50 Most Common SQL Questions and Answers

Basic Queries

1. What is SQL?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standardized programming language used to manage relational databases and perform various operations on
the data in them.

2. What are the different types of SQL commands?

DDL (Data Definition Language): CREATE, ALTER, DROP, TRUNCATE

DML (Data Manipulation Language): SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
DCL (Data Control Language): GRANT, REVOKE
TCL (Transaction Control Language): COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVEPOINT

3. How do you select all columns from a table?

SELECT * FROM table_name;

4. How do you select specific columns from a table?

SELECT column1, column2 FROM table_name;

5. What is the WHERE clause used for?

The WHERE clause is used to filter records based on specified conditions.

SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE condition;

6. How do you sort results in SQL?

SELECT column1 FROM table_name ORDER BY column1 ASC/DESC;

Joins and Relationships

7. What are the different types of joins in SQL?

INNER JOIN: Returns matching records from both tables

LEFT JOIN: Returns all records from left table and matching from right
RIGHT JOIN: Returns all records from right table and matching from left
FULL JOIN: Returns all records when there's a match in either left or right table

8. How do you write an INNER JOIN?

SELECT * FROM table1

INNER JOIN table2
ON table1.column = table2.column;

9. What's the difference between INNER and LEFT JOIN?

INNER JOIN returns only matching records

LEFT JOIN returns all records from left table and matching from right

10. How do you join multiple tables?

SELECT * FROM table1

JOIN table2 ON table1.id = table2.id
JOIN table3 ON table2.id = table3.id;

Aggregate Functions
11. What are aggregate functions in SQL?

Functions that perform calculations on a set of values: COUNT, SUM, AVG, MAX, MIN

12. How do you count records in a table?

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name;

13. How do you find the sum of a column?

SELECT SUM(column_name) FROM table_name;

 14. What is GROUP BY used for?

Groups rows that have the same values in specified columns

SELECT column1, COUNT(*) FROM table_name

GROUP BY column1;

Conditions and Filtering

15. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING?

WHERE filters individual rows before grouping

HAVING filters groups after GROUP BY

16. How do you use the IN operator?

SELECT * FROM table_name

WHERE column_name IN ('value1', 'value2');

17. How do you use the BETWEEN operator?

SELECT * FROM table_name

WHERE column_name BETWEEN value1 AND value2;

18. What is the LIKE operator used for?

Pattern matching in strings using wildcards (% and _)

SELECT * FROM table_name

WHERE column_name LIKE 'pattern%';

Database Management
19. How do you create a new table?

CREATE TABLE table_name (

column1 datatype,
column2 datatype,
PRIMARY KEY (column1)
);

20. How do you add a new column to an existing table?

ALTER TABLE table_name

ADD column_name datatype;

21. How do you delete a table?

DROP TABLE table_name;

22. What's the difference between DROP and TRUNCATE?

DROP deletes the table structure and data

TRUNCATE deletes all data but keeps the table structure

Data Manipulation
23. How do you insert data into a table?

INSERT INTO table_name (column1, column2)

VALUES (value1, value2);

24. How do you update existing records?

UPDATE table_name
SET column1 = value1
WHERE condition;

25. How do you delete records?

 DELETE FROM table_name
WHERE condition;

Advanced Concepts

26. What is a subquery?

A query nested inside another query

SELECT * FROM table1

WHERE column1 IN (SELECT column1 FROM table2);

27. What are views?

Virtual tables based on the result set of an SQL statement

CREATE VIEW view_name AS

SELECT column1, column2
FROM table_name;

28. What is an index?

Database structure that improves the speed of data retrieval

CREATE INDEX index_name

ON table_name (column1, column2);

29. What are stored procedures?

Prepared SQL code that can be saved and reused

CREATE PROCEDURE procedure_name

AS
sql_statement
GO;

30. What is a trigger?

Special stored procedure that automatically runs when an event occurs

CREATE TRIGGER trigger_name

ON table_name
AFTER INSERT
AS
BEGIN
-- trigger logic
END;

Data Types and Constraints

31. What are the common SQL data types?

VARCHAR: Variable-length string

INT: Integer numbers
DATETIME: Date and time values
DECIMAL: Exact numeric values
BOOLEAN: True/false values

32. What is a PRIMARY KEY?

Unique identifier for each record in a table

Cannot contain NULL values
Must be unique

33. What is a FOREIGN KEY?

Column that creates a relationship between two tables

References PRIMARY KEY of another table

34. What is a UNIQUE constraint?

Ensures all values in a column are different

Performance and Optimization

35. How can you optimize SQL queries?
 Use indexes appropriately
Avoid SELECT *
Use appropriate JOIN types
Limit the use of subqueries
Use EXPLAIN to analyze query performance

36. What is query caching?

Storing query results in memory for faster retrieval

Subsequent identical queries can be served from cache

37. How do you handle NULL values?

SELECT * FROM table_name

WHERE column_name IS NULL;
-- or
WHERE column_name IS NOT NULL;

Common Operations

38. How do you find duplicate records?

SELECT column1, COUNT(*)

FROM table_name
GROUP BY column1
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

39. How do you use CASE statements?

SELECT column1,
CASE
WHEN condition1 THEN result1
WHEN condition2 THEN result2
ELSE result3
END
FROM table_name;

40. How do you combine results from multiple queries?

SELECT column1 FROM table1

UNION
SELECT column1 FROM table2;

String and Date Functions

41. How do you concatenate strings?

SELECT CONCAT(column1, ' ', column2)

FROM table_name;

42. How do you extract parts of dates?

SELECT YEAR(date_column)
FROM table_name;

Window Functions

43. What are window functions?

Functions that perform calculations across rows related to current row

SELECT column1,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY column1) as row_num
FROM table_name;

44. How do you use PARTITION BY?

SELECT column1,
AVG(column2) OVER (PARTITION BY column1)
FROM table_name;
Transaction Management

45. What is a transaction?

A unit of work that must be completed in its entirety

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- SQL statements
COMMIT;

46. What are the ACID properties?

Atomicity: Transaction is all or nothing

Consistency: Database remains consistent
Isolation: Transactions are independent
Durability: Changes are permanent

Security

47. How do you grant permissions?

GRANT SELECT, INSERT ON table_name

TO user_name;

48. How do you revoke permissions?

REVOKE SELECT ON table_name

FROM user_name;

Error Handling

49. How do you handle errors in SQL?

BEGIN TRY
-- SQL statements
END TRY
BEGIN CATCH
-- Error handling
END CATCH

50. What is SQL injection and how to prevent it?

Security vulnerability where malicious SQL code is inserted

Prevention:
Use parameterized queries
Input validation
Escape special characters
Use stored procedures