Defination : Normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a

database. There are two goals of the normalization process: eliminating

redundant data (for example, storing the same data in more than one table)
and ensuring data dependencies make sense (only storing related data in a
table). Both of these are worthy goals as they reduce the amount of space a
database consumes and ensure that data is logically stored. There are
several benefits for using Normalization in Database.
Benefits :

a. Eliminate data redundancy

b. Improve performance
c. Query optimization
d. Faster update due to less number of columns in one table
e. Index improvement
There are diff. - diff. types of Normalizations form available in the Database.
Lets see one by one.
1. First Normal Form (1NF)
First normal form (1NF) sets the very basic rules for an organized database:

 Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table.

 Create separate tables for each group of related data and identify
each row with a unique column or set of columns (the primary key).
a. Remove repetative groups
b. Create Primary Key

Name State Country Phone1 Phone2 Phone3

John 101 1 488-511-3258 781-896-9897 425-983-9812
Bob 102 1 861-856-6987
Rob 201 2 587-963-8425 425-698-9684
PK [ Phone Nos ]
? ?
ID Name State Country Phone
1 John 101 1 488-511-3258
2 John 101 1 781-896-9897
3 John 101 1 425-983-9812
4 Bob 102 1 861-856-6987
5 Rob 201 2 587-963-8425
6 Rob 201 2 425-698-9684

2. Second Normal Form (2NF)Second normal form (2NF) further addresses the concept of removing
duplicative data:
 Meet all the requirements of the first normal form.
 Remove subsets of data that apply to multiple rows of a table and place them in separate tables.
· Create relationships between these new tables and their predecessors
through the use of foreign keys.

Remove columns which create duplicate data in a table and related a new
table with Primary Key – Foreign Key relationship

ID Name State Country Phone

1 John 101 1 488-511-3258
2 John 101 1 781-896-9897
3 John 101 1 425-983-9812
4 Bob 102 1 861-856-6987
5 Rob 201 2 587-963-8425
6 Rob 201 2 425-698-9684

ID Name State Country PhoneID ID Phone

1 John 101 1 1 488-511-3258
2 Bob 102 2 1 781-896-9897
3 Rob 201 3 1 425-983-9812
4 2 587-963-8425
5 3 587-963-8425
6 3 425-698-9684

3. Third Normal Form (3NF)

Third normal form (3NF) goes one large step further:
 Meet all the requirements of the second normal form.
 Remove columns that are not dependent upon the primary key.
Country can be derived from State also… so removing country
ID Name State Country
1 John 101 1
2 Bob 102 1
3 Rob 201 2

4. Fourth Normal Form (4NF)

Finally, fourth normal form (4NF) has one additional requirement:

 Meet all the requirements of the third normal form.

 A relation is in 4NF if it has no multi-valued dependencies.

If PK is composed of multiple columns then all non-key attributes should be

derived from FULL PK only. If some non-key attribute can be derived from
partial PK then remove it

The 4NF also known as BCNF NF

StudentIDSubjectID StudentName
TeacherID
101 1001 1 John
101 1002 2 Rob
201 1002 3 Bob
201 1001 2 Rob

TeacherID StudentID SubjectID StudentName

101 1001 1 X
101 1002 2 X
201 1001 3 X
201 1002 2 X

=================================================================================

1. Which TCP/IP port does SQL Server run on? How can it be changed?

SQL Server runs on port 1433. It can be changed from the Network Utility TCP/IP properties.

2. What are the difference between clustered and a non-clustered index?

1. A clustered index is a special type of index that reorders the way records in the table are
physically stored. Therefore table can have only one clustered index. The leaf nodes of a
clustered index contain the data pages.
2. A non clustered index is a special type of index in which the logical order of the index does
not match the physical stored order of the rows on disk. The leaf node of a non clustered index
does not consist of the data pages. Instead, the leaf nodes contain index rows.

3. What are the different index configurations a table can have?

A table can have one of the following index configurations:

 1. No indexes
2. A clustered index
3. A clustered index and many nonclustered indexes
4. A nonclustered index
5. Many nonclustered indexes

4. What are different types of Collation Sensitivity?

1. Case sensitivity - A and a, B and b, etc.

2. Accent sensitivity
3. Kana Sensitivity - When Japanese kana characters Hiragana and Katakana are treated
differently, it is called Kana sensitive.
4. Width sensitivity - A single-byte character (half-width) and the same character represented
as a double-byte character (full-width) are treated differently than it is width sensitive.

5. What is OLTP (Online Transaction Processing)?

In OLTP - online transaction processing systems relational database design use the discipline of data
modeling and generally follow the Codd rules of data normalization in order to ensure absolute data
integrity. Using these rules complex information is broken down into its most simple structures (a
table) where all of the individual atomic level elements relate to each other and satisfy the
normalization rules.

6. What's the difference between a primary key and a unique key?

Both primary key and unique key enforces uniqueness of the column on which they are defined. But by
default primary key creates a clustered index on the column, where are unique creates a nonclustered
index by default. Another major difference is that, primary key doesn't allow NULLs, but unique key
allows one NULL only.

7. What is difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE commands?

Delete command removes the rows from a table based on the condition that we provide with a WHERE
clause. Truncate will actually remove all the rows from a table and there will be no data in the table
after we run the truncate command.

1. TRUNCATE:
1. TRUNCATE is faster and uses fewer system and transaction log resources than DELETE.
2. TRUNCATE removes the data by deallocating the data pages used to store the table's
data, and only the page deallocations are recorded in the transaction log.
3. TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table, but the table structure, its columns,
constraints, indexes and so on, remains. The counter used by an identity for new rows
is reset to the seed for the column.
4. You cannot use TRUNCATE TABLE on a table referenced by a FOREIGN KEY constraint.
Because TRUNCATE TABLE is not logged, it cannot activate a trigger.
5. TRUNCATE cannot be rolled back.
6. TRUNCATE is DDL Command.
7. TRUNCATE Resets identity of the table
2. DELETE:
 1. DELETE removes rows one at a time and records an entry in the transaction log for
each deleted row.
2. If you want to retain the identity counter, use DELETE instead. If you want to remove
table definition and its data, use the DROP TABLE statement.
3. DELETE Can be used with or without a WHERE clause
4. DELETE Activates Triggers.
5. DELETE can be rolled back.
6. DELETE is DML Command.
7. DELETE does not reset identity of the table.

Note: DELETE and TRUNCATE both can be rolled back when surrounded by TRANSACTION if the current
session is not closed. If TRUNCATE is written in Query Editor surrounded by TRANSACTION and if
session is closed, it can not be rolled back but DELETE can be rolled back.

8. When is the use of UPDATE_STATISTICS command?

This command is basically used when a large processing of data has occurred. If a large amount of
deletions any modification or Bulk Copy into the tables has occurred, it has to update the indexes to
take these changes into account. UPDATE_STATISTICS updates the indexes on these tables
accordingly.

9. What is the difference between a HAVING CLAUSE and a WHERE CLAUSE?

They specify a search condition for a group or an aggregate. But the difference is that HAVING can be
used only with the SELECT statement. HAVING is typically used in a GROUP BY clause. When GROUP BY
is not used, HAVING behaves like a WHERE clause. Having Clause is basically used only with the
GROUP BY function in a query whereas WHERE Clause is applied to each row before they are part of
the GROUP BY function in a query.

10. What are the properties and different Types of Sub-Queries?

1. Properties of Sub-Query
1. A sub-query must be enclosed in the parenthesis.
2. A sub-query must be put in the right hand of the comparison operator, and
3. A sub-query cannot contain an ORDER-BY clause.
4. A query can contain more than one sub-query.
2. Types of Sub-Query
1. Single-row sub-query, where the sub-query returns only one row.
2. Multiple-row sub-query, where the sub-query returns multiple rows,. and
3. Multiple column sub-query, where the sub-query returns multiple columns

11. What is SQL Profiler?

SQL Profiler is a graphical tool that allows system administrators to monitor events in an instance of
Microsoft SQL Server. You can capture and save data about each event to a file or SQL Server table to
analyze later. For example, you can monitor a production environment to see which stored procedures
are hampering performances by executing too slowly.
Use SQL Profiler to monitor only the events in which you are interested. If traces are becoming too
large, you can filter them based on the information you want, so that only a subset of the event data is
collected. Monitoring too many events adds overhead to the server and the monitoring process and
can cause the trace file or trace table to grow very large, especially when the monitoring process takes
place over a long period of time.

12. What are the authentication modes in SQL Server? How can it be changed?

Windows mode and Mixed Mode - SQL and Windows. To change authentication mode in SQL Server
click Start, Programs, Microsoft SQL Server and click SQL Enterprise Manager to run SQL Enterprise
Manager from the Microsoft SQL Server program group. Select the server then from the Tools menu
select SQL Server Configuration Properties, and choose the Security page.

13. Which command using Query Analyzer will give you the version of SQL server and
operating system?

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY ('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'),

SERVERPROPERTY ('edition').

14. What is SQL Server Agent?

SQL Server agent plays an important role in the day-to-day tasks of a database administrator (DBA). It
is often overlooked as one of the main tools for SQL Server management. Its purpose is to ease the
implementation of tasks for the DBA, with its full- function scheduling engine, which allows you to
schedule your own jobs and scripts.

15. Can a stored procedure call itself or recursive stored procedure? How much level SP
nesting is possible?

Yes. Because Transact-SQL supports recursion, you can write stored procedures that call themselves.
Recursion can be defined as a method of problem solving wherein the solution is arrived at by
repetitively applying it to subsets of the problem. A common application of recursive logic is to perform
numeric computations that lend themselves to repetitive evaluation by the same processing steps.
Stored procedures are nested when one stored procedure calls another or executes managed code by
referencing a CLR routine, type, or aggregate. You can nest stored procedures and managed code
references up to 32 levels.

16. What is Log Shipping?

Log shipping is the process of automating the backup of database and transaction log files on a
production SQL server, and then restoring them onto a standby server. Enterprise Editions only
supports log shipping. In log shipping the transactional log file from one server is automatically
updated into the backup database on the other server. If one server fails, the other server will have the
same db and can be used this as the Disaster Recovery plan. The key feature of log shipping is that it
will automatically backup transaction logs throughout the day and automatically restore them on the
standby server at defined interval.

17. Name 3 ways to get an accurate count of the number of records in a table?
SELECT * FROM table1
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table1
SELECT rows FROM sysindexes WHERE id = OBJECT_ID(table1) AND indid < 2

18. What does it mean to have QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON? What are the implications of
having it OFF?

When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is ON, identifiers can be delimited by double quotation marks, and
literals must be delimited by single quotation marks. When SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER is OFF, identifiers
cannot be quoted and must follow all Transact-SQL rules for identifiers.

19. What is the difference between a Local and a Global temporary table?

1. A local temporary table exists only for the duration of a connection or, if defined inside a
compound statement, for the duration of the compound statement.
2. A global temporary table remains in the database permanently, but the rows exist only
within a given connection. When connection is closed, the data in the global temporary table
disappears. However, the table definition remains with the database for access when database
is opened next time.

20. What is the STUFF function and how does it differ from the REPLACE function?

STUFF function is used to overwrite existing characters. Using this syntax, STUFF (string_expression,
start, length, replacement_characters), string_expression is the string that will have characters
substituted, start is the starting position, length is the number of characters in the string that are
substituted, and replacement_characters are the new characters interjected into the string. REPLACE
function to replace existing characters of all occurrences. Using the syntax REPLACE
(string_expression, search_string, replacement_string), where every incidence of search_string found in
the string_expression will be replaced with replacement_string.

21. What is PRIMARY KEY?

A PRIMARY KEY constraint is a unique identifier for a row within a database table. Every table should
have a primary key constraint to uniquely identify each row and only one primary key constraint can
be created for each table. The primary key constraints are used to enforce entity integrity.

22. What is UNIQUE KEY constraint?

A UNIQUE constraint enforces the uniqueness of the values in a set of columns, so no duplicate values
are entered. The unique key constraints are used to enforce entity integrity as the primary key
constraints.

23. What is FOREIGN KEY?

A FOREIGN KEY constraint prevents any actions that would destroy links between tables with the
corresponding data values. A foreign key in one table points to a primary key in another table. Foreign
keys prevent actions that would leave rows with foreign key values when there are no primary keys
with that value. The foreign key constraints are used to enforce referential integrity.
24. What is CHECK Constraint?

A CHECK constraint is used to limit the values that can be placed in a column. The check constraints
are used to enforce domain integrity.

25. What is NOT NULL Constraint?

A NOT NULL constraint enforces that the column will not accept null values. The not null constraints
are used to enforce domain integrity, as the check constraints.

26. How to get @@ERROR and @@ROWCOUNT at the same time?

If @@Rowcount is checked after Error checking statement then it will have 0 as the value of
@@Recordcount as it would have been reset. And if @@Recordcount is checked before the error-
checking statement then @@Error would get reset. To get @@error and @@rowcount at the same
time do both in same statement and store them in local variable.

SELECT @RC = @@ROWCOUNT, @ER = @@ERROR

27. What is a Scheduled Jobs or What is a Scheduled Tasks?

Scheduled tasks let user automate processes that run on regular or predictable cycles. User can
schedule administrative tasks, such as cube processing, to run during times of slow business activity.
User can also determine the order in which tasks run by creating job steps within a SQL Server Agent
job. E.g. back up database, Update Stats of Tables. Job steps give user control over flow of execution. If
one job fails, user can configure SQL Server Agent to continue to run the remaining tasks or to stop
execution.

28. What are the advantages of using Stored Procedures?

1. Stored procedure can reduced network traffic and latency, boosting application performance.
2. Stored procedure execution plans can be reused, staying cached in SQL Server's memory,
reducing server overhead.
3. Stored procedures help promote code reuse.
4. Stored procedures can encapsulate logic. You can change stored procedure code without
affecting clients.
5. Stored procedures provide better security to your data.

29. What is a table called, if it has neither Cluster nor Non-cluster Index? What is it used
for?

Unindexed table or Heap. Microsoft Press Books and Book on Line (BOL) refers it as Heap. A heap is a
table that does not have a clustered index and, therefore, the pages are not linked by pointers. The
IAM pages are the only structures that link the pages in a table together. Unindexed tables are good
for fast storing of data. Many times it is better to drop all indexes from table and then do bulk of
inserts and to restore those indexes after that.

30. Can SQL Servers linked to other servers like Oracle?

SQL Server can be linked to any server provided it has OLE-DB provider from Microsoft to allow a link.
E.g. Oracle has an OLE-DB provider for oracle that Microsoft provides to add it as linked server to SQL
Server group.

31. What is BCP? When does it used?

BulkCopy is a tool used to copy huge amount of data from tables and views. BCP does not copy the
structures same as source to destination. BULK INSERT command helps to import a data file into a
database table or view in a user-specified format.

32. How to implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while

designing tables?

One-to-One relationship can be implemented as a single table and rarely as two tables with primary
and foreign key relationships. One-to-Many relationships are implemented by splitting the data into
two tables with primary key and foreign key relationships. Many-to-Many relationships are
implemented using a junction table with the keys from both the tables forming the composite primary
key of the junction table.

33. What is an execution plan? When would you use it? How would you view the execution
plan?

An execution plan is basically a road map that graphically or textually shows the data retrieval
methods chosen by the SQL Server query optimizer for a stored procedure or ad- hoc query and is a
very useful tool for a developer to understand the performance characteristics of a query or stored
procedure since the plan is the one that SQL Server will place in its cache and use to execute the
stored procedure or query. From within Query Analyzer is an option called "Show Execution Plan"
(located on the Query drop-down menu). If this option is turned on it will display query execution plan
in separate window when query is ran again.

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Top 50 ques---
1. What is DBMS?
A Database Management System (DBMS) is a program that controls creation, maintenance
and use of a database. DBMS can be termed as File Manager that manages data in a
database rather than saving it in file systems.
2. What is RDBMS?
RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System. RDBMS store the data into
the collection of tables, which is related by common fields between the columns of the table.
It also provides relational operators to manipulate the data stored into the tables.
Example: SQL Server.
3. What is SQL?
SQL stands for Structured Query Language , and it is used to communicate with the
Database. This is a standard language used to perform tasks such as retrieval, updation,
insertion and deletion of data from a database.
Standard SQL Commands are Select.
4. What is a Database?
Database is nothing but an organized form of data for easy access, storing, retrieval and
managing of data. This is also known as structured form of data which can be accessed in
many ways.
Example: School Management Database, Bank Management Database.
5. What are tables and Fields?
A table is a set of data that are organized in a model with Columns and Rows. Columns can
be categorized as vertical, and Rows are horizontal. A table has specified number of
column called fields but can have any number of rows which is called record.
Example:.
Table: Employee.
Field: Emp ID, Emp Name, Date of Birth.
Data: 201456, David, 11/15/1960.
6. What is a primary key?
A primary key is a combination of fields which uniquely specify a row. This is a special kind
of unique key, and it has implicit NOT NULL constraint. It means, Primary key values cannot
be NULL.
7. What is a unique key?
A Unique key constraint uniquely identified each record in the database. This provides
uniqueness for the column or set of columns.
A Primary key constraint has automatic unique constraint defined on it. But not, in the case
of Unique Key.
There can be many unique constraint defined per table, but only one Primary key constraint
defined per table.
8. What is a foreign key?
A foreign key is one table which can be related to the primary key of another table.
Relationship needs to be created between two tables by referencing foreign key with the
primary key of another table.
9. What is a join?
This is a keyword used to query data from more tables based on the relationship between
the fields of the tables. Keys play a major role when JOINs are used.
10. What are the types of join and explain each?
There are various types of join which can be used to retrieve data and it depends on the
relationship between tables.
Inner join.
Inner join return rows when there is at least one match of rows between the tables.
Right Join.
Right join return rows which are common between the tables and all rows of Right hand
side table. Simply, it returns all the rows from the right hand side table even though there
are no matches in the left hand side table.
Left Join.
Left join return rows which are common between the tables and all rows of Left hand side
table. Simply, it returns all the rows from Left hand side table even though there are no
matches in the Right hand side table.
Full Join.
Full join return rows when there are matching rows in any one of the tables. This means, it
returns all the rows from the left hand side table and all the rows from the right hand side
table.
11. What is normalization?
Normalization is the process of minimizing redundancy and dependency by organizing fields
and table of a database. The main aim of Normalization is to add, delete or modify field that
can be made in a single table.
12. What is Denormalization.
DeNormalization is a technique used to access the data from higher to lower normal forms
of database. It is also process of introducing redundancy into a table by incorporating data
from the related tables.
13. What are all the different normalizations?
The normal forms can be divided into 5 forms, and they are explained below -.
First Normal Form (1NF):.
This should remove all the duplicate columns from the table. Creation of tables for the
related data and identification of unique columns.
Second Normal Form (2NF):.
Meeting all requirements of the first normal form. Placing the subsets of data in separate
tables and Creation of relationships between the tables using primary keys.
Third Normal Form (3NF):.
This should meet all requirements of 2NF. Removing the columns which are not dependent
on primary key constraints.
Fourth Normal Form (3NF):.
 Meeting all the requirements of third normal form and it should not have multi- valued
dependencies.
14. What is a View?
A view is a virtual table which consists of a subset of data contained in a table. Views are
not virtually present, and it takes less space to store. View can have data of one or more
tables combined, and it is depending on the relationship.
15. What is an Index?
An index is performance tuning method of allowing faster retrieval of records from the table.
An index creates an entry for each value and it will be faster to retrieve data.
16. What are all the different types of indexes?
There are three types of indexes -.
Unique Index.
This indexing does not allow the field to have duplicate values if the column is unique
indexed. Unique index can be applied automatically when primary key is defined.
Clustered Index.
This type of index reorders the physical order of the table and search based on the key
values. Each table can have only one clustered index.
NonClustered Index.
NonClustered Index does not alter the physical order of the table and maintains logical
order of data. Each table can have 999 nonclustered indexes.
17. What is a Cursor?
A database Cursor is a control which enables traversal over the rows or records in the table.
This can be viewed as a pointer to one row in a set of rows. Cursor is very much useful for
traversing such as retrieval, addition and removal of database records.
18. What is a relationship and what are they?
Database Relationship is defined as the connection between the tables in a database.
There are various data basing relationships, and they are as follows:.
 One to One Relationship.
 One to Many Relationship.
 Many to One Relationship.
 Self-Referencing Relationship.
19. What is a query?
A DB query is a code written in order to get the information back from the database. Query
can be designed in such a way that it matched with our expectation of the result set. Simply,
a question to the Database.
20. What is subquery?
 A subquery is a query within another query. The outer query is called as main query, and
inner query is called subquery. SubQuery is always executed first, and the result of
subquery is passed on to the main query.
21. What are the types of subquery?
There are two types of subquery – Correlated and Non-Correlated.
A correlated subquery cannot be considered as independent query, but it can refer the
column in a table listed in the FROM the list of the main query.
A Non-Correlated sub query can be considered as independent query and the output of
subquery are substituted in the main query.
22. What is a stored procedure?
Stored Procedure is a function consists of many SQL statement to access the database
system. Several SQL statements are consolidated into a stored procedure and execute
them whenever and wherever required.
23. What is a trigger?
A DB trigger is a code or programs that automatically execute with response to some event
on a table or view in a database. Mainly, trigger helps to maintain the integrity of the
database.
Example: When a new student is added to the student database, new records should be
created in the related tables like Exam, Score and Attendance tables.
24. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE
commands?
DELETE command is used to remove rows from the table, and WHERE clause can be used
for conditional set of parameters. Commit and Rollback can be performed after delete
statement.
TRUNCATE removes all rows from the table. Truncate operation cannot be rolled back.
25. What are local and global variables and their differences?
Local variables are the variables which can be used or exist inside the function. They are
not known to the other functions and those variables cannot be referred or used. Variables
can be created whenever that function is called.
Global variables are the variables which can be used or exist throughout the program.
Same variable declared in global cannot be used in functions. Global variables cannot be
created whenever that function is called.
26. What is a constraint?
Constraint can be used to specify the limit on the data type of table. Constraint can be
specified while creating or altering the table statement. Sample of constraint are.
 NOT NULL.
 CHECK.
 DEFAULT.
 UNIQUE.
 PRIMARY KEY.
 FOREIGN KEY.
27. What is data Integrity?
Data Integrity defines the accuracy and consistency of data stored in a database. It can also
define integrity constraints to enforce business rules on the data when it is entered into the
application or database.
28. What is Auto Increment?
Auto increment keyword allows the user to create a unique number to be generated when a
new record is inserted into the table. AUTO INCREMENT keyword can be used in Oracle
and IDENTITY keyword can be used in SQL SERVER.
Mostly this keyword can be used whenever PRIMARY KEY is used.
29. What is the difference between Cluster and Non-Cluster Index?
Clustered index is used for easy retrieval of data from the database by altering the way that
the records are stored. Database sorts out rows by the column which is set to be clustered
index.
A nonclustered index does not alter the way it was stored but creates a complete separate
object within the table. It point back to the original table rows after searching.
30. What is Datawarehouse?
Datawarehouse is a central repository of data from multiple sources of information. Those
data are consolidated, transformed and made available for the mining and online
processing. Warehouse data have a subset of data called Data Marts.
31. What is Self-Join?
Self-join is set to be query used to compare to itself. This is used to compare values in a
column with other values in the same column in the same table. ALIAS ES can be used for
the same table comparison.
32. What is Cross-Join?
Cross join defines as Cartesian product where number of rows in the first table multiplied by
number of rows in the second table. If suppose, WHERE clause is used in cross join then
the query will work like an INNER JOIN.
33. What is user defined functions?
User defined functions are the functions written to use that logic whenever required. It is not
necessary to write the same logic several times. Instead, function can be called or executed
whenever needed.
34. What are all types of user defined functions?
 Three types of user defined functions are.
 Scalar Functions.
 Inline Table valued functions.
 Multi statement valued functions.
Scalar returns unit, variant defined the return clause. Other two types return table as a
return.
35. What is collation?
Collation is defined as set of rules that determine how character data can be sorted and
compared. This can be used to compare A and, other language characters and also
depends on the width of the characters.
ASCII value can be used to compare these character data.

36. What are all different types of collation sensitivity?

Following are different types of collation sensitivity -.
 Case Sensitivity – A and a and B and b.
 Accent Sensitivity.
 Kana Sensitivity – Japanese Kana characters.
 Width Sensitivity – Single byte character and double byte character.
37. Advantages and Disadvantages of Stored Procedure?
Stored procedure can be used as a modular programming – means create once, store and
call for several times whenever required. This supports faster execution instead of
executing multiple queries. This reduces network traffic and provides better security to the
data.
Disadvantage is that it can be executed only in the Database and utilizes more memory in
the database server.
38. What is Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)?
Online Transaction Processing or OLTP manages transaction based applications which can
be used for data entry and easy retrieval processing of data. This processing makes like
easier on simplicity and efficiency. It is faster, more accurate results and expenses with
respect to OTLP.
Example – Bank Transactions on a daily basis.
39. What is CLAUSE?
SQL clause is defined to limit the result set by providing condition to the query. This usually
filters some rows from the whole set of records.
Example – Query that has WHERE condition
Query that has HAVING condition.
40. What is recursive stored procedure?
A stored procedure which calls by itself until it reaches some boundary condition. This
recursive function or procedure helps programmers to use the same set of code any
number of times.
41. What is Union, minus and Interact commands?
UNION operator is used to combine the results of two tables, and it eliminates duplicate
rows from the tables.
MINUS operator is used to return rows from the first query but not from the second query.
Matching records of first and second query and other rows from the first query will be
displayed as a result set.
INTERSECT operator is used to return rows returned by both the queries.
42. What is an ALIAS command?
ALIAS name can be given to a table or column. This alias name can be referred in WHERE
clause to identify the table or column.
Example-.
Select st.StudentID, Ex.Result from student st, Exam as Ex where
st.studentID = Ex. StudentID

Here, st refers to alias name for student table and Ex refers to alias name for exam table.
43. What is the difference between TRUNCATE and DROP statements?
TRUNCATE removes all the rows from the table, and it cannot be rolled back. DROP
command removes a table from the database and operation cannot be rolled back.
44. What are aggregate and scalar functions?
Aggregate functions are used to evaluate mathematical calculation and return single values.
This can be calculated from the columns in a table. Scalar functions return a single value
based on the input value.
Example -.
Aggregate – max(), count – Calculated with respect to numeric.
Scalar – UCASE(), NOW() – Calculated with respect to strings.
45. How can you create an empty table from an existing table?
Example will be -.
Select * into studentcopy from student where 1=2.

Here, we are copying student table to another table with the same structure with no rows
copied.
46. How to fetch common records from two tables?
Common records result set can be achieved by -.
Select studentID from student.
 <strong>INTERSECT </strong>

Select StudentID from Exam.

47. How to fetch alternate records from a table?

Records can be fetched for both Odd and Even row numbers -.
To display even numbers-.
Select studentId from (Select rowno, studentId from student) where
mod(rowno,2)=0.

To display odd numbers-.

Select studentId from (Select rowno, studentId from student) where
mod(rowno,2)=1.

48. How to select unique records from a table?

Select unique records from a table by using DISTINCT keyword.

Select DISTINCT StudentID, StudentName from Student.

49. What is the command used to fetch first 5 characters of the

string?
There are many ways to fetch first 5 characters of the string -.
Select SUBSTRING(StudentName,1,5) as studentname from student.

Select RIGHT(Studentname,5) as studentname from student.

50. Which operator is used in query for pattern matching?

LIKE operator is used for pattern matching, and it can be used as -.
1. % – Matches zero or more characters.
2. _(Underscore) – Matching exactly one character.
Example -.
Select * from Student where studentname like ‘a%’
Select * from Student where studentname like ‘ami_’

The CREATE INDEX statement is used to create indexes in tables.Indexes allow the database
application to find data fast; without reading the whole table.

Indexes

An index can be created in a table to find data more quickly and efficiently.

The users cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed up searches/queries.

Note: Updating a table with indexes takes more time than updating a table without (because the
indexes also need an update). So you should only create indexes on columns (and tables) that
will be frequently searched against.

SQL CREATE INDEX Syntax

Creates an index on a table. Duplicate values are allowed:

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column_name)

SQL CREATE UNIQUE INDEX Syntax

Creates a unique index on a table. Duplicate values are not allowed:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column_name)

CREATE INDEX PIndex

ON Persons (LastName)

CREATE INDEX PIndex

ON Persons (LastName, FirstName)

SQL INNER JOIN Keyword

The INNER JOIN keyword returns rows when there is at least one match in both tables.