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Joining Big Tables with Duplicate Keys
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Joining Big Tables with Duplicate Keys

MediumSQL · PostgreSQL

Problem

What are the challenges you will have when you have 2 big tables, we need to join them but common column is duplicate?

Asked in the technical_round_1 stage. Using the provided tables, write a query that returns one row per non-null key, choosing the most recent record from each source. Preserve keys present in only one source.

Output

  1. Columns: common_key, source_a_record_id, source_a_value, source_b_record_id, source_b_value
  2. One row per non-null key from either table
  3. Sort by common_key ascending, with NULL values for a missing source record.

Schema

source_a
ColumnTypeDescription
record_idPKINTUnique identifier for a source A record
common_keyINTBusiness key used to match records
updated_atTIMESTAMPRecord update timestamp
valueVARCHAR(100)Value carried by the source A record
source_b
ColumnTypeDescription
record_idPKINTUnique identifier for a source B record
common_keyINTBusiness key used to match records
updated_atTIMESTAMPRecord update timestamp
valueVARCHAR(100)Value carried by the source B record
Tablessource_asource_b
Interviewer

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