Top 5 Advanced SQL Queries You Need to Know

Mohd Mujtaba
3 min readMay 18, 2023

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Introduction: Structured Query Language (SQL) is a powerful tool for managing and manipulating data in relational databases. While most developers are familiar with basic SQL queries, there are several advanced techniques that can take your database skills to the next level. In this article, we will explore some advanced SQL queries with sample code and visual examples to help you become a more proficient SQL developer.

  1. Subqueries: Subqueries are queries nested within another query. They allow you to retrieve data from one table based on the result of another query. Let’s consider an example where we have two tables: “Orders” and “Customers.” We want to retrieve the names of customers who have placed orders:
SQL_subquery

2. Joins: Joins combine rows from two or more tables based on related columns. They are used to retrieve data that spans multiple tables. There are different types of joins, including INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, and FULL JOIN. Here’s an example using INNER JOIN to fetch orders along with customer names:

SQL_joins

3. Aggregation Functions: Aggregation functions perform calculations on a set of values and return a single value. Commonly used aggregation functions include SUM, COUNT, AVG, MAX, and MIN. Let’s say we have a table “Products” with a column “Price,” and we want to find the average price of all products:

SQL_aggregation

4. Window Functions: Window functions operate on a set of rows and return a result for each row. They are useful for tasks like calculating cumulative totals, ranking rows, and finding moving averages. Consider an example where we want to calculate the cumulative sum of order amounts:

SQL_Window

5. Common Table Expressions (CTEs): CTEs allow you to define temporary result sets that can be referenced within a query. They help simplify complex queries and make them more readable. Here’s an example of using a CTE to retrieve the top three customers with the highest order amounts:

SQL_CTE

Conclusion: Mastering advanced SQL queries is essential for efficient and effective database management. In this article, we covered subqueries, joins, aggregation functions, window functions, and common table expressions. By incorporating these techniques into your SQL repertoire, you’ll be able to tackle complex data challenges and extract valuable insights from your databases.

Remember to practice these queries with different datasets to enhance your understanding and proficiency. Happy querying!

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Mohd Mujtaba

SDE-2 @ Wealthy.in | Built systems from scratch | Exploring new Technology