Steve Jones

My background is I have been working with computers since I was about 12. My first "career" job in this industry was with network administration where I became the local DBA by default. I have also spent lots of time administering Netware and NT networks, developing software, managing smaller IT groups, making lots of coffee, ordering pizza for late nights, etc., etc.

I currently am the editor of SQL Server Central and an advocate/architect at Redgate Software. I am also the President of SQL Saturday, maintain the T-SQL Tuesday monthly party, and remember our colleagues at sqlmemorial.org.

You can find out more about me on my blog (www.voiceofthedba.com) or LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/way0utwest)
  • Interests: yoga, reading, biking, snowboarding, volleyball

SQLServerCentral Article

T-SQL in SQL Server 2025: The UNISTR Function

I am not much for working in languages other than English. That's my native language and I know little about others. However, the last few years I find myself using emojis more and more in quick communications as they seem to add some fun to the interaction. And those interactions need to be stored in […]

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2025-12-05

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Blog Post

PASS Keynote Shots

Rodney Kidd took some great shots of the keynote and published an album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127113040@N04/albums/72177720330695911 A few of my favorites: Here’s one of the 8 ball and keynote (and...

2025-12-04

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SQL Cookbook: Query Solutions and Techniques for All SQL Users

You may know SQL basics, but are you taking advantage of its expressive power? This second edition applies a highly practical approach to Structured Query Language (SQL) so you can create and manipulate large stores of data. Based on real-world examples, this updated cookbook provides a framework to help you construct solutions and executable examples in several flavors of SQL, including Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.

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2025-12-03 (first published: )

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SQLServerCentral Editorial

SQL Server Licensing is Simple

Over the years I've had no shortage of licensing questions for SQL Server. At times it's felt a little crazy. Look at the licensing guide. Choose EE or SE and the number of cores. Then check if you're using VMs. Oh, and consider the cloud, and which cloud you're running a workload on. It's simple […]

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2025-12-03

258 reads

Blog Post

Advice I Like: Failure

If it fails where you thought it would fail that is not a failure. – from Excellent Advice for Living This is a great quote, especially for those of...

2025-11-28 (first published: )

430 reads

Blogs

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Forums

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Question of the Day

Using OPENJSON

I have some data in a table that looks like this:

BeerID BeerName    brewer               beerdescription
1      Becks       Interbrew            Beck's is a German-style pilsner beer 
2      Fat Tire    New Belgium          Toasty malt, gentle sweetness, flash of fresh hop bitterness.
3      Mac n Jacks Mac & Jack's Brewery This beer erupts with a floral, hoppy taste
4      Alaskan Amber Alaskan Brewing     Alaskan Brewing Amber Ale is an "alt" style beer
8      Kirin       Kirin Brewing         Kirin Ichiban is a Lager-type beer
If I run this, what is returned?
select t1.[key]
    from openjson((select t.* FROM Beer AS t for json path)) t1

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