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SQL Set Difference Without Joins
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SQL Set Difference Without Joins

HardSQL · PostgreSQL

Problem

How would you access all the records in A but not in B without using JOIN, WHERE, EXCEPT, or subqueries?

Assume both tables use record_id as the comparison key. Return the records whose key exists in a and does not exist in b.

Output

  1. One row per qualifying record, with columns record_id and record_value
  2. Include only records present in a and absent from b
  3. Order by record_id ascending

Schema

a
ColumnTypeDescription
record_idPKINTUnique identifier for the record
record_valueVARCHAR(100)Descriptive value associated with the record
b
ColumnTypeDescription
record_idPKINTUnique identifier for the record
record_valueVARCHAR(100)Descriptive value associated with the record
Tablesab
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