SQL Teaser

[gmmastros]

I was just experimenting with the ParseName function and discovered something a bit unexpected. I thought I would share (but in the form of a teaser).

Without running the code, what do you expect the output to be?

[COLOR=blue]Create[/color] [COLOR=blue]Table[/color] #Temp(Data [COLOR=blue]VarChar[/color](50))

[COLOR=blue]Insert[/color] [COLOR=blue]Into[/color] #Temp [COLOR=blue]Values[/color]([COLOR=red]'Easy Answer'[/color])
[COLOR=blue]Select[/color] * [COLOR=blue]From[/color] #Temp

[COLOR=blue]Drop[/color] [COLOR=blue]Table[/color] #Temp



[COLOR=blue]Create[/color] [COLOR=blue]Table[/color] #Blah(Data [COLOR=blue]VarChar[/color](50))

[COLOR=blue]Insert[/color] [COLOR=blue]Into[/color].   .   .  #Blah [COLOR=blue]Values[/color]([COLOR=red]'Huh?'[/color])
[COLOR=blue]Select[/color] * [COLOR=blue]From[/color] .  .  .     #Blah

[COLOR=blue]Drop[/color] [COLOR=blue]Table[/color]. #Blah

-George

"The great things about standards is that there are so many to choose from." - Fortune Cookie Wisdom

 

[SQLDenis]

hehehe, I won't spoil it, but run this

Create Table #Blah(Data VarChar(50))

Insert Into...#Blah Values('Huh?') --3 dots
Insert Into..#Blah Values('Huh What?') --2 dots
Select * From .#Blah  --  1 dot
Drop Table  #Blah --look ma, no dots

Denis The SQL Menace
--------------------
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SQLBlog.com, Google Interview Questions

 

[AlexCuse]

Spoiler

I will guess that SQL will only look at what is after the third dot, and treat your 'table name' as if it was entered with no prefixes. Probably adding a fourth dot will cause it to break though?

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[SQLDenis]

One more....

Create Table #Dots(Data VarChar(50))

Insert Into...#Dots(...................................data) Values('Huh?') --3 dots
Insert Into..#Dots(...................................data) Values('Huh, say what?') --2 dots
Select * From .#Dots -- 1 dot

Drop Table #Dots --look no dots!

Denis The SQL Menace
--------------------
SQL Server Code,Tips and Tricks, Performance Tuning
SQLBlog.com, Google Interview Questions