Thanks for the info on CTE's.

Has anyone compared the speed of CTE's vs. temporary tables vs. a table variable ?

Can a CTE do more than a temp table or a...

update a

set fieldone = 'contacted'

from tableONE a

left join tableTWO b on a.customerID = b.customer_id

where b.customer_id is null

Ok, call me a hack, but I have to do this a lot and I cheat.

No, you are neither a hack nor a cheater. You ARE making the best use...

I don't think that BCP can handle it. BCP is meant for flat files, not relational databases.

Why don't you use DTS (in SQL 2000) or SSIS (if you are...

You can get around this by adding another character. That will force sql to use the trailing character.

select * from mytable where mychar + 'x' = 'abc' + 'x'

Is the server turned off at Friday's close of business?

What happens when you ask for left(ProblematicField, 500)? Will it import and truncate it at 500 characters?

What do you mean by overlay? Do you mean overwrite the original spreadsheet?

when you run it manually, you are running it on your machine, otherwise on the server!

What happens if you run it from the server's command line?

Use DTS!

use getdate() instead of now(). and no need to quote the mm

select DateAdd(mm,24,getdate())

Nulls are tricky.

Depending on how you write your query, you will get different results. = null is not the same as is null. (why???)

And, are your ansi null settings on...

If you must keep the data as one column, you can always create a calculated column on the table.

Kevin has asked a question that bothers me as well.

Doesn't anyone have an answer to it?

Again:

When using a large dataset ( 250,000 rows), and aggregating data, or comparing to the...

Why bother with VB or SQLDMO when Enterprise Manager will do it for you?

Right click table in EM.

All Tasks --> import data.

The wizard will priactically do it all for you.

And, you...