All Articles - SQL Authority with Pinal Dave

SQL SERVER – How to Remove All Characters From a String Using T-SQL?

August 1, 2015

In the recent past I have seen the best interaction and learning happens when we all get into a puzzle and challenge mode. And that just gets the creative juice in our minds and some really innovative solutions are given. So this blog is written like a nice trivia solution…

SQL SERVER – Puzzle – Inside Working of Datatype smalldatetime

July 31, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Puzzle, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL DateTime

In the recent past, I have been bringing few puzzles around using date and time functions. All these have brought some awesome feedbacks and you all have been sharing some awesome answers. Today’s question comes from an unusual place wherein one of a developer said he was getting unexpected results…

SQL SERVER – DevOps for the DBA – Notes from the Field #091

July 30, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL

Notes from the Field, SQL Server

[Note from Pinal]: This is a 91st episode of Notes from the Field series. Divas is a new buzz word with lots of substance behind it. Not everyone understands what it means and not everyone actually related it to their daily job. Lots of people think that it is alright to not explore and learn about this as after a few days or months it will be meaningless. However, the reality seems very different about DevOps as it is one of the concepts which is just rediscovered. I recently asked my friend Stuart about what it means by DevOps for DBA and he had a informative answer to this question.

SQL SERVER – Error: Msg 245 – Conversion failed when converting the varchar value ‘Inactive’ to data type int

July 29, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Error Messages

Using CASE statements is something I see a lot of developers use. They use it in complex environments and I have been fortunate to troubleshoot and look at code blocks that run for pages using the standard CASE statements. This blog post is inspired by one such errors using CASE…

SQL SERVER – Free SQL Complete Add-in For SSMS

July 28, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL

ApexSQL, SQL Utility

This article covers main features of ApexSQL Complete, free SQL complete add-in. You can download the most recent version, and check its features while reading the article.

SQL SERVER – Inserting into Sparse Column Sets and Errors Associated With It

July 27, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

SPARSE Columns, SQL Scripts

I have written tons of blogs in the past around using sparse columns. The best part and lesser known part of sparse columns is that we can write to the column sets directly too. In this blog let me take a tour of how this can be achieved. When sparse…

Interview Question of the Week #029 – Difference Between CHARINDEX vs PATINDEX

July 26, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

Question: What is the difference between CHARINDEX vs PATINDEX? Answer: We can use either CHARINDEX or PATINDEX to search in a TEXT field in SQL SERVER. The CHARINDEX and PATINDEX functions return the starting position of a pattern you specify. Both functions take two arguments. With PATINDEX, you must include percent signs before and…

SQL SERVER – How to Find If Queries are Running in Parallel?

July 25, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL Performance

Parallel, SQL CPU, SQL Scripts, SQL Server

Let us learn today how to find if queries are running in Parallel? If a query runs in parallel it is a query that SQL Server thinks is expensive.

SQL SERVER – FIX – Property IsLocked is Not Available for Login

July 24, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

SQL Lock, SQL Scripts

I play and experiment with SQL Server to the max. Sometimes I am not sure what I did and I land into something undesired. Then the reason to troubleshoot starts and I get to learn something new. Sometimes these learnings are based on error messages that you folks send me.…

SQL SERVER – What are T-SQL Median? – Notes from the Field #090

July 23, 2015

Pinal Dave

SQL, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks

Notes from the Field, SQL Function

[Note from Pinal]: In this episode of the Notes from the Field series database expert Kathi Kellenberger explains about T-SQL Median. Kathi is an amazing instructor, she was the SQL author I have read in my early career. The reason, I love SQL Server because her writing has instigated love for this technology…