So which is really better - the very clever one-liner whose logic can't be unravelled without some head scratching, or the somewhat longer version that's simple enough to be self-explanatory?

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Curious that Steve's question was about efficiency rather than effectiveness. It reveals, I believe, an institutionalized bias in favor of speed over quality. After 30ish years as analyst/designer/developer/DBA/Informaticist (don't ask,...

Hmm, why not this?

use msdb

select

database_name

from

backupmediafamily f

inner join backupset s on s.backup_set_id = f.media_set_id

where

physical_device_name = 'backupDB_db_200805050856.BAK '