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Here are some frequently asked SQL queries in interviews:

1. Find the Second Highest Salary

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

MAX(salary) FROM employees);

2. Find the Nth Highest Salary

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SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 1 OFFSET (N-1);

3. Find Duplicate Records in a Table

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SELECT name, COUNT(*) FROM employees GROUP BY name HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

4. Find Employees Who Earn More Than Their Manager

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SELECT e.name, e.salary, m.salary AS manager_salary FROM employees e JOIN employees m ON

e.manager_id = m.id WHERE e.salary > m.salary;

5. Find Employees Hired in the Last 6 Months

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE hire_date >= DATE_SUB(CURDATE(), INTERVAL 6 MONTH);

6. Find Employees with the Highest Salary in Each Department

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SELECT department_id, name, salary FROM employees e WHERE salary = (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM
employees WHERE department_id = e.department_id);

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7. Get the Department Name Along with Employee Count

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SELECT d.department_name, COUNT(e.id) AS employee_count FROM employees e JOIN departments d

ON e.department_id = d.id GROUP BY d.department_name;

8. Delete Duplicate Records (Keep Only One)

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DELETE FROM employees WHERE id NOT IN ( SELECT MIN(id) FROM employees GROUP BY name,
salary, department_id );

9. Find Employees Who Don’t Have a Manager

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL;

10. Get Employees Who Have the Same Salary

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SELECT e1.name AS emp1, e2.name AS emp2, e1.salary FROM employees e1, employees e2 WHERE
e1.salary = e2.salary AND e1.id <> e2.id;

These are some of the most commonly asked SQL queries in interviews. Let me know if you need more!
🚀

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Here are more frequently asked SQL queries in interviews:

11. Find the Third Highest Salary

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SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 1 OFFSET 2;

OR using DENSE_RANK() :

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SELECT salary FROM ( SELECT salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) as rnk FROM
employees ) temp WHERE rnk = 3;

12. Find Employees Who Have a Higher Salary Than the Average Salary
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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees);

13. Find Common Employees Between Two Tables

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SELECT name FROM employees_2023 INTERSECT SELECT name FROM employees_2024;

OR using JOIN:

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SELECT e1.name FROM employees_2023 e1 JOIN employees_2024 e2 ON e1.name = e2.name;

14. Find Employees Who Joined on the Same Date

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SELECT hire_date, COUNT(*) AS count FROM employees GROUP BY hire_date HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

15. Retrieve the First and Last Record in a Table

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-- First record SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY id ASC LIMIT 1; -- Last record SELECT *
FROM employees ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1;

16. Find the Second Most Repeated Department

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SELECT department_id, COUNT(*) AS department_count FROM employees GROUP BY department_id

ORDER BY department_count DESC LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

17. Find All Employees Who Don't Have a Department

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id IS NULL;

18. Find Employees Who Have Worked for More Than 5 Years
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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE DATEDIFF(CURDATE(), hire_date) / 365 > 5;

19. Display Employee Names in a Single Comma-Separated String

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SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(name SEPARATOR ', ') AS employee_names FROM employees;

20. Swap Two Column Values Without Using a Temp Variable

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UPDATE employees SET col1 = col1 + col2, col2 = col1 - col2, col1 = col1 - col2;

21. Retrieve the Last 5 Records from a Table

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SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 5;

22. Show Employees With a Salary Between 50,000 and 100,000

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary BETWEEN 50000 AND 100000;

23. Get the Top 5 Highest Salaries Without Using LIMIT

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SELECT salary FROM ( SELECT salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rnk FROM
employees ) ranked WHERE rnk <= 5;

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24. Find Employees Who Have No Leaves This Year

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SELECT * FROM employees e LEFT JOIN leaves l ON e.id = l.employee_id AND YEAR(l.leave_date)
= YEAR(CURDATE()) WHERE l.employee_id IS NULL;

25. Find Employees Who Have the Same Salary as Someone Else

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SELECT e1.name, e1.salary FROM employees e1 JOIN employees e2 ON e1.salary = e2.salary AND
e1.id <> e2.id;

These are some of the most commonly asked SQL queries in interviews.
Let me know if you need more advanced queries or explanations! 🚀

Compare with Claude

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Here are more advanced SQL queries frequently asked in interviews:

26. Find the Employee(s) with the Maximum Salary in Each Department

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SELECT e.department_id, e.name, e.salary FROM employees e WHERE salary = ( SELECT

MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE department_id = e.department_id );

27. Find Employees Who Have More Than One Manager

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SELECT employee_id, COUNT(manager_id) AS manager_count FROM employees GROUP BY employee_id

HAVING COUNT(manager_id) > 1;

28. Find Departments with More Than 5 Employees

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

HAVING COUNT(*) > 5;

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29. Get the Running Total of Salaries

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SELECT name, salary, SUM(salary) OVER (ORDER BY salary ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND
CURRENT ROW) AS running_total FROM employees;

30. Find the Cumulative Sum of Employees Joining Each Year

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SELECT hire_year, COUNT(*) AS num_employees, SUM(COUNT(*)) OVER (ORDER BY hire_year) AS

cumulative_sum FROM ( SELECT YEAR(hire_date) AS hire_year FROM employees ) sub GROUP BY
hire_year;

31. Find Employees Without Any Direct Reports

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SELECT * FROM employees e WHERE NOT EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM employees WHERE manager_id =
e.employee_id );

32. Find Employees Who Have the Same Name

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SELECT name, COUNT(*) AS name_count FROM employees GROUP BY name HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

33. Find the Last Login Date for Each Employee

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SELECT employee_id, MAX(login_time) AS last_login FROM logins GROUP BY employee_id;

34. Find Employees Who Were Hired in the Last 6 Months

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE hire_date >= DATE_SUB(CURDATE(), INTERVAL 6 MONTH);

35. Get the Employee(s) with the Second Highest Salary in Each Department

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SELECT department_id, name, salary FROM ( SELECT department_id, name, salary, DENSE_RANK()
OVER (PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rank FROM employees ) ranked
WHERE rank = 2;

36. Find the Difference Between the Highest and Lowest Salary

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SELECT MAX(salary) - MIN(salary) AS salary_difference FROM employees;

37. Count Employees Who Were Hired Each Year

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SELECT YEAR(hire_date) AS hire_year, COUNT(*) AS employee_count FROM employees GROUP BY

hire_year ORDER BY hire_year;

38. Find the Department with the Highest Average Salary

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SELECT department_id, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary FROM employees GROUP BY department_id ORDER

BY avg_salary DESC LIMIT 1;

39. Find All Employees Who Report to a Given Manager

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE manager_id = (SELECT employee_id FROM employees WHERE name =
'John Doe');

40. Get the Rank of Each Employee by Salary

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SELECT name, salary, RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS salary_rank FROM employees;

41. Find Employees Who Have Been Paid More Than Their Manager

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SELECT e1.name AS employee, e1.salary, e2.name AS manager, e2.salary AS manager_salary FROM

employees e1 JOIN employees e2 ON e1.manager_id = e2.employee_id WHERE e1.salary >
e2.salary;

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42. Get the Names of Employees Who Have Never Been Promoted

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SELECT e.name FROM employees e LEFT JOIN promotions p ON e.employee_id = p.employee_id

WHERE p.employee_id IS NULL;

43. Find Employees Whose Name Starts and Ends with a Specific Letter

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

44. Find Employees Who Are in the Same Department as Their Manager

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SELECT e.name AS employee, e.department_id, m.name AS manager FROM employees e JOIN

employees m ON e.manager_id = m.employee_id WHERE e.department_id = m.department_id;

45. Retrieve Employees Who Have at Least Two Direct Reports

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SELECT manager_id, COUNT(*) AS direct_reports FROM employees GROUP BY manager_id HAVING

COUNT(*) >= 2;

46. Find Employees Who Have Taken the Most Leaves

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SELECT employee_id, COUNT(*) AS leave_count FROM leaves GROUP BY employee_id ORDER BY

leave_count DESC LIMIT 1;

47. Find Employees Who Have a Salary Within 10% of the Highest Salary

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SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary >= (SELECT MAX(salary) * 0.9 FROM employees);

48. Retrieve Employees Who Have Worked on More Than One Project

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SELECT employee_id, COUNT(DISTINCT project_id) AS project_count FROM employee_projects
GROUP BY employee_id HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT project_id) > 1;

49. Find Departments That Have No Employees

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SELECT d.department_id, d.name FROM departments d LEFT JOIN employees e ON d.department_id

= e.department_id WHERE e.employee_id IS NULL;

50. Find the Most Common Job Title in a Company

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SELECT job_title, COUNT(*) AS count FROM employees GROUP BY job_title ORDER BY count DESC
LIMIT 1;

These advanced SQL queries cover joins, ranking, analytics, subqueries, aggregations, and
optimization techniques often tested in interviews. 🚀

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