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SQL Interview
ALL COURSES  Questions
FREE COURSES  and Answers
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  in STORIES
VISUAL 
2022
By Neha Kaplish - Jan 18, 2022

If you’re preparing for an upcoming SQL Interview, you’re at the right place! This blog on
SQL Interview Questions has been divided into various sections. Whether you’re a
fresher, a developer, or an experienced working professional, there are SQL Interview
Questions to meet your needs and help you ace your interview!

Let’s get started!

1. SQL Interview Questions for Freshers

2. SQL Interview Questions for Experienced Professionals

3. SQL Interview Questions for Developers

4. SQL Joins Interview Questions

5. Advanced SQL Interview Questions

6. SQL Server Interview Questions

7. Frequently Asked Questions in SQL

8. Assess yourself by giving a SQL Quiz

Relational Databases continue to be the most extensively used database management

systems. Accessing and analyzing the data is the top most need these days and SQL
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enables you to do just that. There is a high demand among employers for individuals
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who possess SQL skills. It is therefore absolutely essential for you to prepare yourself with
the frequently asked SQL Interview questions if you want to land your dream job!

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SQL Interview Questions for Freshers

1. What is Database?
A database is a system that helps in collecting, storing and retrieving data. Databases
can be complex, and such databases are developed using design and modelling
approaches.

2. What is DBMS?
DBMS stands for Database Management System which is responsible for the creating,
updating, and managing of the database. 

 3. What is RDBMS? How is it different from DBMS?

RDBMS stands for Relational Database Management System that stores data in the
form of a collection of tables, and relations can be defined between the common fields
of these tables.
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4.ALL
What is SQL? FREE COURSES
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SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is the primary language to interact with
databases. With the help of SQL, we can extract data from a database, modify this data
and also update it whenever there is a requirement. This query language is evergreen
and is widely used across industries. For example, if a company has records of all the
details of their employees in the database. With the help of SQL, all of this data can be
queried to find out valuable insights in a short span of time.

5. How to create a table in SQL?

The command to create a table in sql is extremely simple:

CREATE TABLE table_name (

column1 datatype,

column2 datatype,

column3 datatype,

....

);

We will start off by giving the keywords, CREATE TABLE, then we will give the name of the
table. After that in braces, we will list out all the columns along with their datatypes.

For example, if we want to create a simple employee table:

CREATE TABLE employee (

name varchar(25),

age int,

gender varchar(25),

....

);

3. How to delete a table in SQL?

There are two ways to delete a table from sql: DROP and TRUNCATE. The DROP TABLE
command is used to completely delete the table from the database. This is the
command:

DROP TABLE table_name;

The above command will completely delete all the data present in the table along with
the table itself.

But if we want to delete only the data present in the table but not the table itself, then
we will use the truncate command: 
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DROP TABLE table_name ;

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4. How to change a table name in SQL?

This is the command to change a table name in SQL:

ALTER TABLE table_name

RENAME TO new_table_name;

We will start off by giving the keywords ALTER TABLE, then we will follow it up by giving the
original name of the table, after that, we will give in the keywords RENAME TO and finally,
we will give the new table name.

For example, if we want to change the “employee” table to “employee_information”, this

will be the command:

ALTER TABLE employee

RENAME TO employee_information;

To be more thorough with your preparation, do check out our Free Course on SQL
Interview Questions at Great Learning Academy. In this course, we start off with
interview questions on the basics of SQL. Then, we dive into the questions of
Normalization and Sub-queries. Finally, we have interview questions on two projects
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5. How to delete a row in SQL?

We will be using the DELETE query to delete existing rows from the table:

DELETE FROM table_name

WHERE [condition];

We will start off by giving the keywords DELETE FROM, then we will give the name of the
table, after that we will give the WHERE clause and give the condition on the basis of
which we would want to delete a row.

For example, from the employee table, if we would like to delete all the rows, where the
age of the employee is equal to 25, then this will the command:

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DELETE FROM employee

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WHERE [age=25];

6. How to create a database in SQL?

A database is a repository in sql, which can comprise of multiple tables.

This will be the command to create a database in sql:

CREATE DATABASE database_name.

7. What is Normalization in SQL?

Normalization is used to decompose a larger, complex table into simple and smaller
ones. This helps us in removing all the redundant data.

Generally, in a table, we will have a lot of redundant information which is not required,
so it is better to divide this complex table into multiple smaller tables which contains
only unique information.

First normal form:

A relation schema is in 1NF, if and only if:

– All attributes in the relation are atomic(indivisible value)

-And there are no repeating elements or group of elements.

Second normal form: 

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A relation is said to be in 2NF, if and only if:

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It is in 1st Normal Form.

No partial dependency exists between non-key attributes and key attributes.

Third Normal form:

•A relation R is said to be in 3NF if and only if:

It is in 2NF.

No transitive dependency exists between non-key attributes and key attributes through
another non-key attribute

SQL INTERVIEW QUIZ

Questions asked by top companies

Start

 744

8. What is join in SQL?

Joins are used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column
between them.

Types of Joins:

•INNER JOIN − Returns rows when there is a match in both tables.

•LEFT JOIN − Returns all rows from the left table, even if there are no matches in the right
table.

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•RIGHT JOIN − Returns all rows from the right table, even if there are no matches in the
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left table.

•FULL OUTER JOIN − Returns rows when there is a match in one of the tables.

•SELF JOIN − Used to join a table to itself as if the table were two tables, temporarily
renaming at least one table in the SQL statement.

•CARTESIAN JOIN (CROSS JOIN) − Returns the Cartesian product of the sets of records
from the two or more joined tables.

INNER JOIN:

The INNER JOIN creates a new result table by combining column values of two tables
(table1 and table2) based upon the join-predicate. The query compares each row of
table1 with each row of table2 to find all pairs of rows which satisfy the join-predicate.

SYNTAX :

SELECT table1.col1, table2.col2,…, table1.coln

FROM table1

INNER JOIN table2

ON table1.commonfield = table2.commonfield;

LEFT JOIN:

The LEFT JOIN returns all the values from the left table, plus matched values from the
right table or NULL in case of no matching join predicate.

SYNTAX :

SELECT table1.col1, table2.col2,…, table1.coln

FROM table1

LEFT JOIN table2

ON table1.commonfield = table2.commonfield;

RIGHT JOIN:

The RIGHT JOIN returns all the values from the right table, plus matched values from the
left table or NULL in case of no matching join predicate.

SYNTAX :

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SELECT
ALL table1.col1,
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FROM table1

RIGHT JOIN table2

ON table1.commonfield = table2.commonfield;

FULL OUTER JOIN:

The FULL OUTER JOIN combines the results of both left and right outer joins. The joined
table will contain all records from both the tables and fill in NULLs for missing matches
on either side.

SYNTAX :

SELECT table1.col1, table2.col2,…, table1.coln

FROM table1

Left JOIN table2

ON table1.commonfield = table2.commonfield;

Union

SELECT table1.col1, table2.col2,…, table1.coln

FROM table1

Right JOIN table2

ON table1.commonfield = table2.commonfield;

SELF JOIN:

The SELF JOIN joins a table to itself; temporarily renaming at least one table in the SQL
statement.

SYNTAX:

SELECT a.col1, b.col2,..., a.coln

FROM table1 a, table1 b

WHERE a.commonfield = b.commonfield;

9. What is SQL server?

To understand what exactly is SQL Server, we need to understand what is DBMS and
RDBMS. DBMS stands for Database Management System. When we have a huge
database with us, we would need a proper management system which would help us
organise this database.  There are 4 types of database management systems:

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Hierarchical 
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Network

Relational 

Object-Oriented.

Out of these database management systems, SQL Server comes under the category of
Relational database management system.  A relational database refers to a database
that stores data in a structured format, using rows and columns. This makes it easier to
locate and access specific values within the database. It is “relational” because the
values within each table are related to each other. The relational structure makes it
possible to run queries across multiple tables at once.

10. How to insert date in SQL?

If the RDBMS is MYSQL, this is how we can insert date:

“INSERT INTO tablename (col_name, col_date) VALUES (‘DATE: Manual Date’, ‘2020-
9-10’)”;

11. What is Primary Key in SQL?

Primary Key is a constraint in SQL. So, before understanding what exactly is a primary
key, let’s understand what exactly is a constraint in SQL. Constraints are the rules
enforced on data columns on a table. These are used to limit the type of data that can
go into a table. Constraints can either be column level or table level. 

Let’s look at the different types of constraints which are present in SQL:

Constraint Description
NOT NULL Ensures that a column cannot have a NULL value.
DEFAULT Provides a default value for a column when none is specified.
UNIQUE Ensures that all the values in a column are different
PRIMARY Uniquely identifies each row/record in a database table
FOREIGN Uniquely identifies a row/record in any another database table
The CHECK constraint ensures that all values in a column satisfy certain 
CHECK
  conditions.
Used to create and retrieve data from the database very quickly.

INDEX

You can consider Primary Key constraint to be a combination of UNIQUE and NOT NULL
constraint. This means that if a column is set as a primary key, then this particular
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column cannot have any null values present in it and also all the values present in this
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column must be unique.

12. How do I view tables in SQL?

To view tables in SQL, all you need to do is give this command:

Show tables;

13. What is PL/SQL

PL SQL stands for Procedural language constructs for Structured Query Language. PL
SQL was introduced by Oracle to overcome the limitations of plain sql. So, pl sql adds in
procedural language approach to the plain vanilla sql.

One thing to be noted over here is that pl sql is only for oracle databases. If you don’t
have an Oracle database, then you cant work with PL SQL.

While, with the help of sql, we were able to DDL and DML queries, with the help of PL SQL,
we will be able to create functions, triggers and other procedural constructs.

14. What is MYSQL?

To understand exactly what is MYSQL, we need to understand what is DBMS and RDBMS.
DBMS stands for Database Management System. When we have a huge database with
us, we would need a proper management system which would help us organise this
database.  There are 4 types of database management systems:

Hierarchical 

Network

Relational 

Object – Oriented.

Out of these database management systems, MYSQL comes under the category of
Relational database management system.  A relational database refers to a database
that stores data in a structured format, using rows and columns. This makes it easier to
locate and access specific values within the database. It is “relational” because the
values within each table are related to each other. The relational structure makes it
possible to run queries across multiple tables at once.

15. How can I see all tables in SQL?

Different database management systems have different queries to see all the tables.

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To see all the tables in MYSQL, we would have to use this query:
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show tables;

This is how we can see all tables in ORACLE:

SELECT

table_name

FROM

User_tables;

This is how we can extract all tables in SQL Server:

SELECT

FROM

Information_schema.tables;

16. What is ETL in SQL?

ETL stands for Extract, Transform and Load. It is a three step process, where we would
have to start off by extracting the data from sources. Once we collate the data from
different sources, what we have is raw data. This raw data has to be transformed into
tidy format, which will come in the second phase. Finally, we would have to load this tidy
data into tools which would help us to find insights.

17. How to install SQL?

SQL stands for Structured Query Language and it is not something you can install. To
implement sql queries, you would need a relational database management system.
There are different varieties of relational database management systems such as:

ORACLE

MYSQL

SQL Server

Hence, to implement sql queries, we would need to install any of these Relational
Database Management Systems.

18. What is the update command in SQL?

The update command comes under the DML(Data Manipulation Langauge) part of sql
and is used to update the existing data in the table.

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UPDATE employees
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SET last_name=‘Cohen’

WHERE employee_id=101;

With this update command, I am changing the last name of the employee.

19. How to rename column name in SQL Server?

When it comes to SQL Server, it is not possible to rename the column with the help of
ALTER TABLE command, we would have to use sp_rename.

20. What are the types of SQL Queries?

We have four types of SQL Queries:

DDL (Data Definition Language): the creation of objects

DML (Data Manipulation Language): manipulation of data

DCL (Data Control Language): assignment and removal of permissions

TCL (Transaction Control Language): saving and restoring changes to a database

Let’s look at the different commands under DDL:

Command Description
CREATE Create objects in the database
ALTER Alters the structure of the database object
DROP Delete objects from the database
TRUNCATE Remove all records from a table permanently
COMMENT Add comments to the data dictionary
RENAME Rename an object

21.  Write a Query to display the number of employees working

in each region? 
SELECT region, COUNT(gender) FROM employee GROUP BY region;

22. What are Nested Triggers?

Triggers may implement DML by using INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. These
triggers that contain DML and find other triggers for data modification are called
Nested Triggers.

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23.
ALLWrite
COURSESSQL
 query to fetch
FREE COURSES  employee
INTERVIEW names
QUESTIONS  having
CAREER  a salary
VISUAL STORIES 
greater than or equal to 20000 and less than or equal 10000.
By using BETWEEN in the where clause, we can retrieve the Employee Ids of employees
with salary >= 20000and <=10000. SELECT FullName FROM EmployeeDetails WHERE EmpId
IN (SELECT EmpId FROM EmployeeSalary WHERE Salary BETWEEN 5000 AND 10000)

24. Given a table Employee having columns empName and

empId, what will be the result of the SQL query below? select
empName from Employee order by 2 asc;
“Order by 2” is valid when there are at least 2 columns used in SELECT statement. Here
this query will throw error because only one column is used in the SELECT statement. 

25. What is OLTP?

OLTP stands for Online Transaction Processing. And is a class of software applications
capable of supporting transaction-oriented programs. An essential attribute of an OLTP
system is its ability to maintain concurrency. 

26. What is Data Integrity?

Data Integrity is the assurance of accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-
cycle, and is a critical aspect to the design, implementation and usage of any system
which stores, processes, or retrieves data. It also defines integrity constraints to enforce
business rules on the data when it is entered into an application or a database.

27. What is OLAP?

OLAP stands for Online Analytical Processing. And a class of software programs which
are characterized by relatively low frequency of online transactions. Queries are often
too complex and involve a bunch of aggregations. 

28. Find the Constraint information from the table?

There are so many times where user needs to find out the specific constraint
information of the table. following queries are useful, SELECT * From User_Constraints;
SELECT * FROM User_Cons_Columns;

29. Can you get the list of employees with same salary? 
Select distinct e.empid,e.empname,e.salary from employee e, employee e1 where
e.salary =e1.salary and e.empid != e1.empid 

30. What is an alternative for TOP clause in SQL?

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1. ROWCOUNT function 

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2. Set rowcount 3

3. Select * from employee order by empid desc Set rowcount 0 

31. Will following statement give error or 0 as output? SELECT

AVG (NULL)
Error. Operand data type NULL is invalid for Avg operator. 

32. What is the Cartesian product of the table?

The output of Cross Join is called a Cartesian product. It returns rows combining each
row from the first table with each row of the second table. For Example, if we join two
tables having 15 and 20 columns the Cartesian product of two tables will be 15×20=300
rows.

33. What is a schema in SQL?

Our database comprises of a lot of different entities such as tables, stored procedures,
functions, database owners and so on. To make sense of how all these different entities
interact, we would need the help of schema. So, you can consider schema to be the
logical relationship between all the different entities which are present in the database.

Once we have a clear understanding of the schema, this helps in a lot of ways:

We can decide which user has access to which tables in the database.

We can modify or add new relationships between different entities in the database.

Overall, you can consider a schema to be a blueprint for the database, which will give
you the complete picture of how different objects interact with each other and which
users have access to different entities.

34. What is the WHERE clause in SQL?

The ‘Where’ clause is used to extract elements from the table on the basis of a
condition.

Let’s say, we have a table like this:

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Now, if you want to extract all the records “where” the value of “Sepal.Length” is greater
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than 6, then you can use a query like this:

1. select * from iris where Sepal.Length>6 

As, you see, we have extracted all the records, where the value of ‘Sepal.Length’ is
greater than 6.

Similarly, if you want to extract all records where ‘Species’ is Virginia, this will be the
query:

2. select * from iris where Species=’virginica’ 

35. How to delete a column in SQL?

To delete a column in SQL we will be using DROP COLUMN method:

ALTER TABLE employees

DROP COLUMN age;

We will start off by giving the keywords ALTER TABLE, then we will give the name of the
table, following which we will give the keywords DROP COLUMN and finally give the name
of the column which we would want to remove.

36. What is a unique key in SQL?

Unique Key is a constraint in SQL. So, before understanding what exactly is a primary
key, let’s understand what exactly is a constraint in SQL. Constraints are the rules
enforced on data columns on a table. These are used to limit the type of data that can
go into a table. Constraints can either be column level or table level. 

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Unique Key: 
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Whenever we give the constraint of unique key to a column, this would mean that the
column cannot have any duplicate values present in it. In other words, all the records
which are present in this column have to be unique.

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37. How to implement multiple conditions using WHERE

clause?
We can implement multiple conditions using AND, OR operators:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE first_name = ‘Steven’ AND salary <=10000;

In the above command, we are giving two conditions. The condition ensures that we
extract only those records where the first name of the employee is ‘Steven’ and the
second condition ensures that the salary of the employee is less than $10,000. In other
words, we are extracting only those records, where the employee’s first name is ‘Steven’
and this person’s salary should be less than $10,000.

You can refer this SQL beginner’s tutorial if you want to know more about Structure
Query Language

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Learn In-Demand Skills for free on GL Academy

SQL Interview Questions for Experienced

Professionals

1. What is SQL injection?

SQL injection is a hacking technique which is widely used by black-hat hackers to steal
data from your tables or databases. Let’s say, if you go to a website and give in your
user information and password, the hacker would add some malicious code over there
such that, he can get the user information and password directly from the database. If
your database contains any vital information, it is always better to keep it secure from
SQL injection attacks.

2. What is a trigger in SQL?

A trigger is a stored program in a database which automatically gives responses to an
event of DML operations done by insert, update, or delete. In other words, is nothing but
an auditor of events happening across all database tables.

Let’s look at an example of a trigger:

CREATE TRIGGER bank_trans_hv_alert

BEFORE UPDATE ON bank_account_transaction

FOR EACH ROW

begin

if( abs(:new.transaction_amount)>999999)THEN

RAISE_APPLICATION_ERROR(-20000, 'Account transaction exceeding the

daily deposit on SAVINGS account.');

end if;
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end;

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3. How to insert multiple rows in SQL?

To insert multiple rows in SQL we can follow the below syntax:

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2,column3...)

VALUES

(value1, value2, value3…..),

(value1, value2, value3….),

...

(value1, value2, value3);

We start off by giving the keywords INSERT INTO then we give the name of the table into
which we would want to insert the values. We will follow it up with the list of the columns,
for which we would have to add the values. Then we will give in the VALUES keyword and
finally, we will give the list of values.

Here is an example of the same:

INSERT INTO employees (

name,

age,

salary)

VALUES

'Sam',

21,

75000

),

' 'Matt',

32,

85000 ),

'Bob',

26,

90000

);

In the above example, we are inserting multiple records into the table called employees. 
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4.ALL
How to find
COURSES  theCOURSES
FREE nth highest
 salary
INTERVIEW in SQL?
QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
This is how we can find the nth highest salary in SQL SERVER using TOP keyword:

SELECT TOP 1 salary FROM ( SELECT DISTINCT TOP N salary FROM #Employee ORDER BY
salary DESC ) AS temp ORDER BY salary

This is how we can find the nth highest salary in MYSQL using LIMIT keyword:

SELECT salary FROM Employee ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT N-1, 1

5. How to copy table in SQL?

We can use the SELECT INTO statement to copy data from one table to another. Either
we can copy all the data or only some specific columns.

This is how we can copy all the columns into a new table:

SELECT *

INTO newtable

FROM oldtable

WHERE condition;

If we want to copy only some specific columns, we can do it this way:

SELECT column1, column2, column3, ...

INTO newtable

FROM oldtable

WHERE condition;

6. How to add a new column in SQL?

We can add a new column in SQL with the help of alter command:

ALTER TABLE employees ADD COLUMN contact INT(10);

This command helps us to add a new column named as contact in the employees
table.

7. How to use LIKE in SQL?

The LIKE operator checks if an attribute value matches a given string pattern. Here is an
example of LIKE operator

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE first_name like ‘Steven’;  

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With this command, we will be able to extract all the records where the first name is like
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“Steven”.

8. If we drop a table, does it also drop related objects like

constraints, indexes, columns, default, views and sorted
procedures?
Yes, SQL server drops all related objects, which exists inside a table like constraints,
indexex, columns, defaults etc. But dropping a table will not drop views and sorted
procedures as they exist outside the table. 

9. Can we disable a trigger? If yes, How?

Yes, we can disable a single trigger on the database by using “DISABLE TRIGGER
triggerName ON<> We also have an option to disable all the trigger by using, “DISABLE
Trigger ALL ON ALL SERVER”

10. What is a Live Lock?

A live lock is one where a request for an exclusive lock is repeatedly denied because a
series of overlapping shared locks keep interferring. A live lock also occurs when read
transactions create a table or page. 

11. How to fetch alternate records from a table?

Records can be fetched for both Odd and Even row numbers- To display even
numbers-. Select employeeId from (Select rowno, employeeId from employee) where
mod(rowno,2)=0 To display odd numbers-. Select employeeId from (Select rowno,
employeeId from employee) where mod(rowno,2)=1

12. Define COMMIT and give an example?

When a COMMIT is uded in a transaction all chnages made in the transaction are
written into the database permanently. Example: BEGIN TRANSACTION; DELETE FROM
HR.JobCandidate WHERE JobCandidateID = 20; COMMIT TRANSACTION; The above
example deletes a job candidate in a SQL server.

13. Can you join table by itself? 

A table can be joined to itself using self join, when you want to create a result set that
joins records in a table with other records in the same table.

14. Explain Equi join with example

When two or more tables has been joined using equal to operator then this category is
called as equi join. Just we need to concentrate on condition is equal to(=) between the 
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columns in the table. Example: Select a.Employee_name,b.Department_name from

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Employee a,Employee b where a.Department_ID=b.Department_ID

15. How do we avoid getting duplicate entries in a query?

The SELECT DISTINCT is used to get distinct data from tables using a query. The below
SQL query selects only the DISTINCT values from the “Country” column in the “Customers”
table: SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;

16. How can you create an empty table from an existing table?
Lets take an example: 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.

17. Write a Query to display odd records from student table?

SELECT * FROM (SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY student_no) AS RowID FROM
student) WHERE row_id %2!=0

18. Explain Non Equi Join with example?

1. When two or more tables are joining without equal to condition then that join is known
as Non Equi Join. Any operator can be used here that is <>,!=,<,>,Between. Example: Select
b.Department_ID,b.Department_name from Employee a,Department b where
a.Department_id <> b.Department_ID;

19. How can you delete duplicate records in a table with no

primary key?
By using the SET ROWCOUNT command. It limits the number of records affected by a
command. Let’s take an example, if you have 2 duplicate rows, you would SET
ROWCOUNT 1, execute DELETE command and then SET ROWCOUNT 0

20. Difference between NVL and NVL2 functions?

Both the NVL(exp1, exp2) and NVL2(exp1, exp2, exp3) functions check the value exp1 to
see if it is null. With the NVL(exp1, exp2) function, if exp1 is not null, then the value of exp1 is
returned; otherwise, the value of exp2 is returned, but case to the same data type as
that of exp1. With the NVL2(exp1, exp2, exp3) function, if exp1 is not null, then exp2 is
returned; otherwise, the value of exp3 is returned.

21. What is the difference between clustered and non-

clustered indexes?
1. Clustered indexes can be read rapidly rather than non-clustered indexes. 
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2. Clustered indexes store data physically in the table or view whereas, non-clustered
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indexes do not store data in the table as it has separate structure from the data row.

22. What does this query says? GRANT privilege_name ON

object_name TO {user_name|PUBLIC|role_name} [WITH
GRANT OPTION];
The given syntax indicates that the user can grant access to another user too.

23. Where MyISAM table is stored?

Each MyISAM table is stored on disk in three files. 

1. The “.frm” file stores the table definition. 

2. The data file has a ‘.MYD’ (MYData) extension. 

3. The index file has a ‘.MYI’ (MYIndex) extension. 

24. What does myisamchk do?

It compresses the MyISAM tables, which reduces their disk or memory usage.

25. What is ISAM?

ISAM is abbreviated as Indexed Sequential Access Method. It was developed by IBM to
store and retrieve data on secondary storage systems like tapes.

26. What is Database White box testing?

White box testing includes: Database Consistency and ACID properties Database
triggers and logical views Decision Coverage, Condition Coverage, and Statement
Coverage Database Tables, Data Model, and Database Schema Referential integrity
rules.

27. What are the different types of SQL sandbox?

There are 3 different types of SQL sandbox: 

1. Safe Access Sandbox: Here a user can perform SQL operations such as creating stored
procedures, triggers etc. but cannot have access to the memory as well as cannot
create files.

 2. External Access Sandbox: Users can access files without having the right to
manipulate the memory allocation.
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3. Unsafe Access Sandbox: This contains untrusted codes where a user can have access
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to memory.

28. What is Database Black Box Testing?

This testing involves 1. Data Mapping 2. Data stored and retrieved 3. Use of Black Box
testing techniques such as Equivalence Partitioning and Boundary Value Analysis (BVA).

29. Explain Right Outer Join with Example?

This join is usable, when user wants all the records from Right table (Second table) and
only equal or matching records from First or left table. The unmatched records are
considered as null records. Example: Select t1.col1,t2.col2….t ‘n’col ‘n.’. from table1 t1,table2
t2 where t1.col(+)=t2.col;

30. What is a Subquery?

A SubQuery is a SQL query nested into a larger query. Example: SELECT employeeID,
firstName, lastName FROM employees WHERE departmentID IN (SELECT departmentID
FROM departments WHERE locationID = 2000) ORDER BY firstName, lastName; 

SQL Interview Questions for Developers

1. How to find duplicate records in SQL?

There are multiple ways to find duplicate records in SQL. Let’s see how can we find
duplicate records using groupby:

SELECT

x,

y,

COUNT(*) occurrences

FROM z1

GROUP BY

x,

HAVING

COUNT(*) > 1;

We can also find duplicates in the table using rank:

SELECT * FROM ( SELECT eid, ename, eage, Row_Number() OVER(PARTITION BY

ename, eage ORDER By ename) AS Rank FROM employees ) AS X WHERE Rank>1

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2.ALL
What is Case
COURSES FREEWHEN
COURSESin
 SQL?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
If you have knowledge about other programming languages, then you’d have learnt
about if-else statements. You can consider Case WHEN to be analogous to that.

In Case WHEN, there will be multiple conditions and we will choose something on the
basis of these conditions.

Here is the syntax for CASE WHEN:

CASE

WHEN condition1 THEN result1

WHEN condition2 THEN result2

WHEN conditionN THEN resultN

ELSE result

END;

We start off by giving the CASE keyword, then we follow it up by giving multiple WHEN,
THEN statements.

3. How to find 2nd highest salary in SQL?

Below is the syntax to find 2nd highest salary in SQL:

SELECT name, MAX(salary)

FROM employees

WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary)

FROM employees);

4. How to delete duplicate rows in SQL

There are multiple ways to delete duplicate records in SQL.

Below is the code to delete duplicate records using rank:

alter table emp add sid int identity(1,1)

delete e

from emp e

inner join

(select *,

RANK() OVER ( PARTITION BY eid,ename ORDER BY id DESC )rank

From emp )T on e.sid=t.sid

where e.Rank>1

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ALL COURSES  FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 

alter table emp

drop column sno

Below is the syntax to delete duplicate records using groupby and min:

alter table emp add sno int identity(1,1)

delete E from emp E

left join

(select min(sno) sno From emp group by empid,ename ) T on

E.sno=T.sno

where T.sno is null

alter table emp

drop column sno

5. What is cursor in SQL?

Cursors in SQL are used to store database tables. There are two types of cursors:

Implicit Cursor

Explicit Cursor

Implicit Cursor:

These implicit cursors are default cursors which are automatically created. A user
cannot create an implicit cursor.

Explicit Cursor:

Explicit cursors are user-defined cursors. This is the syntax to create explicit cursor:

DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM table_name

We start off by giving by keyword DECLARE, then we give the name of the cursor, after
that we give the keywords CURSOR FOR SELECT * FROM, finally, we give in the name of the
table.

6. How to create a stored procedure using SQL Server?

If you have worked with other languages, then you would know about the concept of
Functions. You can consider stored procedures in SQL to be analogous to functions in

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other languages. This means that we can store a SQL statement as a stored procedure
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and this stored procedure can be invoked whenever we want.

This is the syntax to create a stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name

AS

sql_statement

GO;

We start off by giving the keywords CREATE PROCEDURE, then we go ahead and give the
name of this stored procedure. After that, we give the AS keyword and follow it up with
the SQL query, which we want as a stored procedure. Finally, we give the GO keyword.

Once, we create the stored procedure, we can invoke it this way:

EXEC procedure_name;

We will give in the keyword EXEC and then give the name of the stored procedure.

Let’s look at an example of a stored procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE employee_location @location nvarchar(20)

AS

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE location = @location

GO;

In the above command, we are creating a stored procedure which will help us to
extract all the employees who belong to a particular location.

EXEC employee_location @location = 'Boston';

With this, we are extracting all the employees who belong to Boston.

7. How to create an index in SQL?

We can create an index using this command:

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column1, column2, column3 ...);

We start off by giving the keywords CREATE INDEX and then we will follow it up with the
name of the index, after that we will give the ON keyword. Then, we will give the name of

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the table on which we would want to create this index. Finally, in parenthesis, we will list
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out all the columns which will have the index. Let’s look at an example:

CREATE INDEX salary

ON Employees (Salary);

In the above example, we are creating an index called a salary on top of the ‘Salary’
column of the ‘Employees’ table.

Now, let’s see how can we create a unique index:

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column1, column2,column3 ...);

We start off with the keywords CREATE UNIQUE INDEX, then give in the name of the index,
after that, we will give the ON keyword and follow it up with the name of the table.
Finally, in parenthesis, we will give the list of the columns which on which we would want
this unique index.

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8. How to change column data-type in SQL?

We can change the data-type of the column using the alter table. This will be the
command:
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ALTER
ALL TABLEtable_name

COURSES FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 

MODIFY COLUMN column_name datatype;

We start off by giving the keywords ALTER TABLE, then we will give in the name of the
table. After that, we will give in the keywords MODIFY COLUMN. Going ahead, we will give
in the name of the column for which we would want to change the datatype and finally
we will give in the data type to which we would want to change.

9. Difference between SQL and NoSQL databases?

SQL stands for structured query language and is majorly used to query data from
relational databases. When we talk about a SQL database, it will be a relational
database. 

But when it comes to NoSQL database, we will be working with non-relational

databases.

SQL Joins Interview Questions

1. How to change column name in SQL?

The command to change the name of a column is different in different RDBMS.

This is the command to change the name of a column in MYSQL:

ALTER TABLE Customer CHANGE Address Addr char(50);

IN MYSQL, we will start off by using the ALTER TABLE keywords, then we will give in the
name of the table. After that, we will use the CHANGE keyword and give in the original
name of the column, following which we will give the name to which we would want to
rename our column.

This is the command to change the name of a column in ORACLE:

ALTER TABLE Customer RENAME COLUMN Address TO Addr;

In ORACLE, we will start off by using the ALTER TABLE keywords, then we will give in the
name of the table. After that, we will use the RENAME COLUMN keywords and give in the
original name of the column, following which we will give the TO keyword and finally
give the name to which we would like to rename our column.

When it comes to SQL Server, it is not possible to rename the column with the help of
ALTER TABLE command, we would have to use sp_rename.

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2.ALL
What is a view
COURSES in SQL?
FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
A view is a database object that is created using a Select Query with complex logic, so
views are said to be a logical representation of the physical data, i.e Views behave like a
physical table and users can use them as database objects in any part of SQL queries.

Let’s look at the types of Views:

Simple View

Complex View

Inline View

Materialized View

Simple View:

Simple views are created with a select query written using a single table. Below is the
command to create a simple view:

Create VIEW Simple_view as Select * from BANK_CUSTOMER ;

Complex View:

Create VIEW Complex_view as SELECT bc.customer_id , ba.bank_account From

Bank_customer bc JOIN Bank_Account ba Where bc.customer_id = ba.customer_id And
ba.balance > 300000

Inline View:

A subquery is also called as an inline view if and only if it is called in FROM clause of a
SELECT query.

SELECT * FROM ( SELECT bc.customer_id , ba.bank_account From Bank_customer bc JOIN

Bank_Account ba Where bc.customer_id = ba.customer_id And ba.balance > 300000)

3. How to drop a column in SQL?

To drop a column is SQL, we will be using this command:

ALTER TABLE employees

DROP COLUMN gender;

We will start off by giving the keywords ALTER TABLE, then we will give the name of the
table, following which we will give the keywords DROP COLUMN and finally give the name
of the column which we would want to remove. 
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4.ALL
How to remove
COURSES  duplicate
FREE COURSES  rows QUESTIONS
INTERVIEW in SQL?  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
There are a lot of ways to remove duplicate rows in SQL. Let’s look at this example:

SELECT [Name],

[Age],

[Gender],

COUNT(*) AS CNT

FROM [mydata].[dbo].[Employees]

GROUP BY [Name],

[Age],

[Gender]

HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

In the above command, we are using group by and having to count the duplicate
records.

5. How to join two tables in SQL?

Joins are used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column
between them.

Types of Joins:

•INNER JOIN − Returns rows when there is a match in both tables.

•LEFT JOIN − Returns all rows from the left table, even if there are no matches in the right
table.

•RIGHT JOIN − Returns all rows from the right table, even if there are no matches in the
left table.

•FULL OUTER JOIN − Returns rows when there is a match in one of the tables.

•SELF JOIN − Used to join a table to itself as if the table were two tables, temporarily
renaming at least one table in the SQL statement.

•CARTESIAN JOIN (CROSS JOIN) − Returns the Cartesian product of the sets of records
from the two or more joined tables.

6. How to use BETWEEN in SQL?

The BETWEEN operator checks an attribute value within a range. Here is an example of
BETWEEN operator:

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary between 10000 and 20000;

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With this command, we will be able to extract all the records where the salary of the
employee is between 10000 and 20000.

Advanced SQL Interview Questions

1. What are the subsets of SQL?

a. DDL (Data Definition Language): Used to define the data structure it consists of the
commands like CREATE, ALTER, DROP, etc. 

b. DML (Data Manipulation language): Used to manipulate already existing data in the
database, commands like SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT 

c. DCL (Data Control Language): Used to control access to data in the database,
commands like GRANT, REVOKE

2. Difference between CHAR and VARCHAR2 datatype in SQL?

CHAR is used to store fixed-length character strings, and VARCHAR2 used to store
variable-length character strings

3. How to sort a column using a column alias?

By using the column alias in the ORDER BY instead of where clause for sorting

4. Difference between COALESCE() & ISNULL() ?

COALESCE() accepts two or more parameters, one can apply 2 or as many parameters
but it returns only the first non NULL parameter. 

ISNULL() accepts only 2 parameters. 

The first parameter is checked for a NULL value, if it is NULL then the 2nd parameter is
returned, otherwise, it returns the first parameter.

5. What is “Trigger” in SQL?

A trigger allows you to execute a batch of SQL code when an insert,update or delete
command is run against a specific table as Trigger is said to be the set of actions that
are performed whenever commands like insert, update or delete are given. 

6. Write a Query to display employee details along with age?

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SELECT * DATEDIFF(yy, dob, getdate()) AS ‘Age’ FROM employee

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7. Write a Query to display employee details along with age?

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM employee

8. Write an SQL query to get the third maximum salary of an

employee from a table named employee_table.
SELECT TOP 1 salary FROM ( SELECT TOP 3 salary FROM employee_table ORDER BY salary
DESC ) AS emp ORDER BY salary ASC; 

9. 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 input value. 

Example -. Aggregate – max(), count – Calculated with respect to numeric. Scalar –

UCASE(), NOW() – Calculated with respect to strings.

10. What is a deadlock?

It is an unwanted situation where two or more transactions are waiting indefinitely for
one another to release the locks. 

11. Explain left outer join with example?

Left outer join is useful if you want all the records from the left table(first table) and only
matching records from 2nd table. The unmatched records are null records. Example:
Left outer join with “+” operator Select t1.col1,t2.col2….t ‘n’col ‘n.’. from table1 t1,table2 t2
where t1.col=t2.col(+);

12. What is SQL injection?

SQL injection is a code injection technique used to hack data-driven applications

13. What is an UNION operator?

The UNION operator combines the results of two or more Select statements by
removing duplicate rows. The columns and the data types must be the same in the
SELECT statements.

14. Explain SQL Constraints?

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SQL Constraints are used to specify the rules of data type in a table. They can be
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specified while creating and altering the table. The following are the constraints in SQL:
NOT NULL CHECK DEFAULT UNIQUE PRIMARY KEY FOREIGN KEY

15. What is ALIAS command?

This command provides another name to a table or a column. It can be used in WHERE
clause of a SQL query using the “as” keyword. 

16. What are Group Functions? Why do we need them?

Group functions work on a set of rows and return a single result per group. The popularly
used group functions are AVG, MAX, MIN, SUM, VARIANCE, COUNT

17. How can dynamic SQL be executed?

By executing the query with parameters 

By using EXEC 

By using sp_executesql

18. What is the usage of NVL() function?

This function is used to convert NULL value to the other value.

19. Write a Query to display employee details belongs to ECE

department?
SELECT EmpNo, EmpName, Salary FROM employee WHERE deptNo in (select deptNo from
dept where deptName = ‘ECE’)

20. What are the main differences between #temp tables and
@table variables and which one is preferred ?
1. SQL server can create column statistics on #temp tables. 

2. Indexes can be created on #temp tables 

3. @table variables are stored in memory up to a certain threshold

21. 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

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22.
ALLWhat
COURSESis
 recursive stored
FREE COURSES  procedure?
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
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.

23. What is a schema?

A schema is a collection of database objects in a database for a particular user/owner.
Objects can be tables, views, indices and so on.

24. What does the BCP command do?

The Bulk Copy is a utility or a tool that exports/imports data from a table into a file and
vice versa. 

25. What is a Cross Join?

In SQL cross join, a combination of every row from the two tables is included in the result
set. This is also called cross product set. For example, if table A has ten rows and table B
has 20 rows, the result set will have 10 * 20 = 200 rows provided there is NOWHERE clause
in the SQL statement.

26. 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.

27. Write a SQL query to get the current date?

SELECT CURDATE();

28. State the case maniplation functions in SQL?

1. LOWER: converts all the characters to lowercase.

2. UPPER: converts all the characters to uppercase. 

3. INITCAP: converts initial character of each word to uppercase

29. How to add a column to an existing table?

ALTER TABLE Department ADD (Gender, M,F)

30. Define lock escalation?

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A query first takes the lowest level lock possible with the smallest row-level.When too
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many rows are locked, the lock is escalated to a range or page lock. If too many pages
are locked, it may escalate to a table lock. 

31. How to store Videos inside SQL Server table ?

By using FILESTREAM datatype, which was introduced in SQL Server 2008.

32. State the order of SQL SELECT?

Order of SQL SELECT clauses is: SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY. Only
the SELECT and FROM clauses are mandatory.

33. What is the difference between IN and EXISTS?

IN: Works on List result set Doesn’t work on subqueries resulting in Virtual tables with
multiple columns Compares every value in the result list.

Exists: Works on Virtual tables Is used with co-related queries Exits comparison when
match is found

34. How do you copy data from one table to another table ?
INSERT INTO table2 (column1, column2, column3, …) SELECT column1, column2, column3, …
FROM table1 WHERE condition;

35. List the ACID properties that makes sure that the database
transactions are processed
ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) is a set of properties that guarantee
that database transactions are processed reliably. 

36. What will be the output of the following Query, provided

the employee table has 10 records? 
BEGIN TRAN TRUNCATE TABLE Employees ROLLBACK SELECT * FROM Employees

This query will return 10 records as TRUNCATE was executed in the transaction. TRUNCATE
does not itself keep a log but BEGIN TRANSACTION keeps track of the TRUNCATE
command.

37. What do you mean by Stored Procedures? How do we use

it?
A stored procedure is a collection of SQL statements that can be used as a function to
access the database. We can create these stored procedures earlier before using it 
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and can execute them wherever required by applying some conditional logic to it.
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Stored procedures are also used to reduce network traffic and improve performance.

38. What does GRANT command do?

This command is used to provide database access to users other than the
administrator in SQL privileges.

39. What does First normal form do?

First Normal Form (1NF): It removes all duplicate columns from the table. It creates a
table for related data and identifies unique column values.

40. How to add e record to the table?

INSERT syntax is used to add a record in the table. INSERT into table_name VALUES
(value1, value2..);

41. What are the different tables present inMySQL?

There are 5 tables present in MYSQL.

 1. MyISAM 

2. Heap 

3. Merge 

4. INNO DB 

5. ISAM

42. What is BLOB and TEXT in MySQL?

BLOB stands for large binary object. It is used to hold a variable amount of data. TEXT is a
case-insensitive BLOB. TEXT values are non-binary strings (character string). 

43. What is the use of mysql_close()?

Mysql_close() cannot be used to close the persistent connection. Though it can be used
to close connection opened by mysql_connect().

44. How do you return a hundred books starting from 25th?

SELECT book_titile FROM books LIMIT 25,100; 

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45.
ALL How would
COURSES  you
FREE select
COURSES  all the users,
INTERVIEW whose
QUESTIONS  phone
CAREER  number
VISUAL STORIES 
is NULL?
SELECT user_name FROM users WHERE ISNULL(user_phonenumber); 

46. How do you run batch mode in mysql?

SELECT user_name FROM users WHERE ISNULL(user_phonenumber); 

47. Write an SQL query to show the second highest salary from
a table.
Select max(Salary) from Worker where Salary not in (Selct max(Salary) from Worker); 

48.  Write an SQL query to fetch three max salaries from a

table.
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;

49. What is the difference between NOW() and

CURRENT_DATE()?
NOW () command is used to show current year,month,date with hours,minutes and
seconds. CURRENT_DATE() shows current year,month and date only.

50. How can we convert between Unix & MySQL timestamps?

UNIX_TIMESTAMP is the command which converts from MySQL timestamp to Unix
timestamp FROM_UNIXTIME is the command which converts from Unix timestamp to
MySQL timestamp.

51. What are the nonstandard string types?

Following are Non-Standard string types: 

1. TINYTEXT 

2. TEXT 

3. MEDIUMTEXT 

4. LONGTEXT

52. What is the group by clause used for?

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The group by clause combines all those records that have identical values in a
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particular field or any group of fields.

53. How do you get the last id without the max function?
SELECT ID from table order by ID desc limit 1

54. Write a SQL query to fetch only even rows from the table.
Using the same Row_Number() and checking that the remainder when divided by 2 is
0- SELECT E.EmpId, E.Project, E.Salary FROM ( SELECT *, Row_Number() OVER(ORDER BY
EmpId) AS RowNumber FROM EmployeeSalary ) E WHERE E.RowNumber % 2 = 0

55. Write a SQL query to create a new table with data and
structure copied from another table.
Using SELECT INTO command- SELECT * INTO newTable FROM EmployeeDetails; 

56. What are the different types of Collation Sensitivity?

Case sensitivity: A and a are treated differently. Accent sensitivity: a and á are treated
differently. Kana sensitivity: Japanese kana characters Hiragana and Katakana are
treated differently. Width sensitivity: Same character represented in single-byte (half-
width) and double-byte (full-width) are treated differently.

57. Write a query to find out the data between range?

In day to day activities the user needs to find out the data between some range. To
achieve this user needs to use Between..and operator or Greater than and less than
operator. 

Query 1 : Using Between..and operator

Select * from Employee where salary between 25000 and 50000;

Query 2 : Using operators (Greater than and less than)

Select * from Employee where salary >= 25000 and salary <= 50000;

58. How to calculate the number of rows in a table without

using the count function?
There are so many system tables which are very important .Using the system table user
can count the number of rows in the table.following query is helpful in that case, Select
table_name, num_rows from user_tables where table_name=’Employee’;

59. What is wrong with the following query? SELECT empName

FROM employee WHERE salary <> 6000
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The following query will not fetch a record with the salary of 6000 but also will skip the
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record with NULL. 

60. Will the following statements execute? if yes what will be

output? SELECT NULL+1 SELECT NULL+’1′
Yes, no error. The output will be NULL. Perform any operation on NULL will get the NULL
result.

61. SQL vs PL/SQL

BASIS FOR
SQL PL/SQL
COMPARISON

In SQL you can execute a

In PL/SQL you can execute a block of
Basic single query or a
code at a time.
command at a time.

Structured Query Procedural Language, an extension of

Full form
Language SQL.

It is a language that creates an

It is like a source of data
Purpose application that display’s data
that is to be displayed.
acquired by SQL.

In SQL you can write In PL/SQL you can write block of code
Writes queries and command that has procedures, functions,
using DDL, DML statements. packages or variables, etc.

Using SQL, you can retrieve, Using PL/SQL, you can create
modify, add, delete, or applications or server pages that
Use
manipulate the data in the display the information obtained from
database. SQL in a proper format.

You can embed SQL

Embed You can not embed PL/SQL in SQL
statement in PL/SQL.

62. SQL having vs where

S.
Where Clause Having Clause
No.

The WHERE clause specifies the criteria

which individual records must meet to The HAVING clause cannot be used
1
be selected by a query. It can be used without the GROUP BY clause
without the GROUP by clause
The WHERE clause selects rows before The HAVING clause selects rows after
2
grouping grouping
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3 The WHERE clause cannot contain The HAVING clause can contain
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aggregate functions aggregate functions

WHERE clause is used to impose a HAVING clause is used to impose a

condition on SELECT statement as well condition on GROUP Function and is
4
as single row function and is used used after GROUP BY clause in the
before GROUP BY clause query
SELECT Columnq,
SELECT
AVG(Coulmn_nmae)FROM
Column,AVG(Column_nmae)FROM
5 Table_name WHERE Column > value
Table_name WHERE Column > value
GROUP BY Column_nmae Having
GROUP BY Column_nmae
column_name>or<value

63. NoSQL vs SQL

SQL
NoSQL Databases
Databases

Tables with Document: JSON documents, Key-value: key-value

Data Storage
fixed rows pairs, Wide-column: tables with rows and dynamic
Model
and columns columns, Graph: nodes and edges
Developed in
the 1970s with
Developed in the late 2000s with a focus on scaling
Development a focus on
and allowing for rapid application change driven by
History reducing
agile and DevOps practices.
data
duplication

Oracle,
MySQL, Document: MongoDB and CouchDB, Key-value: Redis
Examples Microsoft SQL and DynamoDB, Wide-column: Cassandra and HBase,
Server, and Graph: Neo4j and Amazon Neptune
PostgreSQL
Document: general purpose, Key-value: large
amounts of data with simple lookup queries, Wide-
Primary General
column: large amounts of data with predictable
Purpose purpose
query patterns, Graph: analyzing and traversing
relationships between connected data
Schemas Rigid Flexible
Vertical
(scale-up
Scaling Horizontal (scale-out across commodity servers)
with a larger
server)
Multi-Record Supported Most do not support multi-record ACID transactions.
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ACID However, some—like MongoDB—do.

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Transactions

Typically
Joins Typically not required
required

Requires ORM
Data to Many do not require ORMs. MongoDB documents
(object-
Object map directly to data structures in most popular
relational
Mapping programming languages.
mapping)

64. SQL vs TSQL

SQL TSQL
A domain-specific language used in programming and Microsoft’s proprietary
designed for managing data held in a Relational version of SQL for its SQL
Database Management System Server RDBMS
Stands for Transact
Stands for Structured Query Language Structured Query
Language
An Extension of SQL That
Query Language to Manage Data in an RDBMS
is Used on MS SQL Server

Developed by IDM Developed by Microsoft

It is Not Possible to
It is Possible to Embed SQL into TSQL
Embed TSQL into SQL

Helps to Process and Analyze the Data Using Simple Helps to Add Business
Queries Logic into an Application

65. MySQL vs SQL Server

SQL Server MySQL Server
Relational Database Management Open-source Relational Database
System Management System
Developed by Microsoft Developed by Oracle
Available in Multiple Languages Only Available in English
Supports Windows, Linux and
Supports Windows, Linux and Mac
Containers
Commercial Open-Source
Programmed in C++ Programmed in C and C++
Compatible with Kubernetes, Apache Has Difficulty Operating with Kubernetes,
Spark and Hadoop Distributed File Apache Spark and Hadoop Distributed File
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System System
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MongoDB vs SQL
MongoDB MySQL
When you need high availability If you’re just starting and your database is not
of data with automatic, fast, and going to scale much, MYSQL will help you in easy
instant data recovery and low-maintenance setup

In future, if you’re going to grow

If you want high performance on a limited
big as MongoDB has in-built
budget
sharding solution

If you have an unstable schema

If you have fixed schema and data structure isn’t
and you want to reduce your
going to change over time like WikiPedia
schema migration cost

If you don’t have a database If high transaction rate I going to be your

administrator requirement

If most of the services are cloud-

If data security is the topmost priority, MySQL is
based, MongoDB is best suitable
most suited DBMS
for you

SQL Server Interview Questions

1. What is SQL server?

SQL server has stayed on top as one of the most popular database management
products ever since its first release in 1989 by Microsoft Corporation. The product is used
across industries to store and process large volumes of data. It was primarily built to
store and process data that is built on a relational model of data. 

SQL Server is widely used for data analysis and also scaling up of data. SQL Server can
be used in conjunction with Big Data tools such as Hadoop. 

SQL Server can be used to process data from various data sources such as Excel, Table,
.Net Framework application, etc.

2. How to install SQL Server

1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link to access the latest version:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

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2.Select the type of SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be used on
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a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your local
computer system. 

3.Click on the Download Now button.

4.Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

5.Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
Installed.

6.Once the installation is complete, restart your system, if required, and launch the SQL
Server Management Studio application from the START menu.

3. How to create a stored procedure in SQL Server

A Stored Procedure is nothing but a frequently used SQL query. Queries such as a SELECT
query, which would often be used to retrieve a set of information many times within a
database, can be saved as a Stored Procedure. The Stored Procedure, when called,
executes the SQL query save within the Stored Procedure.

Syntax to create a Stored Proc:

1 CREATE PROCEDURE PROCEDURE_NAME

2 AS
3 SQL_QUERY (GIVE YOUR OFTEN USED QUERY HERE)
4 GO;

Stored procedures can be user-defined or built-in. Various parameters can be passed

onto a Stored Procedure.

4. How to install SQL Server 2008?

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1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-

ALL COURSES  FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

2. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2008 download

3. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2008.

4. Select the type of the SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be
used on a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your
local computer system.

5. Click on the Download Now button.

6. Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

7. Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
installed.

8. Once the installation is complete, restart your system, if required, and launch the SQL
Server Management Studio application.

5. How to install SQL Server 2017?

1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-
in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

2. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2017 download

3. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2017.

4. Select the type of the SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be
used on a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your
local computer system.

5. Click on the Download Now button.

6. Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

7. Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
installed.

8. Once the installation is complete, restart your system, if required, and launch the SQL
Server Management Studio application from the START menu.

6. How to restore the database in SQL Server

Launch the SQL Server Management Studio application and from the Object Explorer
window pane, right-click on Databases and click on Restore. This would automatically
restore the database.

7. How to install SQL Server 2014?

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1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-

ALL COURSES  FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

2. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2014 download

3. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2014.

4. Select the type of SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be used
on a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your local
computer system.

5. Click on the Download Now button.

6. Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

7. Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
Installed.

8. Once the installation is complete, restart your system, if required, and launch the SQL
Server Management Studio application from the START menu.

8. How to get the connection string from SQL Server?

Launch the SQL Server Management Studio. Go to the Database for which you require
the Connection string. Right-click on the database and click on Properties. In the
Properties window that is displayed, you can view the Connection String property.

Connection strings help connect databases to another staging database or any

external source of data.

9. How to install SQL Server 2012?

1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-
in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

2. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2012 download

3. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2012.

4. Select the type of the SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be
used on a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your
local computer system.

5. Click on the Download Now button.

6. Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

7. Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
Installed.

8. Once the installation is complete, restart your system, if required, and launch the SQL
Server Management Studio application from the START menu.

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10.
ALLWhat
COURSESis cte inCOURSES
FREE SQL Server?
 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
CTEs are Common Table Expressions that are used to create temporary result tables
from which data can be retrieved/ used. The standard syntax for a CTE with a SELECT
statement is:

WITH RESULT AS 

(SELECT COL1, COL2, COL3

FROM EMPLOYEE)

SELECT COL1, COL2 FROM RESULT

CTEs can be used with Insert, Update or Delete statements as well.

Few examples of CTEs are given below:

Query to find the 10 highest salaries.

with result as 

(select distinct salary, dense_rank() over (order by salary desc) as salary rank from
employees)

select result. salary from result where the result.salaryrank = 10 

Query to find the 2nd highest salary

with the result as 

(select distinct salary, dense_rank() over (order by salary desc) as salaryrank from
employees)

select result. salary from result where the result.salaryrank = 2

In this way, CTEs can be used to find the nth highest salary within an organisation.

11. How to change SQL Server password

Launch your SQL Server Management Studio. Click on the Database connection for
which you want to change the login password. Click on Security from the options that
get displayed. 

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Click on Logins and open your database connection. Type in the new password for login
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and click on ‘OK’ to apply the changes. 

12. How to delete duplicate records in SQL Server

Select the duplicate records in a table HAVING COUNT(*)>1 

Add a delete statement to delete the duplicate records.

Sample Query to find the duplicate records in a table-

(SELECT COL1, COUNT(*) AS DUPLICATE

FROM EMPLOYEE

GROUP BY COL1

HAVING COUNT(*) > 1)

13. How to uninstall SQL Server

In Windows 10, go to the START menu and locate the SQL Server.

Right-click and select uninstall to uninstall the application.

14. How to check SQL Server version

You can run the below query to view the current version of SQL Server that you are
using.

SELECT @@version;

15. How to rename column name in SQL Server

From the Object Explorer window pane, go to the table where the column is present and
choose Design. Under the Column Name, select the name you want to rename and
enter the new name. Go to the File menu and click Save. 

16. What is the stored procedure in SQL Server?

A Stored Procedure is nothing but a frequently used SQL query. Queries such as a SELECT
query, which would often be used to retrieve a set of information many times within a
database, can be saved as a Stored Procedure. The Stored Procedure, when called,
executes the SQL query save within the Stored Procedure.

Syntax to create a Stored Proc:

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1 CREATE PROCEDURE PROCEDURE_NAME

ALL COURSES 
2 AS
FREE COURSES  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS  CAREER  VISUAL STORIES 
3 SQL_QUERY (GIVE YOUR OFTEN USED QUERY HERE)
4 GO;

You can execute the Stored Proc by using the command Exec Procedure_Name;

17. How to create a database in SQL Server

After installing the required version of SQL Server, it is easy to create new databases and
maintain them. 

1. Launch the SQL Server Management Studio

2. In the Object Explorer window pane, right-click on Databases and select ‘New
Database’

3. Enter the Database Name and click on ‘Ok’.

4. Voila! Your new database is ready for use.

18. What is an index in SQL Server?

Indexes are database objects which help in retrieving records quickly and more
efficiently. Column indexes can be created on both Tables and Views. By declaring a
Column as an index within a table/ view, the user can access those records quickly by
executing the index. Indexes with more than one column are called Clustered indexes.

Syntax:

CREATE INDEX INDEX_NAME 

ON TABLE_NAME(COL1, COL2);

The syntax to drop an Index is DROP INDEX INDEX_NAME;

Indexes are known to improve the efficiency of SQL Select queries. 

19. How to create the table in SQL Server

Tables are the fundamental storage objects within a database. A table is usually made
up of 

Rows and Columns. The below syntax can be used to create a new table with 3
columns.

CREATE TABLE TABLE_NAME(

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COLUMN1 DATATYPE, 
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COLUMN2 DATATYPE, 

COLUMN3 DATATYPE

);

Alternatively, you can right-click on Table in the Object Explorer window pane and select
‘New -> Table’.

You can also define the type of Primary/ Foreign/ Check constraint when creating a
table.

20. How to connect to SQL Server

1. Launch the SQL Server Management Studio from the START menu.

2. In the dialog box shown below, select the Server Type as Database Engine and Server
Name as the name of your laptop/ desktop system.

3. Select the appropriate Authentication type and click on the Connect button.

4. A secure connection would be established, and the list of the available Databases
will be loaded in the Object Explorer window pane.

21. How to delete duplicate rows in SQL Server

Select the duplicate records in a table HAVING COUNT(*)>1 

Add a delete statement to delete the duplicate records.

Sample Query to find the duplicate records in a table-

(SELECT COL1, COUNT(*) AS DUPLICATE

FROM EMPLOYEE
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GROUP BY COL1
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HAVING COUNT(*) > 1);

22. How to download SQL Server

The Express and Developer versions (open-source versions) of the latest SQL Server
release can be downloaded from the official Microsoft website. The link is given below
for reference.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

23. How to connect SQL Server management studio to the

local database
1. Launch the SQL Server Management Studio from the START menu.

2. In the dialog box shown below, select the Server Type as Database Engine and Server
Name as the name of your laptop/ desktop system and click on the Connect button.

3. Select the Authentication as ‘Windows Authentication.

4. A secure connection would be established, and the list of the available Databases
will be loaded in the Object Explorer window pane.

24. How to change column name in SQL Server

From the Object Explorer window pane, go to the table in which the column is present
and choose Design. Under the Column Name, select the name you want to rename and
enter the new name. Go to the File menu and click Save.

25. How to download SQL Server 2014

1. Both the Express and Developer versions (free editions) of SQL Server can be
downloaded from the official Microsoft website. The link is given below for reference.

2. Click on the link below : https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/sql-server/sql-server-

downloads
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3. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2014 download
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4. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2014.

26. How to uninstall SQL Server 2014

From the START menu, type SQL Server. Right-click on the app and select uninstall to
uninstall the application from your system. Restart the system, if required, for the
changes to get affected. 

27. How to find server name in SQL Server

Run the query SELECT @@version; to find the version and name of the SQL Server you
are using. 

28. How to start SQL Server

Launch the SQL Server Management Studio from the START menu. Login using Windows
Authentication. In the Object Explorer window pane, you can view the list of databases
and corresponding objects. 

29. What is the case when in SQL Server?

Case When statements in SQL are used to run through many conditions and to return a
value when one such condition is met. If none of the conditions is met in the When
statements, then the value mentioned in the Else statement is returned. 

Syntax:

1 CASE
2 WHEN CONDITION1 THEN RESULT1
3  
4 WHEN CONDITION2 THEN RESULT2
5  
6 ELSE
7 RESULT
8 END;

Sample query:

HOW MANY HEAD OFFICES/ BRANCHES ARE THERE IN CANADA

select 

sum ( 

case 

when region_id >=  5 AND region_id <= 7 then  

1
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else 

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0

end ) as Canada

from company_regions;

Nested CASE statement:

SELECT

SUM (

CASE

WHEN rental_rate = 0.99 THEN

ELSE

END

) AS “Mass”,

SUM (

CASE

WHEN rental_rate = 2.99 THEN

ELSE

END

) AS “Economic”,

SUM (

CASE

WHEN rental_rate = 4.99 THEN

ELSE

END

) AS ” Luxury”

FROM

film;

30. How to install SQL Server management studio

Launch Google and in the Search toolbar, type in SQL Server Management Studio’
download. 

Go to the routed website and click on the link to download. Once the download is
complete, open the .exe file to install the content of the file. Once the installation is
complete, refresh or restart the system, as required.

Alternatively, once SQL Server is installed and launched, it will prompt the user with an
option to launch SQ Server Management Studio.  
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31.ALLHow to write
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FREE storedprocedure in SQL Server
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A Stored Procedure is nothing but a frequently used SQL query. Queries such as a SELECT
query, which would often be used to retrieve a set of information many times within a
database, can be saved as a Stored Procedure. The Stored Procedure, when called,
executes the SQL query save within the Stored Procedure.

Syntax to create a Stored Proc:

1 CREATE PROCEDURE PROCEDURE_NAME

2 AS
3 SQL_QUERY (GIVE YOUR OFTEN USED QUERY HERE)
4 GO;

You can execute the Stored Proc by using the command Exec Procedure_Name;

32. What is a trigger in SQL Server?

Triggers in SQL Server are automatic functions that get executed AFTER or BEFORE an
event occurs. 

For example: Trigger to update the employee’s salary to $40000 AFTER getting a
promotion to job level band D1. It is also referred to as a type of Stored Procedure. The
type of trigger as AFTER or BEFORE is defined in the syntax of the trigger itself.

33. How to open SQL Server

Launch the SQL Server Management Studio from the START menu. Login using Windows
Authentication. In the Object Explorer window pane, you can view the list of databases
and corresponding objects. 

34. How to connect SQL Server

The most common way of connecting to a SQL Server is using Windows Authentication. 

Make sure to select the Server Name as the desktop or laptop system name. 

35. What is replication in SQL Server?

Replication of a database node is the most common way to prevent the complete loss
of any data. When a database is replicated/ taken a copy of, it can be used across
databases for data reuse and synchronization. Apart from the primary motive of data
backup, replicated data is also used for data analysis in Big Data projects. 

36. How to open SQL Server configuration manager

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Click on the START menu and select All Programs. Select Microsoft SQL Server, select
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Configuration Tools, and then select SQL Server Configuration tools. In that, select the
SQL Server Configuration Manager.

37. What is a collation in SQL Server?

Collation refers to a set of pre-defined rules on SQL Server, which define the encoding
rules of character data both at a database and server level. Collation rules can be used
on Metadata as well.

38. How to use SQL Server

SQL Server is used to retrieve and process various data that is built on a relational
model.

Some of the common actions that can be taken on the data are CREATE, DELETE, INSERT,
UPDATE, SELECT, REVOKE, etc.

SQL Server can also be used to import and export data from different data sources. SQL
Server can also be connected to various other databases/ .Net framework using
Connection Strings.

SQL Server can also be used in conjunction with Big Data tools like Hadoop. 

39. What is a function in SQL Server?

Functions are pre-written codes that return a value and which help the user achieve a
particular task concerning viewing, manipulating, and processing data.

Examples of few functions are:

AGGREGATE FUNCTIONS:

MIN()- Returns the minimum value

MAX()- Retuns the maximum value

AVG()- Returns the average value

COUNT()

STRING FUNCTIONS:

COALESCE()

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CAST()
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CONCAT()

SUBSTRING()

DATE FUNCTIONS:

GETDATE()

DATEADD()

DATEDIFF()

There are many types of functions such as Aggregate Functions, Date Functions, String
Functions, Mathematical functions, etc.

40. How to find nth highest salary in SQL Server without using
a subquery
Query to find the 10 highest salary. For up-gradation of the b10 band.

with result as 

(select distinct salary, dense_rank() over (order by salary desc) as salaryrank from
employees)

select result.salary from result where result.salaryrank = 10

Query to find the 2nd highest salary

with the result as 

(select distinct salary, dense_rank() over (order by salary desc) as salaryrank from
employees)

select result.salary from result where result.salaryrank = 2

In this way, by replacing the salaryrank value, we can find the nth highest salary in any
organisation.

41. How to install SQL Server in Windows 10

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1. Click on the below SQL Server official release link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-

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in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

2. Click on the search icon and type in – SQL Server 2012 download

3. Click on the result link to download and save SQL Server 2012.

4. Select the type of the SQL Server edition that you want to install. SQL Server can be
used on a Cloud Platform or as an open-source edition(Express or Developer) in your
local computer system.

5. Click on the Download Now button.

6. Save the .exe file on your system. Right-click on the .exe file and click on Open.

7. Click on ‘Yes’ to allow the changes to be made on your system and have SQL Server
Installed

42. How to create a temp table in SQL Server

Temporary tables can be used to retain the structure and a subset of data from the
original table from which they were derived. 

Syntax:

1 SELECT COL1, COL2

2 INTO TEMPTABLE1
3 FROM ORIGTABLE;

Temporary tables do not occupy any physical memory and can be used to retrieve
data faster.

43. What is schema in SQL Server?

A schema is a logical visual representation of the database. It establishes and defines
the relationship between the various entities of a database. It describes the type of
Constraints that are applied to a database. It also explains the data types that are used.
It can be used on Tables and Views as well. 

There are different types of schema. Some of the most popular ones are Star schema
and Snowflake schema. Star schema is the one that has the entities represented in a
star shape, and snowflake schema has its entities represented in a snowflake shape.

Schemas form the basis of any database design. 

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This brings us to the end of the SQL Interview questions. Glad to see you are now better
equipped to face an interview. 
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Now lets have a look at top common interview questions here.

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Frequently Asked Questions in SQL

1. How do I prepare for the SQL interview?

There are many sources online that can help you prepare for an SQL interview. You can
go through brief tutorials and free online courses on SQL (eg.: SQL basics on Great
Learning Academy) to revise your knowledge of SQL. You can also practice projects to
help you with practical aspects of the language. Lastly, there are many blogs such as
this that list out all the probable questions that an interviewer might ask. 

2. What are the 5 basic SQL commands?

The five basic SQL commands are:

Data Definition Language (DDL)

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Data Control Language (DCL)

Transaction Control Language (TCL)

Data Query Language (DQL)

3. What are basic SQL skills?

SQL is a vast topic and there is a lot to learn. But the most basic skills that an SQL
professional should know are:

How to structure a database

Managing a database

Authoring SQL statements and clauses

Knowledge of popular database systems such as MySQL

Working knowledge of PHP

SQL data analysis

Creating a database with WAMP and SQL

4. How can I practice SQL?

There are some platforms available online that can help you practice SQL such as SQL
Fiddle, SQLZOO, W3resource, Oracle LiveSQL, DB-Fiddle, Coding Groud, GitHub and
others. 
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5. Where can I practice SQL questions?

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There are some platforms available online that can help you practice SQL such as SQL
Fiddle, SQLZOO, W3resource, Oracle LiveSQL, DB-Fiddle, Coding Groud, GitHub and
others. 

You can also refer to articles and blogs online that list the most important SQL interview
questions for preparation.

6. What is the most common SQL command?

Some of the most common SQL commands are:

CREATE DATABASE 

ALTER DATABASE

CREATE TABLE

ALTER TABLE 

DROP TABLE

CREATE INDEX

DROP INDEX

7. How are SQL commands classified?

SQL Commands are classified under four categories, i.e.,

Data Definition Language (DDL)

Data Query Language (DQL)

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

Data Control Language (DCL)

8. What are basic SQL commands?

Basic SQL commands are:

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CREATE DATABASE 
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ALTER DATABASE

CREATE TABLE

ALTER TABLE 

DROP TABLE

CREATE INDEX

DROP INDEX

9. Is SQL coding?

Yes, SQL is a coding language/ programming language that falls under the category of
domain-specific programming language. It is used to access relational databases such
as MySQL.

10. What is SQL example?

SQL helps you update, delete, and request information from databases. Some of the
examples of SQL are in the form of the following statements:

SELECT 

INSERT 

UPDATE

DELETE

CREATE DATABASE

ALTER DATABASE 

11. What is SQL code used for?

SQL code is used to access and communicate with a database. It helps in performing
tasks such as updating and retrieving data from the databases.

Wondering where to learn the highly coveted in demand skills for free? Check out the
courses on Great Learning Academy. Enroll to any course, learn the in demand skill and
get your free certificate. Hurry!

27

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Neha Kaplish

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