SQL | Temporary tables and table variables exercise | Joining a table variable to the events table

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You can learn how to do this exercise if you attend one of more of the courses listed below!

Software ==> SQL  (198 exercises)
Version ==> Any version of SQL Server
Topic ==> Temporary tables and table variables  (9 exercises)
Level ==> Average difficulty
Classroom ==> Fast-track SQL  /  Advanced SQL
Online ==> Fast-track SQL  /  Advanced SQL
Before you can do this exercise, you'll need to download and unzip this file (if you have any problems doing this, click here for help). Once you've done this:
  1. Go into SQL Server Management Studio;
  2. Open the SQL file you've just unzipped (you can press CTRL + O to do this); then
  3. Execute this script.

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The aim of this exercise is to create a table variable to store a list of "odd" countries, then join this to the events table to see events that occurred in those odd countries.

For the purposes of this exercise, an "odd" country is one whose country id is an odd number!

Start by selecting the odd countries.

Select statement returning values using modulus

The easiest way to find the odd countries is to use the modulus operator on the CountryID. In the WHERE clause divide it by 2, but using % instead of /.  If the result isn't 0, then it must be odd!

 

This returns 22 countries.  Create a table variable called @OddCountries to hold 2 columns - OddName and OddNumber - and insert these countries into this table in your SQL:

Odd names and odd numbers

Here the results have been re-ordered as it felt odd-ly satisfying. Not punny?

 

Join this table to the tblEvent table. Add two criteria to the WHERE clause:

Criteria Details
Remove self-references Don't show events whose names contain the country they occurred in.
Co-terminosity Only show events where the event name and the OddName end in the same letter.

You should see 14 results, some of which are shown below:

RIGHT used in where to filter table variable

Use the RIGHT function to match the last letters.

Optionally save this as Odd requests.sql, then close it down.

You can unzip this file to see the answers to this exercise, although please remember this is for your personal use only.
This page has 1 thread Add post
ShukiMolk   Reply to ShukiMolkReply
04 May 20 at 17:43

As far as I'm concerned, these word-plays are VARyCHARming and I consider them a pundamental part of your site.
I wouldn't have it any odder way.

Andy B   Reply to Andy BReply
05 May 20 at 09:44

Thanks - we do our best!  

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