Q: Write a query to find the second highest salary from an employee table.

A: SELECT MAX(salary) AS second_highest_salary FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT

MAX(salary) FROM employees);

Q: How would you use a JOIN to combine data from two tables: one with employee information and

another with department information?

A: SELECT e.employee_id, e.name, d.department_name FROM employees e JOIN departments d

ON e.department_id = d.department_id;

Q: Write a query to retrieve employees who joined in the last 30 days.

A: SELECT * FROM employees WHERE join_date >= CURDATE() - INTERVAL 30 DAY;

Q: How can you handle NULL values in SQL when performing calculations?

A: Use the COALESCE() function to replace NULL with a default value, e.g., SELECT

COALESCE(column_name, 0) AS result;

Q: Explain the difference between WHERE and HAVING clauses in SQL.

A: WHERE filters rows before grouping, while HAVING filters groups after grouping.

Q: Write a query to find the count of employees in each department.

A: SELECT department_id, COUNT(*) AS employee_count FROM employees GROUP BY

department_id;

Q: How would you optimize a slow-running query?

A: Use indexes, avoid SELECT *, optimize joins, analyze query plans, and reduce subqueries.

Q: Write a query to update the salary of all employees by 10%.

A: UPDATE employees SET salary = salary * 1.10;

Q: Explain the purpose of indexes and how they improve query performance.

A: Indexes speed up data retrieval by allowing the database to find data without scanning every row.

Q: Write a query to create a new table with columns for employee ID, name, and salary.

A: CREATE TABLE employees (employee_id INT PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(50), salary

DECIMAL(10, 2));

Q: How would you retrieve the top 5 highest-paid employees from an employee table?
A: SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 5;

Q: Write a query to delete duplicate rows from a table based on a specific column.

A: DELETE FROM employees WHERE id NOT IN (SELECT MIN(id) FROM employees GROUP BY

column_name);

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

A: INNER JOIN returns matching rows; LEFT JOIN includes unmatched rows from the left; RIGHT

JOIN includes unmatched rows from the right; FULL OUTER JOIN includes unmatched rows from

both.

Q: Write a query to calculate the average salary for each department.

A: SELECT department_id, AVG(salary) AS average_salary FROM employees GROUP BY

department_id;

Q: How do you use the CASE statement in SQL, and provide an example?

A: CASE is used for conditional expressions, e.g., SELECT name, CASE WHEN salary > 5000

THEN 'High' ELSE 'Low' END AS salary_level FROM employees;

Q: Write a query to find employees who have not been assigned to any department.

A: SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id IS NULL;

Q: Explain the concept of a primary key and a foreign key in SQL.

A: A primary key uniquely identifies rows in a table, while a foreign key enforces relationships

between tables.

Q: Write a query to add a new column to an existing table.

A: ALTER TABLE employees ADD COLUMN age INT;

SQL clauses are keywords used in SQL statements to define and manipulate data.
Below are the key SQL clauses:

---

1. SELECT

Used to retrieve specific columns from a table.

Example:

SELECT name, age FROM employees;

---

2. FROM

Specifies the table from which to retrieve data.

Example:

SELECT * FROM orders;

---

3. WHERE

Filters rows based on specified conditions.

Example:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE price > 100;

---

4. GROUP BY

Groups rows that have the same values in specified columns.

Example:
SELECT department, COUNT(*) FROM employees GROUP BY department;

---

5. HAVING

Filters groups created by GROUP BY.

Example:

SELECT department, AVG(salary) FROM employees GROUP BY department HAVING AVG(salary) > 50000;

---

6. ORDER BY

Sorts the result set by one or more columns.

Example:

SELECT name, age FROM employees ORDER BY age DESC;

---

7. LIMIT

Restricts the number of rows returned.

Example:

SELECT * FROM customers LIMIT 10;

---

8. OFFSET

Skips a specific number of rows before returning results. Often used with LIMIT.
Example:
SELECT * FROM customers LIMIT 10 OFFSET 5;

---

9. JOIN

Combines rows from two or more tables based on a related column.

Types of JOINs:

INNER JOIN

LEFT JOIN

RIGHT JOIN

FULL OUTER JOIN

Example:

SELECT employees.name, departments.department_name

FROM employees
INNER JOIN departments
ON employees.department_id = departments.id;

---

10. UNION

Combines results of two or more SELECT statements.

Example:

SELECT name FROM table1

UNION
SELECT name FROM table2;

---
11. DISTINCT

Removes duplicate rows in the result set.

Example:

SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;

---

12. IN

Filters rows where a column's value matches a set of values.

Example:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department IN ('HR', 'IT', 'Finance');

---

13. BETWEEN

Filters rows within a range of values.

Example:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE price BETWEEN 50 AND 100;

---

14. LIKE

Searches for patterns in a column.

Example:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE name LIKE 'A%';

---
15. IS NULL / IS NOT NULL

Checks for NULL or non-NULL values.

Example:

SELECT * FROM orders WHERE delivery_date IS NULL;

---

16. CASE

Implements conditional logic in queries.

Example:

SELECT name,
CASE
WHEN salary > 50000 THEN 'High'
ELSE 'Low'
END AS salary_category
FROM employees;

---

17. AS

Used to rename a column or table with an alias.

Example:

SELECT name AS employee_name FROM employees;

---

18. WITH

Defines a Common Table Expression (CTE) for reuse within a query.

Example:
WITH recent_sales AS (
SELECT * FROM sales WHERE sale_date > '2024-01-01'
)
SELECT * FROM recent_sales;

---

19. EXISTS

Checks for the existence of rows returned by a subquery.

Example:

SELECT name FROM employees WHERE EXISTS (

SELECT 1 FROM departments WHERE employees.department_id = departments.id
);

---

20. ALL

Compares a value against all values in a list or subquery.

Example:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE price > ALL (SELECT price FROM discounts);

---

21. ANY

Compares a value against any value in a list or subquery.

Example:

SELECT * FROM products WHERE price > ANY (SELECT price FROM discounts);

---

22. INTERSECT
Returns rows that are present in both SELECT statements.
Example:

SELECT name FROM table1

INTERSECT
SELECT name FROM table2;

---

23. EXCEPT (or MINUS in some SQL dialects)

Returns rows from the first SELECT statement that are not in the second.
Example:

SELECT name FROM table1

EXCEPT
SELECT name FROM table2;

---

24. FETCH

Retrieves a specific number of rows after sorting (similar to LIMIT).

Example:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY;

---

25. PARTITION BY

Divides data into partitions for window functions.

Example:

SELECT name, salary,

RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rank
FROM employees;

---

26. PIVOT

Used to transform rows into columns (available in some SQL dialects like Oracle and SQL Server).
Example:

SELECT * FROM (
SELECT department, salary FROM employees
) PIVOT (
SUM(salary) FOR department IN ('HR', 'IT', 'Finance')
);

---

27. UNPIVOT

Transforms columns into rows (specific to certain SQL dialects).

Example:

SELECT * FROM sales

UNPIVOT (sales_value FOR product IN (product_a, product_b, product_c));

---

28. MERGE

Performs an upsert (insert or update) operation.

Example:

MERGE INTO employees AS target

USING new_employees AS source
ON target.id = source.id
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET target.salary = source.salary
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (id, name, salary) VALUES (source.id, source.name, source.salary);
---

29. APPLY

Allows applying a table-valued function or query to each row from another query (specific to SQL Server).
Example:

SELECT e.name, d.total_sales

FROM employees e
CROSS APPLY (
SELECT SUM(sales) AS total_sales FROM sales WHERE sales.employee_id = e.id
) d;

---

30. RECURSIVE WITH (Recursive CTE)

Used for hierarchical or recursive queries.

Example:

WITH RECURSIVE employee_hierarchy AS (

SELECT id, name, manager_id FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT e.id, e.name, e.manager_id
FROM employees e
INNER JOIN employee_hierarchy h ON e.manager_id = h.id
)
SELECT * FROM employee_hierarchy;

COMMANDS

1. Data Definition Language (DDL) Commands

These commands define the structure of the database, such as tables, indexes, and schemas.

CREATE: Creates a new database object (table, view, index, etc.).

CREATE TABLE employees (id INT, name VARCHAR(50), age INT);

ALTER: Modifies an existing database object (e.g., adding a column).

ALTER TABLE employees ADD salary INT;

DROP: Deletes an existing database object.

DROP TABLE employees;

TRUNCATE: Removes all rows from a table without logging individual row deletions.

TRUNCATE TABLE employees;

RENAME: Renames a database object.

ALTER TABLE employees RENAME TO staff;

---

2. Data Manipulation Language (DML) Commands

These commands deal with manipulating data in the database.

SELECT: Retrieves data from one or more tables.

SELECT * FROM employees;

INSERT: Adds new rows to a table.

INSERT INTO employees (id, name, age) VALUES (1, 'John Doe', 30);

UPDATE: Modifies existing data in a table.

UPDATE employees SET age = 31 WHERE id = 1;

DELETE: Removes rows from a table.

DELETE FROM employees WHERE id = 1;

---

3. Data Control Language (DCL) Commands

These commands deal with access control and permissions.

GRANT: Gives permissions to users.

GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON employees TO user1;

REVOKE: Removes permissions from users.

REVOKE INSERT ON employees FROM user1;

---

4. Transaction Control Language (TCL) Commands

These commands manage transactions within a database.

COMMIT: Saves all changes made in the transaction.

COMMIT;

ROLLBACK: Undoes changes made in the transaction.

ROLLBACK;

SAVEPOINT: Sets a point within a transaction to which you can roll back.

SAVEPOINT save1;

SET TRANSACTION: Sets properties for a transaction.

SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY;

---

5. Data Query Language (DQL) Command

This is a subset of DML, used specifically for querying data.

SELECT: Retrieves data from the database.

SELECT name, age FROM employees WHERE age > 25;

---

6. Other SQL Commands

These commands are often specific to database management systems or advanced SQL usage.

EXPLAIN: Shows the execution plan for a query.

EXPLAIN SELECT * FROM employees;

DESCRIBE (or DESC): Displays the structure of a table.

DESCRIBE employees;

SHOW: Displays database objects or settings.

SHOW TABLES;

USE: Selects a database to work on.

USE company_db;

BACKUP DATABASE: Creates a backup of the database (specific to some DBMS).

BACKUP DATABASE company_db TO DISK = 'backup.bak';

RESTORE DATABASE: Restores a database from a backup (specific to some DBMS).

RESTORE DATABASE company_db FROM DISK = 'backup.bak';

---

7. Advanced Commands
These are used for advanced database operations.

MERGE: Performs an upsert operation (insert or update).

MERGE INTO employees USING new_employees ON employees.id = new_employees.id

WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET employees.salary = new_employees.salary
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (id, name, salary) VALUES (new_employees.id, new_employees.name,
new_employees.salary);

ANALYZE: Collects statistics about a table for query optimization (specific to some DBMS).

ANALYZE TABLE employees;

LOCK: Locks a table for a specific operation.

LOCK TABLE employees IN EXCLUSIVE MODE;