Find Customers Who Bought "A" and "B" But Not "C" (SQL Spackle)

Question

Find Customers Who Bought "A" and "B" But Not "C" (SQL Spackle)

Forum Etiquette: How to post Reporting Services problems

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Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help - by Jeff Moden
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How to Post Performance Problems - by Gail Shaw
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mister.magoo SSC-Forever Points: 47174 More actions · Answer 1

Jonathan AC Roberts (3/29/2012)
mister.magoo (3/29/2012)
Hi Jeff,
Great Spackle, thanks!
In my tests, using your code to build a million row test, I found this method to be twice as fast for the same logical reads.
SELECT DISTINCT
CustomerID
FROM #Purchase p1
WHERE ProductCode = 'A'
AND EXISTS (SELECT
1
FROM #Purchase p2
WHERE p2.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID
AND p2.ProductCode = 'B')
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT
1
FROM #Purchase p3
WHERE p3.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID
AND p3.ProductCode = 'C')
Nice way to do it. I find a lot of developers almost totally overlook use of EXISTS but it can be really efficient.
This is slightly quicker using the results that have both products 'A' and 'B' to check that there is not a 'C' :
SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID
FROM #Purchase p1
WHERE ProductCode = 'A'
AND EXISTS(SELECT 1
FROM #Purchase p2
WHERE p2.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID
AND p2.ProductCode = 'B'
AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM #Purchase p3
WHERE p3.CustomerID = p2.CustomerID
AND p3.ProductCode = 'C'))

Thanks for the compliment and right back at you, that certainly is more efficient with the test data I have 🙂

Pure speed aside, I like the simplicity of the EXCEPT but would prefer this syntax as a training tool because it clearly defines how set theory is applied to this problem:

SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase p1

WHERE ProductCode = 'A'

INTERSECT

SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase p1

WHERE ProductCode = 'B'

EXCEPT

SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase p1

WHERE ProductCode = 'C'

(Even though I put speed aside, that one is pretty good at 10 million : Scan count 29, logical reads 1520, CPU time = 265 ms, elapsed time = 418 ms )

MM

select geometry::STGeomFromWKB(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

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 2

Arjun S (3/28/2012)
Another way to get the result would be to use Intersect and then combine it with Except. The distinct part is handled implicitly.
--===== Find Customers that bought both "A" AND "B"
SELECT CustomerID
FROM #Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('A')
INTERSECT
SELECT CustomerID
FROM #Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('B')
EXCEPT
--===== Find Customers that bought "C".
SELECT CustomerID
FROM #Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('C')
;

Not only does it come up with the correct answer, it's quite fast, too, because it doesn't have to do an aggregate count. Nicely done!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PRINT '========== Code From Article ==========================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B')

GROUP BY CustomerID

HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT ProductCode) = 2

EXCEPT

--===== Find Customers that bought "C".

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('C')

) d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Arjun S ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

--===== Find Customers that bought both "A" AND "B"

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('A')

INTERSECT

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('B')

EXCEPT

--===== Find Customers that bought "C".

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('C')

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

Results:

========== Code From Article ===========================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 250 ms, elapsed time = 269 ms.

========== Arjun S =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 78 ms, elapsed time = 86 ms.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Andre Guerreiro SSCertifiable Points: 7319 More actions · Answer 3

David Rueter (3/29/2012)
Thanks, Jeff.
I thought my standard pattern of simple joins would do about as well:
SELECT DISTINCT p.CustomerID
FROM
#Purchase p
JOIN #Purchase p2 ON
p.CustomerID = p2.CustomerID AND
p2.ProductCode = 'B'
LEFT JOIN #Purchase p3 ON
p.CustomerID = p3.CustomerID AND
p3.ProductCode = 'C'
WHERE
p.ProductCode = 'A' AND
p3.CustomerID IS NULL
Indeed, at 1 million rows performance is similar:
Jeff's solution from article: CPU time = 90 ms, elapsed time = 218 ms.
My "JOIN" solution above: CPU time = 100 ms, elapsed time = 289 ms.
"HAVING SUM" solution suggested by others: CPU time = 711 ms, elapsed time = 954 ms.
But at 10 million rows there is a big difference:
Jeff's solution from article: CPU time = 701 ms, elapsed time = 911 ms
My "JOIN" solution above: CPU time = 4036 ms, elapsed time = 4293 ms.
"HAVING SUM" solution suggested by others: CPU time = 6249 ms, elapsed time = 6532 ms.
Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge.

Hi, David.

Thanks a lot for those numbers. Much appreciated!

Best regards,

Andre Guerreiro Neto

Database Analyst
http://www.softplan.com.br
MCITPx1/MCTSx2/MCSE/MCSA

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 4

Toby Harman (3/29/2012)
One concern I had was looking at the query plan, the EXCEPT does a clustered index scan. That may be a function of the small data set, but I am not sure.

On the million row test data included in the "Resources" section near the very end of the article, EXCEPT did an index seek, so your "small data set" suspicions were correct.

Also, the INCLUDE index actually slowed the code from the article down.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Toby Harman SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4168 More actions · Answer 5

Just goes to show that adding an index aint always the best approach, even if it seems logical at the time!

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 6

James Dingle-651585 (3/29/2012)
Comparing syntax without an idea of the performance signature is a bit useless IMHO.

I'm 100% in agreement with you. That's why I stated the following in the article. 😉

For those that want to explore and compare solutions of their own, I've attached code to build a million row test table at the bottom of this article in the "Resources" link.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 7

Wavesailor (3/29/2012)
Thanks for article and comments - I learnt a lot.
In MySQL 😀 this is the fastest by far:
SELECT
CustomerId
FROM Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B', 'C')
GROUP BY CustomerID
having sum(case when ProductCode = 'A' then 1 else 0 end) > 0
and sum(case when ProductCode = 'B' then 1 else 0 end) > 0
and sum(case when ProductCode = 'C' then 1 else 0 end) = 0
Unfortunately MySQL does not have the EXCEPT operator.
-jj

I don't know if MySQL can take it but, if you haven't already done so, you might want to try one of the EXISTS/NOT EXISTS methods. I'll post "race" results for all the different methods soon.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 8

venoym (3/29/2012)
I haven't tested the performance as I don't have a setup to do that,

Heh... sure you do. I mentioned that I attached code to the million row setup right in the article and the code is in the resources section at the end of the article as a link.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 9

codebyo (3/29/2012)
SELECT
CustomerId
FROM Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B', 'C')
GROUP BY CustomerID
having sum(case when ProductCode = 'A' then 1 else 0 end) > 0
and sum(case when ProductCode = 'B' then 1 else 0 end) > 0
and sum(case when ProductCode = 'C' then 1 else 0 end) = 0
That's a very interesting method! I'll take note of it just in case I need something like this.
One question though:
Wouldn't the query below present the same results?
SELECT
CustomerId
FROM Purchase
WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B', 'C')
GROUP BY CustomerID
having sum(case when ProductCode = 'C' then 1 else 0 end) = 0

Sorry, Andre... it returned 1,2,3,6,7. Should only return 1,2,3.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 10

Toby Harman (3/29/2012)
Hate to point this out, but ColdCoffee's approach is returning inaccurate results.
Specifically, it returns customers 6 and 7 from the original test data.

Not sure what happened there Toby, but ColdCoffee's code is returning the correct result for me when I play it on my machine against the original data.

{EDIT} Ah... I see. He fixed it later.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 11

Heh... Ok... first, I have to say that I'm amazed. This particular article got twice as many reads in 1/4 the time as the "Generating test data" article did just this previous Monday.

I'll also say thank you all very much for participating in the discussion and for taking the time to post code and/or provide feedback. What's really cool is that I come up with a simple idea and good folks like yourselves try to make it better and usually succeed. Several of you posted code that runs significantly faster than mine with Arjun S coming up with the fastest (at least on my ol' war horse of a desktop box).

Here's how I tested all of the solutions what worked according to a separate test against the original data provided in the article. I 'threw away" the results in a variable to take the display out of the picture without throwing away the print statements or rowcounts.

PRINT '========== Code From Article ==========================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B')

GROUP BY CustomerID

HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT ProductCode) = 2

EXCEPT

--===== Find Customers that bought "C".

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('C')

) d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Arjun S ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('A')

INTERSECT

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('B')

EXCEPT

--===== Find Customers that bought "C".

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('C')

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== tommyh ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT

CustomerId

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode IN ('A','B', 'C')

GROUP BY CustomerID

having sum(case when ProductCode = 'A' then 1 else 0 end) > 0

and sum(case when ProductCode = 'B' then 1 else 0 end) > 0

and sum(case when ProductCode = 'C' then 1 else 0 end) = 0

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Toby Harman ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT a.CustomerID

FROM #Purchase a

LEFT OUTER JOIN #Purchase b

ON b.CustomerID = a.CustomerID

AND b.ProductCode IN ('C')

WHERE a.ProductCode IN ('A','B')

AND b.CustomerID IS NULL

GROUP BY a.CustomerID

HAVING COUNT(DISTINCT a.ProductCode) = 2

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== James Dingle ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SelectDistinct

CustomerID

From#Purchase

WhereProductCode = 'A'

AndCustomerID In

(

SelectCustomerID

From#Purchase

WhereProductCode = 'B'

)

AndCustomerID Not In

(

SelectCustomerID

From#Purchase

WhereProductCode = 'C'

)

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== chintan.j.gandhi ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase P

WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM #Purchase P1

WHERE P.customerid = P1.customerid

AND P1.productcode = 'A'

)

AND EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM #Purchase P2

WHERE P.customerid = P2.customerid

AND P2.productcode = 'B'

)

AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM #Purchase P3

WHERE P.customerid = P3.customerid

AND P3.productcode = 'C'

)

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Dalibor Margotic CTE (First method already posted by Arjun S) ====='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT;

WITH CTE AS

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode = 'A'

GROUP BY CustomerID

)

,CTE2 AS

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode = 'B'

GROUP BY CustomerID

)

,CTE3 AS

(

SELECT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode = 'C'

GROUP BY CustomerID

)

select @Bitbucket = CTE.CustomerID from CTE

left join CTE3 ON

CTE.CustomerID = CTE3.CustomerID

where CTE.CustomerID in (SELECT CustomerID FROM CTE2)

AND CTE3.CustomerID IS NULL

GROUP BY CTE.CustomerID

;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== MAGOO ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT DISTINCT

CustomerID

FROM #Purchase p1

WHERE ProductCode = 'A'

AND EXISTS (SELECT

1

FROM #Purchase p2

WHERE p2.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID

AND p2.ProductCode = 'B')

AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT

1

FROM #Purchase p3

WHERE p3.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID

AND p3.ProductCode = 'C')

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Venoym ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT

b.CustomerID

FROM

(

SELECT

a.CustomerID

FROM

(

SELECT

DISTINCT

CustomerID,

ProductCode

FROM

#Purchase

WHERE

ProductCode IN ('A','B')) AS a

GROUP BY

a.CustomerID

HAVING

COUNT(ProductCode) = 2

) AS b LEFT OUTER JOIN

#Purchase p ON b.CustomerID = p.CustomerID AND p.ProductCode = 'C'

WHERE

p.ProductCode IS NULL

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Jonathan AC Roberts ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT DISTINCT CustomerID

FROM #Purchase p1

WHERE ProductCode = 'A'

AND EXISTS(SELECT 1

FROM #Purchase p2

WHERE p2.CustomerID = p1.CustomerID

AND p2.ProductCode = 'B'

AND NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1

FROM #Purchase p3

WHERE p3.CustomerID = p2.CustomerID

AND p3.ProductCode = 'C'))

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== bob.probst ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

select distinct a.customerid

from #purchase a

inner join #purchase b on (a.customerid = b.customerid)

left join #purchase c on (a.customerid = c.customerid and c.productcode = 'C')

where a.productcode = 'A'

and b.productcode = 'B'

and c.purchaseid is null

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== Vyengr ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

Select Distinct CustomerID

FROM #Purchase PU

WHERE ProductCode ='A'

AND EXISTS (Select CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode ='B' and CustomerID = PU.CustomerID)

AND NOT EXISTS (Select PU.CustomerID

FROM #Purchase

WHERE ProductCode ='C' and CustomerID = PU.CustomerID)

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== ejoell 66477 ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

Select Distinct ABuyers.CustomerID from

(Select CustomerID FROM #Purchase WHERE ProductCode = 'A') ABuyers

JOIN

(Select CustomerID FROM #Purchase WHERE ProductCode = 'B') BBuyers

ON ABuyers.CustomerID = BBuyers.CustomerID

LEFT JOIN

(Select CustomerID FROM #Purchase WHERE ProductCode = 'C') CBuyers

ON ABuyers.CustomerID = CBuyers.CustomerID

WHERE CBuyers.CustomerID is null

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== David Rueter ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT

SELECT @Bitbucket = CustomerID FROM

(

SELECT DISTINCT p.CustomerID

FROM

#Purchase p

JOIN #Purchase p2 ON

p.CustomerID = p2.CustomerID AND

p2.ProductCode = 'B'

LEFT JOIN #Purchase p3 ON

p.CustomerID = p3.CustomerID AND

p3.ProductCode = 'C'

WHERE

p.ProductCode = 'A' AND

p3.CustomerID IS NULL

)d ;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

PRINT '========== ColdCoffee ====================================================='

SET STATISTICS TIME ON;

DECLARE @Bitbucket INT;

WITH CTE AS

(

SELECT P.CustomerID

, Indicator1 = CASE WHEN P.ProductCode IN('A') THEN 0

WHEN P.ProductCode IN('C') THEN -1

END

, Indicator2 = CASE WHEN P.ProductCode IN('B') THEN 1

ELSE 0

END

FROM #Purchase P

WHERE P.ProductCode IN ('A','B','C')

)

SELECT @Bitbucket = C.CustomerID

FROM CTE C

GROUP BY C.CustomerID

HAVING SUM (C.Indicator1) = 0 AND SUM(C.Indicator2) > 0

;

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF;

GO

Against the million row test data generator that I provided in the "Resources" section of the article near the end of the article, here are the result from the code above. Arjun is the clear winner here.

[font="Courier New"]========== Code From Article ===========================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 265 ms, elapsed time = 329 ms.

========== Arjun S =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 78 ms, elapsed time = 100 ms.

========== tommyh =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 329 ms, elapsed time = 331 ms.

========== Toby Harman =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 328 ms, elapsed time = 327 ms.

========== James Dingle =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 281 ms, elapsed time = 298 ms.

========== chintan.j.gandhi =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 719 ms, elapsed time = 726 ms.

========== Dalibor Margotic CTE (First method already posted by Arjun S) =====

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 109 ms, elapsed time = 95 ms.

========== MAGOO =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 94 ms, elapsed time = 92 ms.

========== Venoym =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 359 ms, elapsed time = 362 ms.

========== Jonathan AC Roberts =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 94 ms, elapsed time = 89 ms.

========== bob.probst =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 266 ms, elapsed time = 270 ms.

========== Vyengr =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 94 ms, elapsed time = 92 ms.

========== ejoell 66477 =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 266 ms, elapsed time = 266 ms.

========== David Rueter =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 281 ms, elapsed time = 275 ms.

========== ColdCoffee =====================================================

SQL Server Execution Times:

CPU time = 360 ms, elapsed time = 371 ms.

Warning: Null value is eliminated by an aggregate or other SET operation.[/font]

I also want to say that the SQL IQ shown by folks in this discussion is quite high (well, except for mine... I lost pretty badly considering that I wrote the article :blush:). No one resorted to RBAR of any form and the difference in most of the times are less than 250 ms in difference against a million row problem. You should all take a bow. 🙂

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Andre Guerreiro SSCertifiable Points: 7319 More actions · Answer 12

Hi, Jeff.

Indeed. I was at work and couldn't test it properly.

I should've noticed that the IN clause may bring results from either A OR B. 🙂

That's an excellent article by the way.

I use UNION ALL when needed but I've never given EXCEPT or INTERSECT the attention they deserve. 😀

========== Arjun S =====================================================
SQL Server Execution Times:
CPU time = 78 ms, elapsed time = 100 ms.

:Wow: A nice combination of INTERSECT and EXCEPT gets the price. Congrats!

Best regards,

Andre Guerreiro Neto

Database Analyst
http://www.softplan.com.br
MCITPx1/MCTSx2/MCSE/MCSA

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004406 More actions · Answer 13

codebyo (3/29/2012)
Hi, Jeff.
Indeed. I was at work and couldn't test it properly.
I should've noticed that the IN clause may bring results from either A OR B. 🙂
That's an excellent article by the way.
I use UNION ALL when needed but I've never given EXCEPT or INTERSECT the attention they deserve. 😀
========== Arjun S =====================================================
SQL Server Execution Times:
CPU time = 78 ms, elapsed time = 100 ms.
:Wow: A nice combination of INTERSECT and EXCEPT gets the price. Congrats!

Thanks for the feedback, Andre. I just have to get better at beating the general public at my own game. 😛

I love this forum and this community. Like I said, I throw an idea out there and a bunch of people rise to the occasion and share their own thoughts and code... and they usually come up with improvements! To top it off, no one got snotty or nasty about it! Ya just gotta love this place.

Thanks folks. I really appreciate it all.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

ColdCoffee SSC-Dedicated Points: 39972 More actions · Answer 14

Jeff, is it possible to run the test on 10 Million row table, if you have time?

Andre Guerreiro SSCertifiable Points: 7319 More actions · Answer 15

Jeff Moden (3/29/2012)
Thanks for the feedback, Andre. I just have to get better at beating the general public at my own game. 😛
I love this forum and this community. Like I said, I throw an idea out there and a bunch of people rise to the occasion and share their own thoughts and code... and they usually come up with improvements! To top it off, no one got snotty or nasty about it! Ya just gotta love this place.
Thanks folks. I really appreciate it all.

That's probably one of the greatest discussions followed by a great article I've seen in weeks!

I love this place because of things like this. Everyone will contribute their own ideas and expand existing ones. I thank you for starting this, as always.

Now what I find really interesting is that queries that use EXISTS and NOT EXISTS run really fast when the data is filtered (ProductCode = 'A') prior to being passed to those operators. See MAGOO and Jonathan AC Roberts code. Something to keep in mind for sure.

Best regards,

Andre Guerreiro Neto

Database Analyst
http://www.softplan.com.br
MCITPx1/MCTSx2/MCSE/MCSA