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Microsoft SQL Server specific features. Covers data types, indexes, partitioning, and SQL Server-specific syntax. Use for SQL Server database work. USE WHEN: user mentions "sql server", "mssql", "IDENTITY", "GETDATE()", "temporal tables", "columnstore", "SQL Server specifics", "Azure SQL" DO NOT USE FOR: T-SQL programming - use `tsql` instead, PostgreSQL - use `postgresql` instead, Oracle - use `oracle` instead
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| Type | Description | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Boolean (0/1) | 0, 1, NULL |
| 1 byte integer | 0 to 255 |
| 2 byte integer | -32,768 to 32,767 |
| 4 byte integer | -2^31 to 2^31-1 |
| 8 byte integer | -2^63 to 2^63-1 |
| Fixed precision | p: 1-38 digits |
| Same as DECIMAL | p: 1-38 digits |
| 8 byte float | ~15 digits precision |
| 4 byte float | ~7 digits precision |
| 8 byte currency | ±922 trillion |
| 4 byte currency | ±214,748 |
| Type | Description | Max Size |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-length | 8,000 bytes |
| Variable-length | 8,000 bytes |
| Large variable | 2 GB |
| Unicode fixed | 4,000 chars |
| Unicode variable | 4,000 chars |
| Unicode large | 1 GB |
| Legacy large (deprecated) | 2 GB |
| Legacy Unicode (deprecated) | 1 GB |
| Type | Description | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Date only | 0001-01-01 to 9999-12-31 |
| Time only (n=0-7 precision) | 00:00:00 to 23:59:59 |
| Date + time | 1753-01-01 to 9999-12-31 |
| Extended datetime | 0001-01-01 to 9999-12-31 |
| With timezone | Same + timezone |
| Less precision | 1900-01-01 to 2079-06-06 |
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| 16-byte GUID |
| Fixed binary |
| Variable binary |
| Large binary (2 GB) |
| XML data |
| JSON (stored as NVARCHAR) |
| Spatial data |
| Geometric data |
| Hierarchy position |
CREATE TABLE example (
id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
uuid UNIQUEIDENTIFIER DEFAULT NEWID(),
name NVARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
price DECIMAL(10,2),
quantity INT DEFAULT 0,
is_active BIT DEFAULT 1,
created_at DATETIME2 DEFAULT SYSDATETIME(),
metadata NVARCHAR(MAX), -- For JSON
document VARBINARY(MAX) -- For files
);-- Auto-increment
CREATE TABLE employees (
id INT IDENTITY(1,1) PRIMARY KEY,
name NVARCHAR(100)
);
-- Get last identity
SELECT SCOPE_IDENTITY(); -- Current scope
SELECT @@IDENTITY; -- Any scope (avoid)
SELECT IDENT_CURRENT('employees'); -- Specific table
-- Insert with identity off
SET IDENTITY_INSERT employees ON;
INSERT INTO employees (id, name) VALUES (100, 'Admin');
SET IDENTITY_INSERT employees OFF;
-- Reseed identity
DBCC CHECKIDENT ('employees', RESEED, 0);-- Create sequence
CREATE SEQUENCE dbo.OrderSeq
AS INT
START WITH 1
INCREMENT BY 1
MINVALUE 1
NO MAXVALUE
NO CYCLE
CACHE 20;
-- Use sequence
INSERT INTO orders (id, customer_id)
VALUES (NEXT VALUE FOR dbo.OrderSeq, 1);
-- In DEFAULT
ALTER TABLE orders
ADD CONSTRAINT df_order_id DEFAULT (NEXT VALUE FOR dbo.OrderSeq) FOR id;
-- Get current without incrementing
SELECT current_value FROM sys.sequences WHERE name = 'OrderSeq';
-- Reset sequence
ALTER SEQUENCE dbo.OrderSeq RESTART WITH 1;-- Current date/time
SELECT GETDATE(); -- DATETIME
SELECT SYSDATETIME(); -- DATETIME2 (more precise)
SELECT GETUTCDATE(); -- UTC datetime
SELECT SYSUTCDATETIME(); -- UTC datetime2
SELECT SYSDATETIMEOFFSET(); -- With timezone
-- Date parts
SELECT YEAR(GETDATE());
SELECT MONTH(GETDATE());
SELECT DAY(GETDATE());
SELECT DATEPART(QUARTER, GETDATE());
SELECT DATENAME(WEEKDAY, GETDATE()); -- 'Monday'
-- Date arithmetic
SELECT DATEADD(DAY, 7, GETDATE()); -- Add 7 days
SELECT DATEADD(MONTH, -1, GETDATE()); -- Subtract 1 month
SELECT DATEDIFF(DAY, '2024-01-01', GETDATE()); -- Days between
-- Format (2012+)
SELECT FORMAT(GETDATE(), 'yyyy-MM-dd');
SELECT FORMAT(GETDATE(), 'dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss');
-- Parse
SELECT CAST('2024-01-15' AS DATE);
SELECT CONVERT(DATETIME, '01/15/2024', 101); -- US format
SELECT PARSE('15 January 2024' AS DATE);
-- First/last of month
SELECT DATEADD(MONTH, DATEDIFF(MONTH, 0, GETDATE()), 0); -- First of month
SELECT EOMONTH(GETDATE()); -- Last of month (2012+)-- Concatenation
SELECT 'Hello' + ' ' + 'World';
SELECT CONCAT('Hello', ' ', 'World');
SELECT CONCAT_WS(' ', 'Hello', 'World', NULL); -- With separator, ignores NULL
-- Substring
SELECT SUBSTRING('Hello World', 1, 5); -- 'Hello'
SELECT LEFT('Hello World', 5); -- 'Hello'
SELECT RIGHT('Hello World', 5); -- 'World'
-- Length
SELECT LEN('Hello'); -- 5 (chars, trims trailing spaces)
SELECT DATALENGTH('Hello'); -- 5 (bytes)
-- Case
SELECT UPPER('hello');
SELECT LOWER('HELLO');
-- Trim
SELECT TRIM(' hello ');
SELECT LTRIM(' hello');
SELECT RTRIM('hello ');
SELECT TRIM('x' FROM 'xxxhelloxxx'); -- 2017+
-- Replace
SELECT REPLACE('hello', 'l', 'L');
SELECT STUFF('Hello World', 7, 5, 'SQL'); -- 'Hello SQL'
-- Position
SELECT CHARINDEX('o', 'Hello World'); -- 5
SELECT CHARINDEX('o', 'Hello World', 6); -- 8 (start from 6)
-- Padding
SELECT RIGHT('0000000000' + '123', 10); -- '0000000123'
SELECT FORMAT(123, '0000000000'); -- 2012+
-- Split (2016+)
SELECT value FROM STRING_SPLIT('a,b,c', ',');
-- Aggregate strings (2017+)
SELECT STRING_AGG(name, ', ') FROM employees;
SELECT STRING_AGG(name, ', ') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY name) FROM employees;-- JSON functions (2016+)
DECLARE @json NVARCHAR(MAX) = '{"name":"John","age":30,"address":{"city":"NYC"}}';
-- Extract values
SELECT JSON_VALUE(@json, '$.name'); -- 'John'
SELECT JSON_VALUE(@json, '$.address.city'); -- 'NYC'
SELECT JSON_QUERY(@json, '$.address'); -- '{"city":"NYC"}'
-- Check if valid JSON
SELECT ISJSON(@json); -- 1
-- Modify JSON
SELECT JSON_MODIFY(@json, '$.age', 31);
SELECT JSON_MODIFY(@json, '$.email', 'john@example.com');
-- Parse JSON array
DECLARE @arr NVARCHAR(MAX) = '[{"id":1,"name":"A"},{"id":2,"name":"B"}]';
SELECT * FROM OPENJSON(@arr) WITH (id INT, name NVARCHAR(50));
-- Generate JSON
SELECT id, name, email
FROM employees
FOR JSON AUTO; -- Auto-structure
SELECT id, name, email
FROM employees
FOR JSON PATH, ROOT('employees'); -- Custom structure-- Clustered index (one per table, defines physical order)
CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX IX_emp_id ON employees(id);
-- Non-clustered index
CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX IX_emp_email ON employees(email);
-- Unique index
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX IX_emp_email ON employees(email);
-- Composite index
CREATE INDEX IX_emp_dept_name ON employees(department_id, last_name);
-- Included columns (covering index)
CREATE INDEX IX_emp_email ON employees(email)
INCLUDE (first_name, last_name, phone);
-- Filtered index
CREATE INDEX IX_active_emp ON employees(email)
WHERE is_active = 1;
-- Columnstore index (analytics)
CREATE COLUMNSTORE INDEX IX_sales_cs ON sales(product_id, amount, sale_date);
-- Or clustered columnstore
CREATE CLUSTERED COLUMNSTORE INDEX IX_sales_ccs ON sales;
-- Full-text index
CREATE FULLTEXT CATALOG ft_catalog;
CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ON documents(content) KEY INDEX PK_documents;-- 1. Create partition function
CREATE PARTITION FUNCTION pf_sales_date (DATE)
AS RANGE RIGHT FOR VALUES ('2022-01-01', '2023-01-01', '2024-01-01');
-- 2. Create partition scheme
CREATE PARTITION SCHEME ps_sales_date
AS PARTITION pf_sales_date
TO (fg_2021, fg_2022, fg_2023, fg_2024);
-- 3. Create partitioned table
CREATE TABLE sales (
id INT IDENTITY(1,1),
sale_date DATE,
amount DECIMAL(10,2),
CONSTRAINT PK_sales PRIMARY KEY (id, sale_date)
) ON ps_sales_date(sale_date);
-- View partitions
SELECT
$PARTITION.pf_sales_date(sale_date) AS partition_number,
COUNT(*) AS row_count
FROM sales
GROUP BY $PARTITION.pf_sales_date(sale_date);
-- Split partition (add new)
ALTER PARTITION SCHEME ps_sales_date NEXT USED fg_2025;
ALTER PARTITION FUNCTION pf_sales_date() SPLIT RANGE ('2025-01-01');
-- Merge partitions
ALTER PARTITION FUNCTION pf_sales_date() MERGE RANGE ('2022-01-01');
-- Switch partition (instant move)
ALTER TABLE sales SWITCH PARTITION 1 TO sales_archive;-- Create temporal table
CREATE TABLE employees (
id INT PRIMARY KEY,
name NVARCHAR(100),
salary DECIMAL(10,2),
-- System time columns
valid_from DATETIME2 GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START,
valid_to DATETIME2 GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END,
PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME (valid_from, valid_to)
)
WITH (SYSTEM_VERSIONING = ON (HISTORY_TABLE = dbo.employees_history));
-- Query historical data
SELECT * FROM employees FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF '2024-01-01';
SELECT * FROM employees FOR SYSTEM_TIME BETWEEN '2024-01-01' AND '2024-06-01';
SELECT * FROM employees FOR SYSTEM_TIME ALL;
-- Disable versioning for maintenance
ALTER TABLE employees SET (SYSTEM_VERSIONING = OFF);
-- ... maintenance ...
ALTER TABLE employees SET (SYSTEM_VERSIONING = ON (HISTORY_TABLE = dbo.employees_history));-- Basic CTE
;WITH emp_stats AS (
SELECT department_id, COUNT(*) AS emp_count, AVG(salary) AS avg_salary
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id
)
SELECT d.name, es.emp_count, es.avg_salary
FROM departments d
JOIN emp_stats es ON d.id = es.department_id;
-- Recursive CTE
;WITH hierarchy AS (
-- Anchor
SELECT id, name, manager_id, 0 AS level
FROM employees WHERE manager_id IS NULL
UNION ALL
-- Recursive
SELECT e.id, e.name, e.manager_id, h.level + 1
FROM employees e
JOIN hierarchy h ON e.manager_id = h.id
)
SELECT * FROM hierarchy OPTION (MAXRECURSION 100);-- OFFSET-FETCH (2012+)
SELECT id, name, email
FROM employees
ORDER BY id
OFFSET 20 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY;
-- With variable
DECLARE @PageNum INT = 3, @PageSize INT = 10;
SELECT id, name, email
FROM employees
ORDER BY id
OFFSET (@PageNum - 1) * @PageSize ROWS
FETCH NEXT @PageSize ROWS ONLY;
-- ROW_NUMBER (older method)
;WITH numbered AS (
SELECT *, ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY id) AS rn
FROM employees
)
SELECT * FROM numbered WHERE rn BETWEEN 21 AND 30;tsqlpostgresqloraclesql-fundamentals| Anti-Pattern | Problem | Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Not using SET NOCOUNT ON | Network overhead | Add to all stored procedures |
| Using cursors | Slow performance | Use set-based operations |
| Missing clustered index | Heap scans | Add clustered index |
| Not using INCLUDE in indexes | Key lookups | Use covering indexes |
| Using deprecated TEXT/NTEXT | Compatibility issues | Use VARCHAR(MAX)/NVARCHAR(MAX) |
| @@IDENTITY instead of SCOPE_IDENTITY | Wrong identity value | Use SCOPE_IDENTITY() |
| Problem | Diagnostic | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Slow queries | | Add indexes, check execution plan |
| Blocking | | Kill blocking process, optimize |
| Deadlocks | Extended Events, trace flag 1222 | Consistent access order, shorter transactions |
| Identity issues | | Reseed or use SCOPE_IDENTITY |
| TempDB contention | Check wait stats | Add TempDB files, optimize queries |