50 Important SQL Query Questions for Interview (with Examples)

Basic SQL Query Questions

1. Fetch all records from a table:

SELECT * FROM employees;

2. Select specific columns:

SELECT name, salary FROM employees;

3. Filter records using WHERE clause:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > 50000;

4. Select unique values:

SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;

5. Sort data using ORDER BY:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC;

6. Use multiple conditions:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department = 'IT' AND salary > 40000;

7. LIKE vs =:

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

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8. Pattern matching with wildcards:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE email LIKE '%@gmail.com';

9. Count number of rows:

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees;

10. Aggregate functions:

SELECT AVG(salary), MIN(salary), MAX(salary) FROM employees;

SQL Functions & Aggregation

11. GROUP BY usage:

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

12. Aggregate with GROUP BY:

SELECT department, SUM(salary) FROM employees GROUP BY department;

13. GROUP BY vs HAVING:

SELECT department, COUNT(*) FROM employees GROUP BY department HAVING COUNT(*)

14. HAVING clause filter:

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

15. NULL handling:

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 SELECT * FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL;

16. Use COALESCE():

SELECT name, COALESCE(manager_id, 'Not Assigned') FROM employees;

17. IS NULL vs = NULL: - IS NULL is valid. = NULL is invalid in SQL.

18. Count per department:

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

19. Highest salary:

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees;

20. Second highest salary:

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM
employees);

Joins

21. INNER JOIN example:

SELECT e.name, d.name FROM employees e INNER JOIN departments d ON e.dept_id =

22. INNER vs LEFT JOIN: - LEFT JOIN includes unmatched rows from the left table.

23. LEFT JOIN unmatched:

SELECT e.name FROM employees e LEFT JOIN departments d ON e.dept_id = d.id

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24. RIGHT JOIN:

SELECT e.name, d.name FROM employees e RIGHT JOIN departments d ON e.dept_id =

25. FULL JOIN:

SELECT * FROM employees e FULL OUTER JOIN departments d ON e.dept_id = d.id;

26. SELF JOIN:

SELECT e.name, m.name as manager FROM employees e JOIN employees m ON

27. Join 3 tables:

SELECT * FROM a JOIN b ON a.id = b.a_id JOIN c ON b.id = c.b_id;

28. Manager names: (Refer to Self Join example)

29. ON vs USING: - ON gives more flexibility. USING simplifies when column names are same.

30. Multiple joins: As shown above.

Subqueries & Nested Queries

31. Subquery in WHERE:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees);

32. Subquery in FROM:

SELECT dept, avg_sal FROM (SELECT department as dept, AVG(salary) as avg_sal

33. Correlated Subquery:

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 SELECT name, salary FROM employees e WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM
employees WHERE department = e.department);

34. Difference: - Correlated uses values from outer query.

35. Above avg salary: As shown above.

36. Max salary per department:

SELECT * FROM employees e WHERE salary = (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees

37. EXISTS example:

SELECT name FROM employees e WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM departments d WHERE
e.dept_id = d.id);

38. IN / NOT IN:

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

Advanced Querying

39. Delete duplicates:

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

40. Nth highest salary:

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

41. Conditional update:

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 UPDATE employees SET salary = salary + 1000 WHERE department = 'HR';

42. Window functions:

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

43. Running total:

SELECT name, salary, SUM(salary) OVER (ORDER BY name) as running_total FROM

44. PARTITION BY example:

SELECT name, department, RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department ORDER BY salary

45. UNION vs UNION ALL:

SELECT name FROM emp1 UNION SELECT name FROM emp2;

46. Pivot (with CASE):

SELECT id,
MAX(CASE WHEN month = 'Jan' THEN revenue END) AS Jan,
MAX(CASE WHEN month = 'Feb' THEN revenue END) AS Feb
FROM sales GROUP BY id;

47. Transpose rows: (Use CASE + GROUP BY technique)

48. LIMIT / TOP:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 5;

49. Employees without department:

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 SELECT * FROM employees WHERE dept_id IS NULL;

50. Subquery insert/update/delete:

UPDATE employees SET dept_id = (SELECT id FROM departments WHERE name = 'IT')
WHERE name = 'Ravi';

Let me know if you want a practice sheet or quiz version of this.