Top 20 LeetCode SQL Problems
1. Combine Two Tables
LeetCode 175: https://leetcode.com/problems/combine-two-tables/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to combine two tables `Person` and `Address`, returning
all people and their respective addresses (if they exist).
Normal Approach :
Use `LEFT JOIN` to merge the tables and return records even if the person
doesn’t have an address.
Optimized Approach :
Make use of the `COALESCE()` function to handle null values in the address
data.
2. Second Highest Salary
LeetCode 176: https://leetcode.com/problems/second-highest-salary/
Problem:
Write a SQL query to get the second highest salary from the `Employee`
table.
Normal Approach :
Use `ORDER BY` with `LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1` to fetch the second-highest salary.
Optimized Approach :
Use a `DISTINCT` subquery to ensure duplicate salaries are ignored and
employ a conditional statement to handle cases where there is no second-
highest salary.
3. Nth Highest Salary
LeetCode 177: https://leetcode.com/problems/nth-highest-salary/
Problem:
Write a SQL query to get the Nth highest salary from the `Employee` table.
Normal Approach :
Use `ORDER BY` with `LIMIT` and `OFFSET` to fetch the Nth highest salary.
Optimized Approach :
Utilize a window function like `ROW_NUMBER()` or `DENSE_RANK()` for a
more efficient solution.
4. Rank Scores
LeetCode 178: https://leetcode.com/problems/rank-scores/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to rank the scores from highest to lowest.
Normal Approach :
Use `ORDER BY` and create a ranking manually by incrementing the rank
value for each row.
Optimized Approach :
Leverage the `RANK()` or `DENSE_RANK()` window function to efficiently
handle ranking and deal with ties.
5. Consecutive Numbers
LeetCode 180: https://leetcode.com/problems/consecutive-numbers/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find all numbers that appear consecutively at least
three times.
Normal Approach :
Use self-joins to compare rows with their neighbors to identify consecutive
entries.
Optimized Approach :
Employ the `LEAD()` or `LAG()` window functions to compare consecutive
rows efficiently.
6. Employees Earning More Than Their Managers
LeetCode 181: https://leetcode.com/problems/employees-earning-more-than-
their-managers/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find employees who earn more than their managers.
Normal Approach :
Use self-joins on the `Employee` table to compare employee salaries with
their manager's salaries.
Optimized Approach :
Implement a correlated subquery to reduce redundant data scanning and
make the query more efficient.
7. Duplicate Emails
LeetCode 182: https://leetcode.com/problems/duplicate-emails/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find all duplicate email addresses in the `Person` table.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` and `HAVING` to identify emails appearing more than once.
Optimized Approach :
Ensure performance optimization by using indexes on the email column for
faster querying.
8. Customers Who Never Order
LeetCode 183: https://leetcode.com/problems/customers-who-never-order/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find customers who never placed an order.
Normal Approach :
Use `LEFT JOIN` with the `Orders` table and filter out the customers with no
matching orders.
Optimized Approach :
Utilize the `NOT EXISTS` clause for better query performance in large
datasets.
9. Department Highest Salary
LeetCode 184: https://leetcode.com/problems/department-highest-salary/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the employee with the highest salary in each
department.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` on the department and fetch the highest salary using
`MAX()`.
Optimized Approach :
Implement a window function like `RANK()` or `DENSE_RANK()` to get the
highest salary for each department efficiently.
10. Department Top Three Salaries
LeetCode 185: https://leetcode.com/problems/department-top-three-salaries/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the top three salaries for each department.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` with a subquery to fetch the top three salaries for each
department.
Optimized Approach :
Use `ROW_NUMBER()` or `RANK()` window functions to rank salaries within
departments and filter the top three.
11. Delete Duplicate Emails
LeetCode 196: https://leetcode.com/problems/delete-duplicate-emails/
Problem:
Write a SQL query to delete all duplicate email entries, leaving only unique
records.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` with `DELETE` to remove duplicate entries while keeping
the first occurrence.
Optimized Approach :
Use a `ROW_NUMBER()` or `RANK()` function in a CTE to identify duplicates
and delete accordingly for faster performance.
12. Rising Temperature
LeetCode 197: https://leetcode.com/problems/rising-temperature/)
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find all dates where the temperature is higher than the
previous day.
Normal Approach :
Use self-join on the `Weather` table to compare temperatures between
consecutive days.
Optimized Approach :
Use the `LAG()` window function to efficiently compare the temperature of
the current day with the previous day’s temperature.
13. Trips and Users
LeetCode 262: https://leetcode.com/problems/trips-and-users/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find all rides that were either cancelled by the client or
driver.
Normal Approach :
Use `INNER JOIN` between `Trips` and `Users` tables, and apply filtering
conditions to find cancelled rides.
Optimized Approach :
Leverage conditional aggregation to streamline the query performance on
large datasets.
14. Game Play Analysis I
LeetCode 511: https://leetcode.com/problems/game-play-analysis-i/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the first login date for each player.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` and `MIN()` to retrieve the first login date for each player.
Optimized Approach :
Utilize window functions like `ROW_NUMBER()` to efficiently fetch the
earliest login without needing a group operation .
15. Game Play Analysis II
LeetCode 512: https://leetcode.com/problems/game-play-analysis-ii/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the number of players who logged in for
consecutive days.
Normal Approach :
Use self-joins to compare login dates and identify consecutive logins.
Optimized Approach :
Employ the `LAG()` or `LEAD()` window functions to compare consecutive
login dates more efficiently.
16. Game Play Analysis III
LeetCode 534: https://leetcode.com/problems/game-play-analysis-iii/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the first login for each player after they have
played a game for three or more consecutive days.
Normal Approach :
Use self-joins and date arithmetic to calculate consecutive login streaks.
Optimized Approach :
Apply the `ROW_NUMBER()` function partitioned by the player and order by
date to track streaks and filter by conditions.
17. Game Play Analysis IV
LeetCode 550: https://leetcode.com/problems/game-play-analysis-iv/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find all players who played on consecutive days.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` and self-joins to determine streaks of consecutive
gameplay.
Optimized Approach :
Leverage the `LAG()` function to directly compare the login date to the
previous day’s activity for each player.
18. Median Employee Salary
LeetCode 569: https://leetcode.com/problems/median-employee-salary/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to calculate the median salary for each department.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` and calculate median manually by sorting and applying
`LIMIT`/`OFFSET`.
Optimized Approach :
Use window functions like `PERCENTILE_CONT()` for efficient computation of
median across departments.
19. Winning Candidate
LeetCode 574: https://leetcode.com/problems/winning-candidate/
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find the candidate with the most votes in an election.
Normal Approach :
Use `GROUP BY` with `COUNT()` to find the total votes for each candidate
and select the one with the highest count.
Optimized Approach :
Apply the `RANK()` function to efficiently rank candidates based on votes
and retrieve the top-ranked one.
20. Employee Bonus
LeetCode 577: https://leetcode.com/problems/employee-bonus/)
Problem :
Write a SQL query to find employees who receive bonuses based on the
`Employee` and `Bonus` tables.
Normal Approach :
Use `INNER JOIN` to match employees with bonuses, then return those who
qualify.
Optimized Approach :
Use `LEFT JOIN` to ensure all employees are included, and use a conditional
filter to determine who has bonuses.
