Comments on: SQL SERVER – EXCEPT Clause in SQL Server is Similar to MINUS Clause in Oracle

By: Michael Pindrik

Michael Pindrik — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:55:14 +0000

I think the data returned by two SELECTs has match exactly in order for EXEPT to work. I was troubleshooting somebody’s code where EXCEPt did not work because order of fields in the second SELECT did not match the order of field in the first SELECT.

By: Stan

Stan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:29:28 +0000

in addition to what khan is saying, you may want to use for example:

tableA Except tableB

to return data in tableA that don’t match with the data in tableB. Similarly, you can use:

tableB Except tableA

to return data in tableB that don’t match with the data in tableA.

By: Rick Jackson

Rick Jackson — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:11:45 +0000

Can you use the except when comparing on 2 different database on same server?

By: loku

loku — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:10:14 +0000

Yes, you very inteligent, please

By: Raghav

Raghav — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:29:14 +0000

Great Share. Thanks a lot.

By: zaheer khan

zaheer khan — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 05:37:20 +0000

Yes.
using sql server use two level of complement using the except operator
and in oracle there is alot of option.
using minus or intersection operator.
may this will be helpfull.

By: abhijeet

abhijeet — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:28:32 +0000

Hello sir
i have a query…
i want only selected column from all of the colum from the same table
i dont want to use the required column names from table
can you suggest me the solution to that.
ex.
if there is a table having 30 fields
i want 28 field among them
then how can i fetch those 28 colunm
without using
Select (28 column name) from table.

pls give the solution to that..

By: SQL SERVER – Interview Questions and Answers – Frequently Asked Questions – Day 16 of 31 Journey to SQLAuthority

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:31:51 +0000

[...] EXCEPT clause is similar to MINUS operation in Oracle. The EXCEPT query and MINUS query return all rows in the first query that are not returned in the second query. Each SQL statement within the EXCEPT query and MINUS query must have the same number of fields in the result sets with similar data types. (Read more here) [...]

By: zaheer

zaheer — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:13:34 +0000

Dear pine.
1 thnks that you are there for help.

i have two CDR files and i want to compare the values of the both different CDR files that have the same no and types of column, some how all the values are the same but there is a difference in the durration column.
how can i get comparison report in sql server through query.

Please help

By: Avida

Avida — Thu, 05 May 2011 08:55:21 +0000

Hi,
What if i have 2 tables and in each table there is 5 columns, but i want that my EXCEPT will be only on 3/5 columns(til here every thing is easy).
Now i want that the resoult that i will get will contains the all 5 columns and not only the 3 columns that the EXCEPT base on.

Is there a way to do it without using INNER JOIN?

TNK.

By: Ronald

Ronald — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:48:16 +0000

Hi Pinal Dave,

I have a query regarding indexed varchar field,

The situation is: currently I have a table called detalleplanilla
that contains a field called expenses and I need to get information.

In the field expenses I have this information:

EmpID | Date1 | Date2 | Expenses
————————————————– ————————————————– ———————+
1 | 2011-01 – 01 | 1/15/2011 |, Savings 1500.00, Loan 5000.00 |
————————————————– ————————————————– ———————+
1 | 2011-01 – 16 | 1/31/2011 |, Savings 1500.00, Loan 5000.00 |
————————————————– ————————————————– ———————+
n + … | … | … | … |
————————————————– ————————————————– ———————+

Note: Expenses are separated by “, ”

I need a query that identifies you such as:
Total Savings of X employee in January or range date.
The answer would be = Savings 3500.00

What can I do?.
I need your help.

Thanks for your time.

Ronald Garcia

By: Manikandan Dinakaran

Manikandan Dinakaran — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:42:58 +0000

Hi Uma,

operators will give you the best results only when you have only one source table where you are trying to find the results for employees falling under the salary category 1000><2000. But consider the case, where you have a datawarehousing target which maintains the history, and before loading in to that table you wanna verify the records which are all new, in this case minus or except will work.

Hope am clear. Please let me know if am wrong so that I can understand it in a best way from you.

Regards
Mani

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:10:58 +0000

Just wanted to clarify your terminology: both EXCEPT (and INTERSECT) should be referred to as “operator”, and not as “clause”.

A definition of a clause is “group of [of words] containing subject and predicate”; therefore WHERE, GROUP BY and ORDER BY are rightfully classified as clauses.

An operator is defined as “something … that … performs a mathematical or logical operation” (Merriam Webster definition). Therefore EXCEPT is an operator performing logical operation upon two sets of data returned by the queries.

thanks,
-alex

By: Yakub Tamboli

Yakub Tamboli — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:36:53 +0000

Hi Sir

i want Near operator in Sql Server like oracle
example
‘near((lion, tiger), 10)

Regards

Yakub Tamboli

By: Balaji

Balaji — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:10:32 +0000

can we use EXCEPT clause in Oracle 10g? Though they say that EXCEPT in SQL server is the same as ORACLE’s MINUS, in a situation where LHS data set has a duplicate record and RHS data set has one instance of the same record, then MINUS will not work as it will not even bring this up.

Please help.

Regards
Balaji Raja

By: Anup

Anup — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 21:44:34 +0000

What should i do if i want to return only the columns that do not match for 2 tables ?

Any help is appreciated.

By: uma

uma — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:37:07 +0000

Hi Sir,

We can use between, then >,< Operator also.
it is also given the same output.
which one is better performance.Please suggest me

Thank you.

By: Pinal Dave

Pinal Dave — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:43:54 +0000

Hello Joe,

Yes, of course. Are you facing any issue?

Regards,
Pinal Dave

By: Joe DeMaro

Joe DeMaro — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:24:20 +0000

Hello Mr. Dave,

Is it possible to capture the results from the EXCEPT query and put them in a temporary table.

Thanks,

Joe

By: Sadjad Abbasnia

Sadjad Abbasnia — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:51:45 +0000

Hello, Mr. Dave
I am working as dba in Faragamara software company in Iran,
And want to thank you because of your trainings and solutions of SQL.
With best wishes

By: anonymous

anonymous — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:43:41 +0000

What does “exactly similar” mean ? It two things are the same, or identical, they are not similar. They are alike.

By: Gangadhar Naidu

Gangadhar Naidu — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:14:26 +0000

Hi Pinaldave,
below queries also get same out put. So, which is the best perpromance. Is it EXCEPT more performance then below queries.

SELECT EmpNo, EmpName,Salery
FROM EmployeeRecord
WHERE Salery > 1000 and Salery < 2000
ORDER BY EmpName;

SELECT EmpNo, EmpName,Salery
FROM EmployeeRecord
WHERE Salery between 1000 and 2000
ORDER BY EmpName;

Thank you,
Gangadhar.

By: SQL SERVER - 2008 - Interview Questions and Answers - Part 7 Journey to SQL Authority with Pinal Dave

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:07:26 +0000

[...] EXCEPT clause is similar to MINUS operation in Oracle. The EXCEPT query and MINUS query returns all rows in the first query that are not returned in the second query. Each SQL statement within the EXCEPT query and MINUS query must have the same number of fields in the result sets with similar data types. (Read More Here) [...]

By: Daud Khan

Daud Khan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:56:01 +0000

SIR
i have creataed a table in which i have inserted different students marks
now i want to write a program(may be it is done through function or procedure) in oracle sql so that user is prompted to enter the top values i mean if user want to access top 10 students marks so he just need to write 10 in the box and result should be displayed similarly for top 15 in short from top 1- top 15
just like if i write the quuery

select * from stu where stu_marks=’&Entertop’

so user is prompted to enter top values but i want to write a program for it in oracle sql(pl sql)
i shall be thankful to you

By: Giovanna

Giovanna — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:18:36 +0000

this worked like a charm!
much, much faster than NOT IN…
regards,
Giovanna