April 22, 2009 at 11:14 am
r.hensbergen (4/22/2009)
Jayeff (4/22/2009)
mike (4/22/2009)
Hey! Not fair. I lost a point because of a missing ORDER BY ? Like a previous poster mentioned, both 1 and 2 are correct. :crying:Can I get my point back please?
Yeah, me too!
And see, you both got you point just by posting that you want your point back. 😉
[font="Verdana"]Good point :)...but shouldn't these Qs be screened for accuracy?[/font]
April 22, 2009 at 12:04 pm
SanjayAttray (4/22/2009)
select NULL,'manoj'union select Null,'1'union select NULL,'manoj'order by 2
or
select NULL,'manoj'union select Null,'1'union select NULL,'manoj'
order by 1
gives you same result.
NULL1
NULLmanoj
I tried on all sql server versions and result is same. May be I am missing something here when some people are telling both 1 & 2 answers are correct.
Try actually specifying an "order by" that can be honored by the dbms:select NULL,'manoj'
union select Null,'1'
union select NULL,'manoj'
order by 2 desc
This returns the same two rows in a different order:
----------- -----
NULL manoj
NULL 1
(2 row(s) affected)
So, the difference between the two 2-rows-returned answers comes down to whether you assume the same collation was chosen (or accepted) at installation time. I lost the point because as a mainframe programmer I've got EBCDIC stuck in my head and figured that letters would sort before numbers. But even as I thought that, I was grumbling to myself that without an "order by", it's a crap-shoot between the two.
April 22, 2009 at 12:19 pm
John,
With " order by 2 desc " are you not forcing the query to get result in the way you had desired?
select NULL,'manoj'
union select Null,'1'
union select NULL,'manoj'
order by 2 desc
SQL DBA.
April 22, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Maybe I'm being pedantic, but I don't think that any of the answers provided are correct.
If you interpret a comma to be a column delimiter, the results should be either:
NULL,manoj
NULL,1
...or:
NULL,1
NULL,manoj
Note that all of the answers in the original question have single quotes around manoj.
Chris
April 23, 2009 at 4:08 am
I got it right (guessed that it would sort alphabetically to remove duplicates, but that's not guaranteed, as mentioned)
However, I reckon that *none* of the answers are (or should that be 'is?) correct.
I would prefer to see
NULL, '1' and NULL,'manoj' (2 rows)
rather than
NULL, 1 and NULL,'manoj' (2 rows)
as the answer, as all the second-field values are clearly stated as character strings.
Some may call that being picky, but hey, two of the 'mutually exclusive' answers are actually the same, according to set theory.
April 23, 2009 at 9:55 am
Points awarded back and both 1 and 2 marked as correct.
April 23, 2009 at 11:13 am
Too Funny. I clicked the wrong box... but interesting point just the same. Thanks for the questions!
April 24, 2009 at 2:13 am
... And now the original correct choice does not give point...:ermm:
April 24, 2009 at 2:21 am
Arsi Salo (4/24/2009)
... And now the original correct choice does not give point...:ermm:
... which is entirely correct, since the question has been changed to (emphasis mine):
"What can be the output for this code? (select all that apply)"
And as already discussed at length in this topic, the query only defines which rows to be returned and not the order, so both versions can be the output (even if only one of them actually is when you run the code).
April 27, 2009 at 5:57 am
When it comes to fun and humor (on SQLSERVERCENTRAL), I am very good at getting the answer wrong.
Jamie
April 27, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Interesting question. Highlights the features of two clauses- UNION & ORDER BY
but the phrasing of the question was kind of misleading. That has caused lots of folks to skip the second answer. I agree with Hugo Kornelis that the question could have been phrased a little more explicitly.
May 5, 2009 at 8:12 am
I chose #1, or maybe #2, but either one is correct, and it told me I was wrong. I know the test developer couldn't have made a mistake so I guess the computer just messed up :^)...
May 5, 2009 at 8:19 am
I know the test developer couldn't have made a mistake
Hi Reginald,
Do I sense some sarcasm there? 😉
Anyway, if you selected both #1 and #2, then you should have gotten the point. If you chose one of them at random, you shouldn't - since the question (now!) specifically asks what can be the output, and asks you to "select all that apply".
Read the preceeding discussion for more information about the original phrasing of the question and why this was changed.
May 5, 2009 at 8:32 am
select all that apply
Steve frequently goes in and gives credit even if the user does not "select all that apply'. Take note of a qot from 4/27/09. Question says all that apply but credit was given anyway.
Perhaps it should be the case here as well?
Jamie
May 5, 2009 at 8:48 am
That's a nice thought but not necessary - I just got 2 points credit on a different question - using totally false reasoning - so we're more than even !!
Thanks
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