Introduction In this article, we are going to see how the SQL EXISTS operator works and when you should use it. Although the EXISTS operator has been available since SQL:86, the very first edition of the SQL Standard, I found that there are still many application developers who don’t realize how powerful SQL subquery expressions really are when it comes to filtering a given table based on a condition evaluated on a different table. Database table model Let’s assume we have the following two tables in our database, that form a one-to-many... Read More

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When you're spoiled with Oracle's fabulous query transformation capabilities and its really well-done cost-based optimiser, then you might forget how difficult SQL query tuning used to be in the "old days" or with those less sophisticated databases. Here's a really nice explanation of the various means of implementing an ANTI-JOIN in MySQL: http://explainextended.com/2009/09/18/not-in-vs-not-exists-vs-left-join-is-null-mysql/