It's my impession too that an rtrim is performed when comparing strings. That's why strange things may happen:

declare

@a varchar(1),

@b-2 varchar(1),

@C varchar(1)

select @a...

Sorry - it's because my db is on 65 compatibility level (enterprise manager, right-click on db, properties, options tab).

Try this:

if '' = ' '

 select 'equal'

else

 select 'not equal'

-- returns 'equal'

select replace('a"a', '"', '')

-- returns 'a a'

String manipulations in T-SQL are tricky (not to say strange) - at least on...

Sorry - that was a reply to the previous post

 That replaces " by a single space, unfortunately. Is there an easy way to have all quotes in a string replaced by what is known as "the empty string" in a traditional...

Well, you actually gave me the idea yourself, in the thread Please give me a replacement for a Cursor,...

The original problem didn't say what to do if there is no N'th highest salary. My solution doesn't output a deptno in this case, so I guess that's OK

Maybe this one is easier to read (I haven't tested performance):

create table tmb1 (deptno numeric, sal numeric)

insert into tmb1 (deptno, sal ) values (1, 1000)

insert into tmb1 (deptno, sal )...

I think I have an even faster solution than you, Remi:

Declare @Sample as int

Declare @OffSet as int

SET @Sample = 3

SET @OffSet = 1

create table #a(id int identity(1,1), name varchar(100))

insert into...

Try something like

select substring(staffname, 1, charindex(' ', staffname))

This requires exactly one firstname and one surname - as in your sample data. If this is not enough, please describe what the...

Same problem with dynamic execution - and there is no firewall between the servers, I've been told (I have tested that port 135 is open).

Two simoultaneous db connections should have different @@SPIDs, I don't think there is a problem here. On the other hand, there may have been an earlier (now terminated) db connection...

I think so - I use this trick with @@SPID once in a while. One problem with temp tables is that you can't index them. In your case, put a...

Just to get a hint of where the processing time is spent:

What happens to processing time if you use a permanent table results (same definition), instead of a temp table?

What...

Scott, Thanks for an excellent suggestion. Unfortunately both servers are Win 2000. But I have a feeling that we are getting closer...

Sushila, Openquery works... Unfortunately I cannot use it, since...