Agent skill
advanced-patterns
Advanced T-SQL patterns and techniques for SQL Server. Use this skill when: (1) User needs help with CTEs or recursive queries, (2) User asks about APPLY operator, (3) User wants MERGE or OUTPUT clause help, (4) User works with temporal tables, (5) User needs In-Memory OLTP guidance, (6) User asks about advanced grouping (ROLLUP, CUBE, GROUPING SETS).
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SKILL.md
Advanced T-SQL Patterns
Advanced techniques for complex SQL Server scenarios.
Quick Reference
Pattern Selection Guide
| Task | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Hierarchical data | Recursive CTE |
| Top N per group | ROW_NUMBER + CTE |
| Correlated subquery alternative | CROSS/OUTER APPLY |
| Upsert (insert or update) | MERGE |
| Capture modified rows | OUTPUT clause |
| Historical data tracking | Temporal tables |
| High-throughput OLTP | In-Memory OLTP |
| Multiple aggregation levels | ROLLUP/CUBE/GROUPING SETS |
Common Table Expressions (CTEs)
Basic CTE
sql
WITH RecentOrders AS (
SELECT CustomerID, OrderDate, Amount
FROM Orders
WHERE OrderDate >= DATEADD(month, -3, GETDATE())
)
SELECT c.CustomerName, r.Amount
FROM Customers c
JOIN RecentOrders r ON c.CustomerID = r.CustomerID;
Multiple CTEs
sql
WITH
Sales AS (
SELECT ProductID, SUM(Amount) AS TotalSales FROM Orders GROUP BY ProductID
),
Inventory AS (
SELECT ProductID, SUM(Quantity) AS TotalInventory FROM Stock GROUP BY ProductID
)
SELECT p.ProductName, s.TotalSales, i.TotalInventory
FROM Products p
LEFT JOIN Sales s ON p.ProductID = s.ProductID
LEFT JOIN Inventory i ON p.ProductID = i.ProductID;
Recursive CTE (Hierarchies)
sql
WITH OrgChart AS (
-- Anchor: Top-level (no manager)
SELECT EmployeeID, Name, ManagerID, 0 AS Level,
CAST(Name AS VARCHAR(1000)) AS Path
FROM Employees
WHERE ManagerID IS NULL
UNION ALL
-- Recursive: Subordinates
SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.Name, e.ManagerID, oc.Level + 1,
CAST(oc.Path + ' > ' + e.Name AS VARCHAR(1000))
FROM Employees e
JOIN OrgChart oc ON e.ManagerID = oc.EmployeeID
)
SELECT * FROM OrgChart
OPTION (MAXRECURSION 100); -- Default is 100, max is 32767
CTE for Deleting Duplicates
sql
WITH Duplicates AS (
SELECT *,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
PARTITION BY Email
ORDER BY CreatedDate DESC
) AS RowNum
FROM Users
)
DELETE FROM Duplicates WHERE RowNum > 1;
APPLY Operator
CROSS APPLY (Inner Join Behavior)
sql
-- Top 3 orders per customer
SELECT c.CustomerID, c.Name, o.OrderID, o.Amount
FROM Customers c
CROSS APPLY (
SELECT TOP 3 OrderID, Amount
FROM Orders
WHERE CustomerID = c.CustomerID
ORDER BY OrderDate DESC
) o;
OUTER APPLY (Left Join Behavior)
sql
-- Last order per customer (including customers with no orders)
SELECT c.CustomerID, c.Name, o.LastOrderDate, o.LastOrderAmount
FROM Customers c
OUTER APPLY (
SELECT TOP 1 OrderDate AS LastOrderDate, Amount AS LastOrderAmount
FROM Orders
WHERE CustomerID = c.CustomerID
ORDER BY OrderDate DESC
) o;
APPLY with Table-Valued Function
sql
-- Call function for each row
SELECT c.CustomerID, f.MonthlyTotal, f.OrderCount
FROM Customers c
CROSS APPLY dbo.GetCustomerMonthlyStats(c.CustomerID) f;
APPLY to Unpivot Columns
sql
-- Transform columns to rows
SELECT ID, AttributeName, AttributeValue
FROM Products
CROSS APPLY (
VALUES
('Color', Color),
('Size', Size),
('Weight', CAST(Weight AS VARCHAR))
) AS Unpivoted(AttributeName, AttributeValue)
WHERE AttributeValue IS NOT NULL;
MERGE Statement
Basic Upsert
sql
MERGE INTO TargetTable AS t
USING SourceTable AS s
ON t.ID = s.ID
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET t.Name = s.Name, t.Value = s.Value, t.UpdatedAt = GETDATE()
WHEN NOT MATCHED BY TARGET THEN
INSERT (ID, Name, Value, CreatedAt)
VALUES (s.ID, s.Name, s.Value, GETDATE())
WHEN NOT MATCHED BY SOURCE THEN
DELETE
OUTPUT $action, inserted.*, deleted.*;
MERGE with Conditions
sql
MERGE INTO Products AS t
USING StagingProducts AS s
ON t.ProductID = s.ProductID
WHEN MATCHED AND s.Price <> t.Price THEN
UPDATE SET t.Price = s.Price, t.LastModified = GETDATE()
WHEN MATCHED AND s.Discontinued = 1 THEN
DELETE
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN
INSERT (ProductID, Name, Price) VALUES (s.ProductID, s.Name, s.Price);
OUTPUT Clause
Capture Inserted Rows
sql
DECLARE @InsertedRows TABLE (ID INT, Name VARCHAR(100));
INSERT INTO Customers (Name, Email)
OUTPUT inserted.CustomerID, inserted.Name INTO @InsertedRows
VALUES ('John', 'john@email.com'), ('Jane', 'jane@email.com');
SELECT * FROM @InsertedRows;
Capture Updated Rows (Before and After)
sql
UPDATE Products
SET Price = Price * 1.1
OUTPUT deleted.ProductID, deleted.Price AS OldPrice, inserted.Price AS NewPrice
WHERE Category = 'Electronics';
Capture Deleted Rows
sql
DELETE FROM ExpiredOrders
OUTPUT deleted.*
INTO OrderArchive
WHERE ExpiryDate < DATEADD(year, -1, GETDATE());
Advanced Grouping
ROLLUP (Hierarchical Subtotals)
sql
SELECT
COALESCE(Region, 'Total') AS Region,
COALESCE(Product, 'All Products') AS Product,
SUM(Sales) AS TotalSales
FROM SalesData
GROUP BY ROLLUP (Region, Product);
-- Groups: (Region, Product), (Region), ()
CUBE (All Combinations)
sql
SELECT Region, Product, SUM(Sales) AS TotalSales
FROM SalesData
GROUP BY CUBE (Region, Product);
-- Groups: (Region, Product), (Region), (Product), ()
GROUPING SETS (Custom Combinations)
sql
SELECT Region, Product, Year, SUM(Sales)
FROM SalesData
GROUP BY GROUPING SETS (
(Region, Product),
(Region, Year),
(Product),
()
);
Identify Grouping Level
sql
SELECT
CASE WHEN GROUPING(Region) = 1 THEN 'All' ELSE Region END AS Region,
CASE WHEN GROUPING(Product) = 1 THEN 'All' ELSE Product END AS Product,
SUM(Sales) AS TotalSales,
GROUPING_ID(Region, Product) AS GroupLevel
-- GroupLevel: 0 = both, 1 = Product rolled up, 2 = Region rolled up, 3 = both
FROM SalesData
GROUP BY ROLLUP (Region, Product);
Temporal Tables (SQL 2016+)
Create System-Versioned Table
sql
CREATE TABLE Products (
ProductID INT PRIMARY KEY,
Name NVARCHAR(100),
Price DECIMAL(18,2),
ValidFrom DATETIME2 GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START,
ValidTo DATETIME2 GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END,
PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME (ValidFrom, ValidTo)
)
WITH (SYSTEM_VERSIONING = ON (HISTORY_TABLE = dbo.ProductsHistory));
Query Historical Data
sql
-- Point in time
SELECT * FROM Products
FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF '2024-01-01 12:00:00';
-- Time range
SELECT * FROM Products
FOR SYSTEM_TIME BETWEEN '2024-01-01' AND '2024-06-30';
-- All history
SELECT * FROM Products
FOR SYSTEM_TIME ALL;
In-Memory OLTP
Create Memory-Optimized Table
sql
-- First add filegroup
ALTER DATABASE YourDB
ADD FILEGROUP MemOptFG CONTAINS MEMORY_OPTIMIZED_DATA;
ALTER DATABASE YourDB
ADD FILE (NAME = 'MemOptFile', FILENAME = 'C:\Data\MemOpt') TO FILEGROUP MemOptFG;
-- Create table
CREATE TABLE OrdersMemOpt (
OrderID INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED HASH WITH (BUCKET_COUNT = 1000000),
CustomerID INT NOT NULL INDEX IX_Customer NONCLUSTERED HASH WITH (BUCKET_COUNT = 100000),
OrderDate DATETIME2 NOT NULL,
Amount DECIMAL(18,2) NOT NULL,
INDEX IX_Date NONCLUSTERED (OrderDate)
) WITH (MEMORY_OPTIMIZED = ON, DURABILITY = SCHEMA_AND_DATA);
Natively Compiled Procedure
sql
CREATE PROCEDURE InsertOrderFast
@CustomerID INT,
@Amount DECIMAL(18,2)
WITH NATIVE_COMPILATION, SCHEMABINDING
AS
BEGIN ATOMIC WITH (TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL = SNAPSHOT, LANGUAGE = N'English')
INSERT INTO dbo.OrdersMemOpt (OrderID, CustomerID, OrderDate, Amount)
VALUES (NEXT VALUE FOR dbo.OrderSeq, @CustomerID, SYSDATETIME(), @Amount);
END;
Table-Valued Constructor
VALUES as Table
sql
SELECT * FROM (
VALUES
(1, 'Apple', 1.50),
(2, 'Banana', 0.75),
(3, 'Orange', 2.00)
) AS Products(ID, Name, Price);
Use in MERGE
sql
MERGE INTO Products AS t
USING (VALUES
(1, 'Apple', 1.60),
(2, 'Banana', 0.80)
) AS s(ID, Name, Price)
ON t.ID = s.ID
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET Price = s.Price
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT VALUES (s.ID, s.Name, s.Price);
Sequences
Create and Use Sequence
sql
CREATE SEQUENCE OrderSeq
AS INT START WITH 1 INCREMENT BY 1;
-- Get next value
SELECT NEXT VALUE FOR OrderSeq;
-- Use in INSERT
INSERT INTO Orders (OrderID, CustomerID)
VALUES (NEXT VALUE FOR OrderSeq, @CustomerID);
-- Use as default
ALTER TABLE Orders
ADD CONSTRAINT DF_OrderID DEFAULT NEXT VALUE FOR OrderSeq FOR OrderID;
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