DBT Interview Preparation

Created by Sanket Patil

RDBMS
A relational database management system (RDBMS or just RDB) is a common type of
database that stores data in tables, so it can be used in relation to other stored datasets.

DBMS RDBMS
DBMS applications store data as file. RDBMS applications store data in a
tabular form.
Normalization is not present in DBMS Normalization is present in RDBMS.

DBMS uses file system to store data, so in RDBMS, data values are stored in the
there will be no relation between the form of tables, so a relationship between
tables. these data values will be stored in the form
of a table as well.

DBMS does not support distributed RDBMS supports distributed database.

database.
DBMS is meant to be for small RDBMS is designed to handle large
organization and deal with small data. it amount of data. It supports multiple
supports single user. users.

Examples of DBMS are file Example of RDBMS

are mysql, postgre, sql server, oracle etc
systems, xml etc.

Features:
- Provides data to be stored in tables.
- Persists data in the form of rows and columns.
- Provides facility primary key, to uniquely identify the rows.
- Creates indexes for quicker data retrieval.
- Provides a virtual table creation in which sensitive data can be stored and simplified
query can be applied.(views)
- Sharing a common column in two or more tables(primary key and foreign key).
- Provides multi user accessibility that can be controlled by individual users.

Can we alter two column at same time

No
Foreign Key cascade
A foreign key with cascade delete means that if a record in the parent table is deleted,
then the corresponding records in the child table will automatically be deleted. This is
called a cascade delete in SQL Server.

There are five major categories:

• DDL: Data Definition Language
e.g. CREATE, ALTER, DROP, RENAME.

• DML: Data Manipulation Language

e.g. INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE.

• DQL: Data Query Language

e.g. SELECT.

• DCL: Data Control Language

e.g. CREATE USER, GRANT, REVOKE.

• TCL: Transaction Control Language

e.g. SAVEPOINT, COMMIT, ROLLBACK.

1. What is mysql?
MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS)

2. What is SQL?
SQL stands for Structured Query Language, and it is used to communicate with the
Database.
This is a standard language used to perform tasks such as retrieval, updation, insertion
and deletion of data from a database.

3. What is a Candidate key?

Candidate key is a single key or a group of multiple keys that uniquely identify rows in a
table.
For example, in the example that we took earlier, both Id and Email can act as a
Candidate for the table as they contain unique and non-null values.

4. What are Composite keys?

 A Composite key is a Candidate key or Primary key that consists of more than one
attribute.
Sometimes it is possible that no single attribute will have the property to uniquely
identify tuples in a table. In such cases, we can use a group of attributes to guarantee
uniqueness. Combining these attributes will uniquely identify tuples in the table.

5. What is a CHECK constraint?

A CHECK constraint is used to limit the values that can be placed in a column. CHECK
constraints are most often used to enforce domain integrity.

6. What is a NOT NULL constraint?

A not null constraint enforces that the column will not accept null values. Not null
constraints are used to enforce domain integrity.

7. What is a DEFAULT definition?

A DEFAULT definition is used to add values into a column when values were omitted.
The default value must be compatible with the data type of the column to which the
DEFAULT definition applies.

8. What is the difference between a HAVING clause and a WHERE

clause?
The HAVING clause specifies a search condition for a GROUP BY or an aggregate.

Where Having
1 WHERE Clause can be used without HAVING Clause cannot be used without
GROUP BY Clause GROUP BY Clause

2 WHERE Clause implements in row HAVING Clause implements in column

operations operation
3 WHERE Clause cannot contain HAVING Clause can contain aggregate
aggregate function function

4 WHERE Clause can be used with HAVING Clause can only be used with
 SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE statement. SELECT statement.

5 WHERE Clause is used before GROUP HAVING Clause is used after GROUP BY
BY Clause Clause

9. Difference between primary unique & foreign key.

Primary key Unique key Foreign key

1. Primary key is a column of Unique key constraints It refers to the field in a

table Which uniquely also uniquely identifies table which is the primary
identifies the rows in that the rows in that table. key of another table.
table.
2. Primary Key does not Unique Key is like Primary Foreign Key can have
allow NULL Values. Key, the only difference multiple NULL values
Unique allows single NULL
value.
3. Each Table can have only Table can have multiple Table can have multiple
one Primary Key. Unique Keys Foreign Keys.
4. Primary Key creates Unique Key creates Non- Foreign Key does not
Clustered Index by default. Clustered Index by default. create any index by
default
5. Primary key can be Unique key can be created Foreign key cannot be
created on temporary on temporary tables and created on temporary
tables and table variables. table variables. tables and table variables.

10. Difference between drop truncate delete

Delete Truncate Drop

1. Delete is a DML command truncate is DDL command. Drop is DDL command

2. delete statement can be Truncate can be used to DROP table query
used for deleting the delete the entire data of removes one or more
specific data the table table
3. Syntax: Syntax: Syntax:
Delete table tablename; Truncate table tablename; Drop table tablename;
Delete from tablename
where ?
4. It can be rollback Truncate not rollback Drop not rollback

5. It is slow It is fastest It is faster

11. What is a difference between Commit, Rollback and Savepoint?

COMMIT: Ends the current transaction by making all pending data changes permanent.
ROLLBACK: Ends the current transaction by discarding all pending data changes.
SAVEPOINT: Divides a transaction into smaller parts. You can rollback the transaction till a
particular named savepoint.

12. Joins and it's types

A JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a related column
between them.

1. INNER JOIN / Equijoin: Returns records that have matching values in both tables
2. Cross join / Cartesian Join - The absence of join condition it takes Cartesian product of
table.
That is no of rows in table A & no of rows in table B.
3. Natural join: Returns records that have matching values in both tables.
4. Non-Equi join: Returns records base on non-matching values in both tables.
5. Self-join: Returns records that have matching values in same (self) table.
6. LEFT OUTER JOIN: Return all records from the left table, and the matched records from
the right table
7. RIGHT OUTER JOIN: Return all records from the right table, and the matched records
from the left table
8. FULL OUTER JOIN: Return all records when there is a match in either left or right table.

13. What is normalization?

Normalization is a way of organizing the data in the database.

Normalization is used to remove redundant data from the database and to store non-redundant
data into it.

Refer the link for better understanding.

https://beginnersbook.com/2015/05/normalization-in-dbms/

Normalization rules divides larger tables into smaller tables and links them using relationships.
Without Normalization in SQL, we may face many issues such as

1. Insertion anomaly: It occurs when we cannot insert data to the table without the
presence of another attribute
2. Update anomaly: It is a data inconsistency that results from data redundancy and a
partial update of data.
3. Deletion Anomaly: It occurs when certain attributes are lost because of the deletion of
other attributes.

Database normal forms:

1NF :
 Each table cell should contain a single value.
 Each record needs to be unique.
2NF :
 Be in 1NF
 Single Column Primary Key

3NF :
 Be in 2NF
 Has no transitive functional dependencies

BCNF:
Even when a database is in 3rd Normal Form, still there would be anomalies resulted if it has
more than one Candidate Key.

Sometimes is BCNF is also referred as 3.5 Normal Form.

4NF
5NF
6NF

14. What is Denormalization?

Denormalization is a database optimization technique in which we add redundant data to one
or more tables. This can help us avoid costly joins in a relational database. Note that
denormalization does not mean not doing normalization. It is an optimization technique that
is applied after doing normalization.

15. What is indexing?

Indexing is a data structure technique which allows you to quickly retrieve records from a
database file. An Index is a small table having only two columns. The first column comprises a
copy of the primary or candidate key of a table. Its second column contains a set of pointers for
holding the address of the disk block where that specific key value stored.

reduced i/o cost.

There are two types of indexing:

1. Clustered Index: A clustered index determines the physical order of data in a table. For
this reason a table can have only one clustered index.
Primary key constraint create clustered indexes automatically if no index already exists
on the table.
Eg. Clustered index is as same as dictionary where the data is arranged by alphabetical
order.
In clustered index, index contains pointer to block but not direct data.

2. Non- Clustered Index: Non-Clustered Index is similar to the index of a book. The
index of a book consists of a chapter name and page number, if you want to read any
topic or chapter then you can directly go to that page by using index of that book. No
need to go through each and every page of a book.

The data is stored in one place, and index is stored in another place. Since, the data
and non-clustered index is stored separately, then you can have multiple non-
clustered index in a table.

In non-clustered index, index contains the pointer to data.

16. What is Cursor?
Cursor is a Temporary Memory or Temporary Work Station. It is Allocated by Database Server
at the Time of Performing DML operations on Table by User.

Cursors are used to store Database Tables. There are 2 types of Cursors: Implicit Cursors, and
Explicit Cursors.

1. Implicit Cursors:

Implicit Cursors are also known as Default Cursors of SQL SERVER. These Cursors are allocated
by SQL SERVER when the user performs DML operations.

2. Explicit Cursors :

Explicit Cursors are Created by Users whenever the user requires them. Explicit Cursors are
used for Fetching data from Table in Row-By-Row Manner.

17. Which are the steps for using an Explicit Cursor?

There are four steps in using an Explicit Cursor.
1) DECLARE the cursor in the declaration section.
2) OPEN the cursor in the Execution Section.
3) FETCH the data from cursor into PL/SQL variables or records in the Execution Section.
4) CLOSE the cursor in the Execution Section before you end the PL/SQL Block.

18. What is Trigger?

A trigger is a stored procedure in database which automatically invokes whenever a special
event in the database occurs. For example, a trigger can be invoked when a row is inserted
into a specified table or when certain table columns are being updated.

A trigger uses the special table to keep a copy of the row which we have just inserted, deleted or
modified.

19. What are the different types of triggers?

Basically we have 13 types of triggers.

1. Row level triggers (6 types): Row-level triggers execute once for each row in a transaction.

2. Statement level triggers (6 types): A statement level trigger is also called as table level
trigger. A table level trigger is a trigger that doesn't fire for each row to be changed.

3. Instead of trigger: Instead of trigger is use to write trigger on Views.

Row Level Triggers:

1) before insert on each row
2) before update on each row
3) before delete on each row
4) after insert on each row
5) after update on each row
6) after delete on each row
Statement Level Triggers:
1) before insert
2) before update
3) before delete
4) after insert
5) after update
6) after delete
Instead of Trigger: mainly using for complex views.

20. Which are Different Parameters in Procedure and Functions?

1) IN type parameter: These types of parameters are used to send values to stored procedures.
2) OUT type parameter: These types of parameters are used to get values from stored
procedures. This is similar to a return type in functions.
3) INOUT parameter: These types of parameters are used to send values and get values from
stored procedures.

21. Subquery
In SQL a Subquery can be simply defined as a query within another query. In other words we
can say that a Subquery is a query that is embedded in WHERE clause of another SQL query.
  You can place the Subquery in a number of SQL
clauses: WHERE clause, HAVING clause, FROM clause.
Subqueries can be used with SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE statements along
with expression operator
 A subquery is a query within another query. The outer query is called as main
query and inner query is called as subquery.
 Subquery must be enclosed in parentheses.
 ORDER BY command cannot be used in a Subquery. GROUPBY command can be used
to perform same function as ORDER BY command.

22. Stored procedure vs stored function

Functions Procedures
1. A function has a return type and returns a A procedure does not have a return type.
value.
2. You cannot use a function with Data You can use DML queries such as insert,
Manipulation queries. Only Select queries are update, select etc… with procedures.
allowed in functions.

3. You cannot call stored procedures from a You can call a function from a stored
function procedure.

4. A function does not allow output parameters A procedure allows both input and output
parameters.

5. You cannot manage transactions inside a You can manage transactions inside a function.
function.

23. What is Transaction n ACID properties

It is a set of operations used to perform logical unit of work.

transaction generally represent change in database.

A transaction can be defined as a group of tasks. A single task is the minimum processing unit
which cannot be divided further.

Transactions access data using read and write operations.

In order to maintain consistency in a database, before and after the transaction, certain
properties are followed. These are called ACID properties.

ACID (an acronym for Atomicity Consistency Isolation Durability)

For a reliable database, all four of these attributes should be achieved:

Atomicity is an all-or-none rule for database modifications.

Consistency guarantees that a transaction never leaves your database in a half-finished state.

Isolation keeps transactions separated from each other until they are finished.

Durability guarantees that the database will keep track of pending changes in such a way that
the server can recover from an abnormal termination and committed transactions will not be
lost.

24. View

Views in SQL are kind of virtual table that is used to view & manipulate parts of the table.
A view also has rows and columns as they are in a real table in the database.

A view is a virtual table based on the result-set of an SQL statement.

It can be used for retrieving data as well as updating or deleting rows.
It cannot hold physical data or physical memory.

Two main purposes of creating a view are

1) Provide a security mechanism which restricts users to a certain subset of data.

2) Provide a mechanism for developers to customize how users can logically view the data

Difference between union & join

Suppose u have 1 millions records in our db then how to fetch all
records

It's depends on your requirement. You have to write an optimized query. In the table you can do
indexing for better performance. Or you can divide the single table into multiple tables on the
basis of different criteria like date created, alphabetical, etc.

Queries:

EMPNO SAL

1. Find the second highest salary of employee

 Select max(sal) from emp
where sal not in (select max(sal) from emp);

or……………………………………………………………..

Select max(sal) from emp

where sal <(select max(sal) from emp);

2. Display the highest payed employee in each department

Select max(sal), deptno

from emp
group by deptno;

3. Find number of employee in each department

Select count(*) ,deptno

from emp
group by deptno;

4. Display alternate records in sql

//odd no records

select * from
(select empno, ename, sal, rownum rn
from emp
order by rn)
where mod (rn, 2) != 0;

//even no records

select * from
(select empno, ename, sal, rownum rn
from emp
order by rn)
where mod (rn, 2) = 0;

5. Find duplicate values and its frequency of a column

select ename , count(*)

from emp
group by ename
having count(*)>1;

6. Display employee whose name starts with m

select ename from emp

where ename like ‘m%’;
7. Name ends with n

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘%n’;

8. Having name in anyposition in name

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘%m%’;

9. Having name does not contain m anywhere

Select ename from emp

Where ename NOT like ‘%m%’;

10. Display names of all emplyoees whose name contains exactly 4 letters
Select ename from emp
Where ename like ‘____’;

11. Display names of all emplyoees whose name contains the second letter as ‘L’ &
forth letter as ‘ M’

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘_L%’;

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘___M%’;

12. Display the employee names and hire dates for the employees joined at the month
of December

Select hiredate, ename from emp

Where hiredate like ‘%DEC%’;

13. Display names of all emplyoees whose name contains exactly 2 ‘ L’s

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘%LL%’;

14. Display names of employee whose name starts with ‘J’ and ends with ‘S’

Select ename from emp

Where ename like ‘J%S’;

15. Display nth row in sql

rownum cannot deal with greater than or equal to operater

……………………………………………………………………………………………

//display 4th row

Select * from emp

Where rownum<=4
 Minus
Select * from emp
Where rownum<=3

Or……………………………………….

select * from
(select rownum r, ename, sal from emp)
where r=4;
…………………………………………………………….

To print all columns of 4th row

Select * from(select rownum r, emp.* from emp)

Where r=4;
…………………………………………………………………………

To print 2nd , 3rd , 7th record

Select * from (select rownum r, emo.* from emp)

Where r in(2,3,7);

16. Display employees who are working in location Chicago from emp and dept table

Select ename, sal, d.deptno,dname,loc

From emp e, dept d
Where e.deptno=d.deptno and LOC=’CHICAGO’;

17. Display the department name and total salaries from each department

Select dname, sum(sal)

from emp e, dept d
where e.deptno=d.deptno
group by deptno;

18. First 1st & last nth rows

Select * from(select rownum r, ename, sal from emp)

Where r=1 or r = (select count(*) from emp);

19. Display last two rows of the table

Select * from emp

Minus
Select * from emp
Where rownum <=(select count(*)-2 from emp;

Or…………………………………………………………………………

Select * from (select rownum r , ename, sal from emp)

Where r>(select count(*)-2 from emp);

For 1st two numbers

 Select * from (select rownum r , ename, sal from emp)
Where r>(select count(*)-2 from emp) or r in(1,2);

20. Nth highest salary

1st 3 highest salary

Select * from(select distinct sal from emp order by sal desc)

Where rownum<=3;
………………………………………………………………………………………….

3rd highest salary

Select * from(select distinct sal from emp order by sal desc)

Where rownum<=3
Minus
Select * from(select distinct sal from emp order by sal desc)
Where rownum<=2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
select empno, sal
from emp e1
where 3=(select count(distinct sal)
from emp e2
where e2.sal>e1.sal);