[thelist] SQL Challenge Question

Ken Schaefer ken at adOpenStatic.com
Mon Oct 27 19:20:56 CST 2003


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: "Rob Smith" <rob.smith at THERMON.com>
Subject: [thelist] SQL Challenge Question


: I've got an SQL Challenge for you.
:
: Given: Two nearly Identical Rows
: Problem: Isolate the columns where the data
:    is not the same.
: Solution: ?
:
: Can this be done? If so, how?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You want to do this in SQL? SQL is not suited for such tasks. However, tell
us what database you're using, and we may be able to work something out.

In any case, why do you want to do this? Usually I see this request when
someone has rows each with 100 columns and needs to find out which columns
differ from row to row. That's usually (but not always) an indication of bad
table design.

Cheers
Ken



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