Write an SQL query to show the second-highest salary
from a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select max(Salary) from Worker
where Salary not in (Select max(Salary) from Worker);
Q-37. Write an SQL query to show one row twice in the results
from a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
select FIRST_NAME, DEPARTMENT from worker W where W.DEPARTMENT='HR'
union all
select FIRST_NAME, DEPARTMENT from Worker W1 where W1.DEPARTMENT='HR';
Q-38. Write an SQL query to fetch intersecting records of two
tables.
Ans.
The required query is:
(SELECT * FROM Worker)
INTERSECT
(SELECT * FROM WorkerClone);
Q-39. Write an SQL query to fetch the first 50% of records from
a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT *
FROM WORKER
WHERE WORKER_ID <= (SELECT count(WORKER_ID)/2 from Worker);
Practicing SQL query interview questions is a great way to improve your
understanding of the language and become more proficient in using it.
However, in addition to improving your technical skills, practicing SQL
query questions can also help you advance your career. Many
employers are looking for candidates who have strong SQL skills, so
being able to demonstrate your proficiency in the language can give
you a competitive edge.
Q-40. Write an SQL query to fetch the departments that have
less than five people in them.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT DEPARTMENT, COUNT(WORKER_ID) as 'Number of Workers' FROM Worker
GROUP BY DEPARTMENT HAVING COUNT(WORKER_ID) < 5;
Q-41. Write an SQL query to show all departments along with
the number of people in there.
Ans.
The following query returns the expected result:
SELECT DEPARTMENT, COUNT(DEPARTMENT) as 'Number of Workers' FROM Worker
GROUP BY DEPARTMENT;
Q-42. Write an SQL query to show the last record from a table.
Ans.
The following query will return the last record from the Worker table:
Select * from Worker where WORKER_ID = (SELECT max(WORKER_ID) from Worker);
Q-43. Write an SQL query to fetch the first row of a table.
Ans.
The required query is:
Select * from Worker where WORKER_ID = (SELECT min(WORKER_ID) from Worker);
Q-44. Write an SQL query to fetch the last five records from a
table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT * FROM Worker WHERE WORKER_ID <=5
UNION
SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM Worker W order by W.WORKER_ID DESC) AS W1
WHERE W1.WORKER_ID <=5;
Q-45. Write an SQL query to print the names of employees
having the highest salary in each department.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT t.DEPARTMENT,t.FIRST_NAME,t.Salary from(SELECT max(Salary) as
TotalSalary,DEPARTMENT from Worker group by DEPARTMENT) as TempNew
Inner Join Worker t on TempNew.DEPARTMENT=t.DEPARTMENT
and TempNew.TotalSalary=t.Salary;
Q-46. Write an SQL query to fetch three max salaries from a
table.
Ans.
Recommended by
The required query is:
SELECT distinct Salary from worker a WHERE 3 >= (SELECT count(distinct
Salary) from worker b WHERE a.Salary <= b.Salary) order by a.Salary desc;
Q-47. Write an SQL query to fetch three min salaries from a
table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT distinct Salary from worker a WHERE 3 >= (SELECT count(distinct
Salary) from worker b WHERE a.Salary >= b.Salary) order by a.Salary desc;
Q-48. Write an SQL query to fetch nth max salaries from a
table.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT distinct Salary from worker a WHERE n >= (SELECT count(distinct
Salary) from worker b WHERE a.Salary <= b.Salary) order by a.Salary desc;
Q-49. Write an SQL query to fetch departments along with the
total salaries paid for each of them.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT DEPARTMENT, sum(Salary) from worker group by DEPARTMENT;
Q-50. Write an SQL query to fetch the names of workers who
earn the highest salary.
Ans.
The required query is:
SELECT FIRST_NAME, SALARY from Worker WHERE SALARY=(SELECT max(SALARY) from
Worker);
