SQL BASICS

1. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING clause in SQL?

• WHERE filters rows before grouping.

• HAVING filters groups after aggregation.

2. Explain the difference between INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN,
and FULL OUTER JOIN.

• INNER JOIN: returns matching rows.

• LEFT JOIN: all from left + matched from right.

• RIGHT JOIN: all from right + matched from left.

• FULL OUTER JOIN: all rows from both sides.

3. What is a nested query in SQL? Give an example use case.

A nested query (subquery) is a query inside another query.

Example:

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE dept_id = (SELECT dept_id FROM

departments WHERE name = ‘HR');

4. What is a correlated subquery? How does it differ from a nested query?

A correlated subquery refers to a column from the outer query and is executed for each row.
Example:

SELECT name FROM employees e WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM
employees WHERE dept_id = e.dept_id);

5. What is the purpose of aggregate functions in SQL? Name a few.

They perform calculations on multiple values:

• SUM(), COUNT(), AVG(), MIN(), MAX().

6. Explain how SQL handles NULL values in comparison operations.

NULL is unknown, so comparisons like =, <> with NULL return FALSE. Use IS NULL or IS
NOT NULL.

7. What are the set comparison operators in SQL? Give examples.

• IN, NOT IN, ANY, ALL, EXISTS.

Example:

SELECT * FROM students WHERE marks > ALL (SELECT marks FROM students
WHERE class = ‘B');

8. What is the difference between COUNT(*), COUNT(column_name), and

COUNT(DISTINCT column_name)?

• COUNT(*): counts all rows.

• COUNT(column): counts non-NULL values.

• COUNT(DISTINCT column): counts unique non-NULL values.

9. When should you use a GROUP BY clause in SQL?

Use it when you want to aggregate data grouped by one or more columns.

10. Can NULL = NULL return true in SQL? Explain.

No, it returns UNKNOWN. Use IS NULL instead.

11. What is the use of the IN, ANY, ALL, and EXISTS operators?

• IN: matches any value in a list.

 • ANY: true if any subquery value matches.

• ALL: true if all subquery values match.

• EXISTS: true if subquery returns any rows.

12. What is the difference between scalar and multi-row subqueries?

• Scalar subquery: returns one value.

• Multi-row subquery: returns multiple rows.

13. Get names of employees in department 'HR'.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE dept_id = (SELECT dept_id FROM

departments WHERE name = ‘HR');

14. Find employees with salary greater than average salary.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM
employees);

15. List departments with more than 5 employees.

SELECT dept_id FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id HAVING COUNT(*) > 5;

16. Find employees whose salary is greater than all employees in department 2.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary > ALL (SELECT salary FROM
employees WHERE dept_id = 2);

17. Get names of employees who work in departments with budget > 1M.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE dept_id IN (SELECT dept_id FROM

departments WHERE budget > 1000000);
18. Find employees who do not work in 'Sales' or 'Marketing'.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE dept_id NOT IN (SELECT dept_id FROM
departments WHERE name IN ('Sales', ‘Marketing'));

19. Find the department with the highest average salary.

SELECT dept_id FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id ORDER BY AVG(salary) DESC

LIMIT 1;

20. Find employees with duplicate names.

SELECT name FROM employees GROUP BY name HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

21. Find departments that have no employees.

SELECT name FROM departments WHERE dept_id NOT IN (SELECT DISTINCT

dept_id FROM employees);

22. Find all employees whose salary is equal to the maximum salary in the
company.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary = (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM

employees);

23. List employees who earn more than their department’s average salary
(correlated).

SELECT name FROM employees e WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM
employees WHERE dept_id = e.dept_id);

24. Find employees having NULL manager ID.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL;

25. Get total salary paid in each department.

SELECT dept_id, SUM(salary) AS total_salary FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id;

26. List employee names and their department names.

SELECT e.name, d.name FROM employees e JOIN departments d ON e.dept_id =

d.dept_id;

27. Find employees whose salary is greater than any employee in department 1.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary > ANY (SELECT salary FROM
employees WHERE dept_id = 1);

28. Find employees who do not have a manager.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL;

29. Find all departments where the average salary is more than 60,000.

SELECT dept_id FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id HAVING AVG(salary) > 60000;

30. Get number of employees in each department.

SELECT dept_id, COUNT(*) AS emp_count FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id;

31. Find departments where no employee has salary more than 30,000.

SELECT dept_id FROM departments WHERE dept_id NOT IN (

SELECT DISTINCT dept_id FROM employees WHERE salary > 30000
);

32. Get employee(s) with the 2nd highest salary.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary = (

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary)
FROM employees)
);

33. Get departments with exactly 3 employees.

SELECT dept_id FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id HAVING COUNT(*) = 3;

34. Get employees who joined in the current year.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE YEAR(join_date) = YEAR(CURDATE());

35. Find average salary of employees per department having at least one
employee.

SELECT dept_id, AVG(salary) FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id;

36. Find employees working in more than one project.

SELECT emp_id FROM project_assignment GROUP BY emp_id HAVING

COUNT(DISTINCT project_id) > 1;

37. Get employees whose salary is NOT NULL and greater than 50000.

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE salary IS NOT NULL AND salary > 50000;

38. Find departments with all employees having salary > 20,000.

SELECT dept_id FROM employees GROUP BY dept_id HAVING MIN(salary) > 20000;

39. Find employees with no assigned project (use NOT EXISTS).

SELECT name FROM employees e WHERE NOT EXISTS (

SELECT 1 FROM project_assignment p WHERE p.emp_id = e.emp_id
);

40. Find the total number of NULL values in the bonus column.

SELECT COUNT(*) - COUNT(bonus) AS null_count FROM employees;

Let me know if you want the same as a downloadable file (PDF, DOCX), or if you'd like practice
exercises with mock tables.