FUC - Frequently Used Commandsisql -Sserver -Uuser -Ppassword 1> use some_database 1> select db_name() 1> select @@servername 1> select user_name() 1> sp_helpdb to see databases1> SELECT name, type FROM sysobjects WHERE type<>'S' to see tables in database1> sp_helpdb dbname 1> sp_help 1> sp_help tablename to see table definition, field names1> SELECT c.name to see table definition, field names2> FROM syscolumns c, sysobjects o 3> WHERE o.name="table_name" 4> AND o.id = c.id1> set rowcount 2                  -- to limit number of rows 1> set rowcount 0                  -- remove rowcount limitation 1> select * from sometable where 1=2            -- to see column names 1> vi                   -- to edit command 1>select name from sysobjects where type = "V" 1> quit How to change your password 1> sp_password old_password,new_password 2> GO How to list available databases 1> SELECT name FROM master..sysdatabases 2> GO How to select a database 1> USE database_name 2> GO How to list non-system tables in the database 1> SELECT name FROM sysobjects WHERE type='U' 2> GO How to list non-system-table objects in the database 1> SELECT name, type FROM sysobjects WHERE type<>'S' 2> GO How to list the column names of a table with data type (and some other junk) 1> sp_help table_name 2> GO How to list stored procedures in the database 1> SELECT name FROM sysobjects WHERE type='P' 2> GO How to display a stored procedure 1> sp_helptext stored_procedure_name 2> GOHere are useful help commands: select name from sysobjects where name like "sp_help%" name 1 sp_help 2 sp_help_rep_agent 3 sp_help_resource_limit 4 sp_helpartition 5 sp_helpcache 6 sp_helpconfig 7 sp_helpconstraint 8 sp_helpdb

9 sp_helpdevice 10 sp_helpextendedproc 11 sp_helpexternlogin 12 sp_helpgroup 13 sp_helpindex 14 sp_helpjoins 15 sp_helpkey 16 sp_helplanguage 17 sp_helplog 18 sp_helpobjectdef 19 sp_helpremotelogin 20 sp_helprotect 21 sp_helpsegment 22 sp_helpserver 23 sp_helpsort 24 sp_helptext 25 sp_helpthreshold 26 sp_helpuser

select <column-list> from <table-name> select au_lname, au_fname from authors select title_id, type, price, price * .1 from titles select * from publishers   (not recommended) string concatenation: select au_lname + ", " + au_fname from authors name ouput columns yourself - column alias select title_id, type, price "original price", price * .1 discount from titles select "Full Author Name" = au_lname +", " + au_fname from authors remove duplicates with distinct : select distinct type from titles select distinct city, state from authors   (here distinct refers to a combination of city and state, so that each column by itself may have duplicate entries) filtering rows with where select <column-list> from <table-name> where <condition> select au_lname, au_fname from authors where state="CA" equality and inequality operators: = , <>   or != , > , >= , < , <= , !< , !> select type, title_id, price from titles where price * total_sales < advance (can be applied to string  comparison - default sorting order is ASCII) logical OR and AND select au_id, city, state from authors where state="CA" or city="Salt Lake City" between and Ranges of Data: <expression> between <expression> and <expression> select title_id, price from titles where price between $5 and $10 equivalent to select title_id, price from titles where price >= $5 and price <= $10 not between: select title_id, price from titles where price not between $5 and $10 equivalent to select title_id, price from titles where price >= $5 and price <= $10 in (...) : select title_id, price from titles where type in ("mod_cook", "trad_cook", "business")

equivalent to select title_id, price from titles where type = "mod_cook"   or type = "trad_cook" or type = "business" not in (...) select title_id, price from titles where type not in ("mod_cook", "trad_cook", "business") wildcards with like: % - any number (0 to many) of any characters _ (underscore) - any single character [ ]   any single character from those listed in the brackets (this is only for Sybase) [%[ - actually match the % character [^A-C] - matches any character except A,B,C select au_lname, au_fname, city, state from authors where city like "Spring%" select type, title_id, price from titles where title_id like "B_1342" select type, title_id, price from titles where title_id like "B[A-Za-z0]1342      Note - if you need to include the '_' character in your pattern - use 'escape' word, for example:             select * from titles where title_id like 'ABC\_%' escape('\') ordering result sets with order by : select au_lname, au_fname from authors order by au_lname select au_lname, au_fname from authors order by au_lname, au_fname order by position in the select list: select title_id, price, total_sales, price*total_sales "total dollar sales" from titles order by 4 Ascending and Descending Ordering select title_id, price, total_sales, price*total_sales "total dollar sales" from titles order by price*total_sales desc default sort order is ascending. Example: sort by type (ascending) and then by total_sales (desc): select title_id, price, total_sales from titles order by type, total_sales desc order by columns not Appearing in the Select List: select au_lname, au_fname from authors order by city, state agregate functions: sum( ) - total numeric, avg( ) - average numeric, min( ) - lowest numeric or sorting string or earliest date, max( ) - highest numeric or sorting string or latest date, count( ) - returns the number of non-null expressions, count(*) - returns number of rows found select avg(price) from title select avg(price) "avg" from titles where type = "business" select avg(price) "avg", sum(price) "sum" from titles where type in ("business","mod_cook") counting rows with count(*) : select count(*) from authors where state="CA" agregates functions discard null values sub-agregates with group by : select type, avg(price) "avg", sum(price) "sum" from titles where type in ("_business", "mod_cook") group by type When two or more columns are included in group by statement, agregates are based on unique combinations of these columns: select type, pub_id, avg(price) "avg", sum(price) "sum" from titles

where type in ("_business", "mod_cook") group by type, pub_id In order for aggregates to properly subtotal (or subaverage or subcount) by non-aggregate values, all non-aggregate columns in the select list should be repeated in the group by clause (see color above). Filtering results with having : where - selects rows before averaging: select type, avg(price) from titles where price > $10 group by type having select rows from the result set: select type, avg(price) from titles where price > $10 group by type having avg(price) > $20 Example: find duplicates of au_id: select au_id, count(*) from authors group by au_id having count(*) > 1 Worktable - a temporary table which is created before distinct, having or order by are applied. select type, avg(price) from titles where pub_id="1289" group by type having avg(price) > $15 order by avg(price) desc   JOIN Operations: join using common key (or join key): select title, pub_name from titles, publishers where titles.pub_id = publishers.pub_id select au_lname, au_fname, title from authors a, titles t, titleauthor ta where ta.title_id = t.title.id and a.au_id = ta.au_id and type="psychology" select t.*, pub_name from titles t, publishers p where t.pub_id = p.pub_id Outer join: left (*=) or right (=*): select pub_name, title from publishers p, titles t where p.pub_id *= t.pub_id This query retrieves all pub_names from publishers.  For any row that doesn't join successfully with titles, the title column will contain a null for that row in the output. Subqueries - to be used instead of a constant: select title from titles where pub_id =   ( select pub_id from publishers where pub_name = "Algodata Infosystems") Subqueries with IN (or NOT IN ) can return multiple rows: select pub_name from publishers where pub_id in   (select pub_id from titles where type = "business") subquery can be rewritten as a JOIN : select pub_name from publishers p, titles t where p.pub_id = t.pub_id and type = "business" Subqueries with exists - the best way to eliminate duplicates: select pub_name from publishers p where exists   (select * from titles t where p.pub_id = t.pub_id and type = "business") not exists and not in : select pub_name from publishers p

where not exists   (select * from titles t where p.pub_id = t.pub_id and type = "business") select pub_name from publishers where pub_id not in   (select pub_id from titles where type = "business") Subqueries with agregates in the where clauses: select type, price from titles where price < (select avg(price) from titles) union operations: select city, state from authors union select city, state from publishers (duplicates will be automatically removed from the result unless you use union all ) Here is one more example: select 95 "year", month, sum(dollar_sales) from salescurrent group by month union select 94 "year", month, sum(dollar_sales) from salescurrent group by month order by year, month   Using select into insert, update, delete: creates a table on the fly instead of returning the the output to the user: select distinct type into type_lookup from titles Example: create an empty copy of an existing table: select * into new_salesdetail from salesdetail where 1 = 2 Adding rows with insert: insert authors (au_id, au_lname, au_fname, phone) values ("123-45-6789","Jones","Mary","212-555-1212") Columns that are not specified will be set to their default values If you don't specify column names at all (which is very bad practice and dangerous) - then you have to provide values for ALL columns an in the right order: insert publishers values ("1235","New World Printing","GA","Atlanta")   inserting several rows with select: insert authors_archive (au_id, au_lname, au_fname, phone, city, state, zip) select au_id, au_lname, au_fname, phone, city, state, zip from authors where state="CA" modifying rows with update: update publishers set pub_name = "Joe's Press" where pub_id = "1234" Example: update based on a join: update titles set full_name = isnull(u.full_name,'') from db1..titles tit, db2..users u where tit.kid *= u.kid Example: double all prices in the table: update titles set price=price*2

update several columns simultaneously: update contacts set address1 = "5 W. Main St.",      address2 = "Apt.3D",      state="CT",      zip="03838" where contract_id = 17938 remove rows with delete: delete titles where type = "business" Clearing the table: delete title   or truncate table titles truncate is faster, but it doesn't log individual deletions - thus the ability to recover database is compromised.   Datatypes: Once you create a column of certain datatype - you can not  change it without dropping and re-creating the table create table my_table (    id int not null    value float not null    description varchar(30) null ) Storing strings: char - fixed length strings  (max length - 255) varchar - variable-length strings  (max length - 255) nchar - multi-byte character strings nvarchar - variable-length multi-byte char strings text - for very large strings (up to 2 GB of text per row) Storing binary data: binary - for fixed-length binary strings varbinary - for variable-length binary strings image - for storing large binary strings (up to 2 GB of image data per row) insert b_table (id, bin_col) values (19, 0xa134c2ff) using timestamp: create table timestamp_example  ( id int not null,    code char(3) not null,    ts timestamp not null ) insert timestamp_example (id, code) values (17, "AAA") The server uses the uniquetransaction-log-row id as a timestamp. You can not specify this value. Optimistic locking (page 75): using tsequal() function to check the locking Storing BLOBs (binary large objects) using text and image datatypes: create table texts (   id numeric(5,0) identity,   item int not null,   textstring text null ) using insert: insert texts (item, textstring) values (1, null) insert texts (item, textstring) values (2) insert texts (item, textstring) values (3, "some text") insert texts (item, textstring) values (4, "some very long text")

insert statement will not insert more than 1,200 bytes. string concatenation on strings longer than 255 chars is illegal using writetext and readtext: The idea is to get the pointer to the text chain and to write directly to this chain without modifying the underlying row. To do this you should start with a non-null popinter stored in the row itself. Here is how to retrieve the pointer for a row: select id, textptr(textstring) textptr,   datalength(textstring) datalength from texts to write a new textstring value to the 3rd row: declare @pageptr varbinary(16) select @pageptr = textptr(textstring)   from texts   where id = 3 writetext  texts.textstring @pageptr "some very long string" to read 50 bytes starting from position 4000: declare @pageptr varbinary(16) select @pageptr = textptr(textstring)   from texts   where id = 3 readtext  texts.textstring @pageptr 4000 50 textstring Date/Time datatypes: datetime  (3 millisecons, 8 bytes) smalldatetime (1 min, 4 bytes) create table date_example (   id int not null   dateval  datetime not null) insert date_example (id, dateval) values (19, "September 25, 1996 3:15PM") you can use other forms of format, for example:  4/15/99 select * from date_table where date = "9/3/95" select * from date_table where date >= "9/3/95" and  date < "9/4/95" timestamp - a binary, ticks of some sort, it is not datetime drop table #test create table #test (  id numeric(18,0) identity,  ts timestamp,  dt datetime,  sm smalldatetime )  insert #test(dt,sm) values (getdate(), getdate())  select * from #test datediff(dd,"15-Apr-2000","15-Apr-2001") - returns '365' where LastActivityDate > dateadd(yy,-2,getdate()) where LastActivityDate > dateadd(dd, -90, getdate())   Logical datatype: bit - can not be indexed and can not be null: create table bit_sample (id int not null, description varchar(30) null, active bit not null) Numeric datatypes: int - 4 bytes signed smallint  - 2 bytes signed tinyint - unsigned byte (0..255) float - 8 bytes real  - 4 bytes numeric(7,2) - you can indicate total number of digits and number of digits after decimal point. Can be used with identity (automatic counter)

decimal - similar to numeric, but can't be used with identity money - 8 bytes smallmoney - 4 bytes (+/-214,748.3647) create table numeric_example (   id numeric(8,0) identity,   num_col numeric(7,2)) insert dollar_table (id, dollars) values (95, $12345.93) ================================================================ create table table_name ( ...) drop table table_name sp_help sp_help table_name object's full name: database_name.owner_name.object_name pubs.dbo.authors Columns can have following properties: Null, Not null, Identity

Views - logical way of looking at data (you can treat them as tables): create view author_name as   select last = au_lname, first = au_fname from authors select * from author_name drop view author_name * note: dropping a view doesn't change data * views - help security by limiting access to tables * views - help make queries simpler * views can contain aggregate functions and grouping, joins, other views and a distinct clause. * views CAN NOT include "select into" , a compute clause, a union clause, and "order by" clause. * You can insert into, update and delete from views (restriction: allowed to affect only one base table). * If view includes columns from several tables, you can't delete rows from view or update columns from more than 1 table in a single update statement * You can not update, delete or insert into a view containing the distinct clause. sp_help - lists all objects (including tables and views) to get a list of just the views: select name from sysobjects where type = "V" to see a list of columns in a view: sp_help  view_name Renaming objects (tables, views, columns.) using   sp_rename : sp_rename old_name new_name sp_rename 'table_name.old_col_name' , 'new_col_name' Adding columns to a table using alter : alter table tt add   middle_name varchar(20) null,   fax varchar(15) null NOTE: You can only add columns with null values. NOTE: You can't remove columns using alter. You have to recreate the table and indexes and insert data again, for example: create table lev1 (c1 int not null,c2 int null) CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX lev1_idx ON lev1(c1) CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX lev1_qib_idx ON

lev1(c1,c2) insert lev1 values (1,2) insert lev1 values (2,2) insert lev1 values (3,2) -------  add columns  ----------------- alter table lev1 add c3 int null, c4 int null -------  remove columns  ------------- exec sp_rename 'lev1','lev1_tmp' -- sp_rename 'lev1_tmp.lev1_idx', 'lev1_tmp_idx' -- sp_rename 'lev1_tmp.lev1_qib_idx', 'lev1_tmp_qib_idx' create table lev1 (c1 int null, c2 int null) CREATE UNIQUE CLUSTERED INDEX lev1_idx ON lev1(c1) CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX lev1_qib_idx ON lev1(c1,c2) insert into lev1 select c1,c2 from lev1_tmp drop table lev1_tmp   -- this will automatically drop indexesTemporary Tables - are real tables created in the tempdb database.  They have '#' before table name.  They exist only for the duration of a user session (or stored procedure) and only accessible to this session. These tables are not recoverable (in case of a crush). select au_lname, au_fname, title, pub_id   into #titles_and_authors   from authors a, titleauthor ta, titles t   where a.au_id = ta.au_id and t.title_id = ta.title_id Creating permanent Temporary table in tempdb:    select * into tempdb..titles from pubs2..titles Rules: create rule order_quantity as   @quantity between 100 and 150000 create rule color_rule as   @color in ('black', 'brown', 'red') create rule pub_id_rule as   @pubid like ('99[0-9][0-9]')   or @pubid in ('0736', '0877', '1389') create rule date_rule as   @date >= getdate() drop rule key_rule Binding rule to a column: sp_bindrule rule_name, 'table.column_name' sp_unbindrule 'table.column_name' Defaults: create default country_default as 'USA' create default age_default as 16 create default time_default as getdate( ) binding default to columns in a table: sp_binddefault default_name, 'table.column_name' sp_bindefault country_default, 'demographics.country' sp_unbindefault  'demographics.country' you can define default for a column when you create a table. later you can change it using later table: alter table items   replace price default null

alter table items   replace item_code default "N/A" To list all rules and defaults in a database: select name from sysobjects where type in ("R", "D") To examine the rules and defaults bound to the column in a table: sp_help table_name sp_helptext object_name Creating User-defined Datatypes: sp_addtype ssn_type, 'char(9)', "not null"

Indexes: 2 types of indexes - clustered and nonclustered. Both are B-tree. Clustered - only one clustered index per table can exist (data is maintained in clustered index order). Nonclustered indexes - you can have 249 of them per table. They maintain pointers to rows (not data pages). An index can contain up to 16 columns, but toal index width <= 255. Creating indexes: create unique clustered index name_index  on authors (au_lname, au_fname) create index fname_index on authors (au_fname, au_lname) ***********************- Constraints: Primary Key and Unique Constraints Check Constraints Referential-integrity Constraints Primary-Key Constraints Foreign-Key Constraints Modifying Constraints Adding Constraints Removing Constraints Information on Constraints: sp_helpconstraint ***********************- Comparing Data-integrity Methods: Rules, Defaults, Indexes, Constraints, Keys (Primary Key, Foreign Key (primary key from another table), Common key)

T-SQL programming constructs: standard arithmetic operations ( + - * / ^) string functions: datalength(), substring(), right(), upper(), lower(), space(), replicate(), stuff(), reverse(), ltrim(), rtrim(), ascii(), char(), str(), soundex(), difference(), charindex(), patindex() note: to include quotes into string you can repeat it 2 times (or one time if the surrounding quote is of different type): "    ""     " '     ''     ' "    '       " '    "       '    'I don''t know'      "I don't know"      " Title ""The Title""  was on sale"        ' Title "The Title"  was on sale' math.functions: abs(), ceiling(), exp(), floor(), pi(), power(), rand(), round(), sign(), sqrt() date functions: getdate(), datename(), datepart(), datediff(), dateadd() convert - to convert data types: select "Advance = " + convert (char(12), advance) from titles (can also convert dates)

system functions:  host_id(), host_name(), suser_id(), suser_name(), user_id(), user_name(), user, show_role(), db_id(), db_name(), object_id(), object_name(), col_name(), col_length(), index_col(), valid_name(), datalength(), tsequal() compute, compute by: allows to include both detail and summary info in a single result set isnull - function tells to treat null values as zero or something else. Batches:   several commands followed by 'go' command Comments:  /*  */    or * Local variables:    declare @variable_name datatype    declare @myname varchar(30), @type int    select @myname=12    go note: name length is limited to 30 char (including @) Global variables - can not be defined by users.  (examples:  @@rowcount, @@error, @@trancount, @@transtate, ...) Message handling:   print "this is a message"   declare @msg varchar(30)   select @msg = "Hello " + user_name()   print @msg Error handling:    raiserror 52345 'Row not found' if .. else: if (select ...)   print "sometext" else   print "some_other_text" while: while(select ...)   begin     update ...     continue     break   end goto: metka: select ... ... goto metka waitfor: waitfor time "22:00:00" while 1<2 begin   waitfor delay "00:00:30"   exec sp_who end return: to exit the batch set: set rowcount 100 set statistics time on set nocount on ... Cursors - allow custom processing for each row: declare leads_curs cursor for select cust_id, ets-sale  from leads

for read only go open leads_curs while () begin .. end close leads_curs deallocate leads_curs go You can do also custom updating with cursors. In general you should avoid cursors - try to substitute them sith complex select statements (usually will run x10 faster)   Triggers:create trigger titles_trigger   on titles   for insert as print "title inserted" return ***************- drop trigger trigger_name ***************- create trigger cascade_del_trigger   on publishers   for delete as if @@rowcount = 0 * no rows deleted, exit trigger   return delete titles from titles t, deleted d where t.pub_id = d.pub_id if @@error != 0   begin   print "Error occurred during deleting related titles"   end return ***************- create trigger tr1 on ... for insert, update as declare @rows int select @rows = @@rowcount ... if (.. )   ... ***************- In triggers you CAN NOT do these:   create, drop, alter table/database, grant, revoke, select into, truncate table, update statistics, reconfigure, load database/transaction, disk init/mirror/reinit/refit/remirror/unmirror

***************- Triggers During transactions: ... begin tran add_titles insert ... insert ... commit tran ***************- rollback trigger - command to rollback the trigger Nested Triggers - 16 levels of nesting max  

Stored Procedures: * faster (precompiled in memory) * reduced network traffic * modular programming * restricted access to tables * reduced operator error * enforced consistency * automated complex or sensitive transactions ***************- create proc pub_titles as select .. from ... where ... return To execute a stored procedure: call by name if it is a first command in the batch or use "exec" (or "execute" command):   exec proc_name To delete the procedure: drop proc proc_name To change the procedure: if exists (select * from sysobjects where name = "titles_for_a_pub" and type = "P" and uid=user_id())   drop proc titles_for_a_pub go create proc titles_for_a_pub as ... To display the text of the procedure: sp_helptext proc_name passing parameters: create proc tt (@pub_name varchar(40)) as select ...where ... return declare @my_pname   varchar(40) select @my_pname ="Some text" exec tt @my_pname Default Parameter Values: create proc proc_name    p_name datatype = default_value    , .... as SQL Statements return ... ----- Output parameters: create proc tt (    @par1 varchar(80) = null,    @par2 int output) as -- some T-SQL statements go here return declare @myoutput int exec  tt    @par1 = 'sometext',    @par2 = @myoutput  output go ----- Returning procedure status: return some_int_value 0 - no errors *1 .. -99 - detected errors (page 194 - list of error status codes) other values - whatever you like declare @staatus_var int exec @staatus_var = proc_name

Note: A stored procedure may NOT: create views, defaults, rules, triggers or procedures, or issue the use statement Note: If stored procedure references a table, and the table was changed - you may have to drop procedure, change it and re-create it. When created, stored procedure is transformed into a cashed sequenced of SQL statements. If procedure has "with recompile" - it forces the optimizer to generate a new query plan for each execution. ----- Returning data from one SP into a caller-SP: ----------------------------------- ----- transparent passing the result value ----------------------------------- create proc test1 as select count(1) N from OE create proc test2 as exec test1 exec test2 ----------------------------------- ----- catch the output value in the caller SP: ----------------------------------- create proc test3(@a int, @b int output) as select @b = @a*@a create proc test4 as begin   declare @par_in int   declare @par_out int   declare @ret_status int   select @par_in = 3   exec @ret_status = test3 @par_in, @par_out output   if not @ret_status=0 begin select @par_out = 0 end   select @par_out   select @par_out+1 end exec test4 ----------------------------------- ----- transparent passing the result set ----------------------------------- create proc test5 as select * from mytab create proc test6 as exec test5 exec test6 ----------------------------------- ----- handling errors, transactions ----------------------------------- create proc mysp as begin    declare @tran_cnt int    declare @errs int    declare @rows int    select @tran_cnt = @@trancount    if @tran_cnt = 0        begin transaction mytran    else        save transaction mytran    -- do something useful    -- then check for errors    select @errs = @@error    if (@errs != 0)    begin      rollback transaction sbl_upd_ticker

     return @errs    end    select @loc=loc, @idx=idx from mytab    if not @@rowcount=1    begin       rollback transaction mytran       raiserror 30200       return 30200    end    if @tran_cnt = 0        commit transaction mytran    select @my_id = (@loc * 10000000) + @idx    return 0 end Objects referenced in a procedure: exec sp_depends proc_name exec sp_depends table_name   Transactions - several statements grouped together and either commited or rollbacked all together (all individual steps are recorded into a transaction log for recovery in case of a crash) begin tran save tran rollback tran commit tran set chained    @@tranchained  0 - chained mode is off, 1 - chained mode is on begin transaction    update something    insert something if ...   begin  ... commit transaction end else   begin ... rollback transaction end Note: transactions put locks on pages (2K blocks of data) savepoints inside transaction: save tran item999 ... rollback tran item999 Nested Transactions: @@trancount stored procedure with a transaction inside create proc p1 as declare @trncnt int select @trncnt = @@trancount     -- save value if @trncnt = 0   begin tran p1 else   save tran p1 /* do some work here */ if (@@transtate = 2)  -- or other error condition   begin   rollback tran p1

  return 25    -- error code indicating rollback   end /* some more processing if required */ if @trncnt = 0   commit tran p1 return 0  -- successnesting transactions - batch with transaction calls a stored procedure with a transaction inside   ..... declare @status_val int,  @trncnt int select @trncnt = @@trancount     -- save value if @trncnt = 0   begin tran t1 else   save tran t1 /* do some work here */ if (@@transtate = 2)  -- or other error condition   begin   rollback tran t1   return     -- exit batch    end execute @status_val = p1  -- call procedure with transaction from inside transaction - thus nesting transactions if @status_val = 25  -- if proc p1 performed rollback   begin   rollback tran t1   return   end if @trncnt = 0   commit tran t1 -- decrements @@trancount to 0 return triggers may be part of a transaction: begin tran   update titles     set price=$99     where title_id = "BU1234" commit tran rollback transaction in a trigger rollback trigger chained transactions - eliminates transaction nesting

Getting info from sys. tablessome examples using sys tables -------------------------------------------------------- select name from sysobjects where sysstat & 7 = 3 order by name -------------------------------------------------------- select   rowcnt(t2.doampg),   (reserved_pgs(t2.id, t2.doampg) + reserved_pgs(t2.id,t2.ioampg)),   (t3.low), data_pgs(t2.id, t2.doampg), data_pgs(t2.id,t2.ioampg),   (      (reserved_pgs(t2.id, t2.doampg) + reserved_pgs(t2.id,t2.ioampg)) -      (data_pgs(t2.id, t2.doampg) + data_pgs(t2.id,t2.ioampg))

  ) from sysobjects t1, sysindexes t2, master.dbo.spt_values t3 where t2.id = object_id('myTableName')   and t1.id = object_id('myTableName')   and t3.number = 1 and t3.type = 'E' ------------------------------------------------------- select t1.name, t2.name, t1.length, t1.status from syscolumns t1, systypes t2 where t1.id = object_id('my_name') and t1.usertype *= t2.usertype -------------------------------------------------------- select t1.indid, t1.name from sysindexes t1 where t1.id = object_id('my_name') and t1.indid > 0 and t1.indid < 255 -------------------------------------------------------- select index_col('my_name', indid_buf, keyid_buf, ...) -------------------------------------------------------- select t1.name from master.dbo.spt_values t1, sysindexes t2 where t2.status & t1.number = t1.number and t2.id = object_id('my_name') and t2.indid = my_some_indid_buf and t1.type = 'I' and t1.number = 2 -------------------------------------------------------- select t1.name from syssegments t1, sysindexes t2 where t1.segment = t2.segment and t2.id = object_id('my_name') and t2.indid = my_some_indid_buf -------------------------------------------------------- select replstat = convert(bit, (t1.sysstat & -32768)) from sysobjects t1 where t1.id = object_id('my_name') --------------------------------------------------------   Stored procedure with a cursorif exists (select 1 from sysobjects where name = "myname")    drop proc myname go create proc myname as begin   declare @my_id int   declare @root_my_id int   declare mycursor cursor for (select my_id from MT)   open mycursor   fetch mycursor into @my_id   while ((@@sqlstatus = 0))   begin     exec @root_my_id = MT_get_root @my_id     insert into MT_root_map_tmp (my_id, root_my_id)     values (@my_id, @root_my_id)     fetch mycursor into @my_id   end

  close mycursor   deallocate cursor mycursor end go   script to copy data between databasesYou can copy data between databases using migrate utility in DBArtisan. Or you can use this script (it accepts table name as a parameter): #!/bin/sh -v if [ $# != 1 ]  then      echo "Usage: $0 <table>"      exit 1 fi  table=$1  PROD="-S SERV1 -U user1 -P pass1" DEV="-S SERV2 -U user2 -P pass2" bcp mydb..$table out $table.dat $PROD -n > /dev/null isql $DEV -w250 <<EOF use mydb go delete $table go EOF bcp mydb..$table in  $table.dat $DEV -n > /dev/null isql $DEV -w250 <<EOF use mydb go update statistics $table go EOF

Misc:count distinct types:  

select dept, count(*) from mytable where dept is null group by dept union select distinct dept, count(*) from mytable where dept is not null group by dept

select distinct dept, count(isnull(dept,'0'))  from mytable group by isnull(dept,'0')

when you joining tables - they join only on not null values. The common situation is joining 2 tables through a middle table which maps keys between the side 2 tables. This works good for normal inner joins:  select ... where A.x = B.x and B.y = C.y But what if you want all values from A - and just fill with nulls other columns. You try left join - but it doesn' work: select ... where A.x = B.x and B.y = C.y  -- doesn't work You can either do it in 2 steps (make a temporary table) - or use union:

example of a union: select #t1.*  from #t1,#t2  where #t1.bb = #t2.bb union select t1.*  from #t1 t1 where not exists (     select *     from #t2 t2 

      where t1.bb = t2.bb   )

Getting date difference as part of the year in Sybase -- select convert(numeric(6,2), datediff(mm, '4/1/02', '1/1/03'))/12.00 -- select convert(numeric(6,2), datediff( dy, '4/1/02', '1/1/03' ))/365.00 -- select convert(numeric(6,2), datediff( dy, '4/1/02', '7/1/02' ))/365.00 Catching special characters: select count(*) from mytab where charindex(char(10), myname) !=0 The simple way to find all occurencies of special characters is to use a short perl script. Below is the code (do_query is a self-made subroutine returning the result set as an array of hashes):   my ($sql,$result,$row,$oe_id,$name,@ar,%hh); $sql = qq{    select id, name from mytab    where name like '%[^0-9A-Za-z -_.,''""%]%' };  $result = &do_query($dbh, $sql); for $row (@$result) {   $id = $row->{id};   $name = $row->{name};   @ar = unpack('C*', $name);   %hh = ();   for(@ar) {if($_<32 or $_>127){$hh{$_}++}}   for(sort keys %hh){print"id <$id>: code $_ - $hh{$_} times\n"} }Using 'union' to do logical operations in single statement without creating temporary tables: Let's say we have a table with 2 columns (a,b): create table #t (a int null, b int null) insert #t (a,b) values (-1,6) insert #t (a,b) values (0,5) insert #t (a,b) values (1,4) insert #t (a,b) values (2,3) insert #t (a,b) values (3,2) and we  want to return max(a) or max(b) depending on which one is larger. Here is how this could be done     select max(b) mm from #t  having max(b) > (select max(a) from #t) union select max(a) mm from #t  having max(b) > (select max(b) from #t)

  Tune your SQLQuery Tuning Options set forceplan on  -  forces SQL Server to join the tables in a query in the order in which they are listed in the from clause. set table count  -  allows you to specify the number of tables that are considered at once as joins are optimized. sp_cachestrategy  -  disables and reenables cache strategies and large I/O for individual objects.

specify the index, cache strategy, or I/O size for a query (for example: select * from mytab (index mytab_idx) where ...) set prefetch  -  allows you to enable or disable large I/O for a session. Benchmarking your query:    set statistics time on    set statistics IO on    by hand Help your optimizer to make sure it has correct information about your table and uses it for queries and stored procedures. This info may me incorrect, for example, after bulk loads:    update statistics  tabname    sp_recompile  tabname Examine the showplan of your query:    set showplan on   go   set noexec on   go or for a stored procedure    set showplan on    go    set fmtonly on   go Note: do not mix set noexec   &   set  fmtonly Run your code - examine the output - look where table scans are made instead of using indexes. Sometimes index is not used because:   -  it doesn't exist on the column used in the where clause or in a join   -  there is a datatype mismatch in the join (like integer joined to numeric)   -  if the query is not restrictive enough and returns significant portion of the table.  The optimizer then will choose to use table scan.   -  the indexes are very complex - so Optimizer decides that it is less costly to just read the table itself   -  some where cluases may cause problems: order by, group by, having, between, like, calculations in where clauses.   -  sometimes table scan is really more effective and you don't need to eliminate it. Note, that database can cashes data, so repeating the query may get the results faster. Simple solution - vary the query. dbcc traceon(302, 310, 3604) sp_sysmon etc.