You can also "see" the non-grouped columns within a given group if you can specifically select for them with a known column value within an aggregate operator. So, if each...

And yet again using Select ... Into ...

if object_Id('tempdb.dbo.#t1') is not null drop table dbo.#t1

if object_Id('tempdb.dbo.#t2') is not null drop table dbo.#t2

select 'Smith'[LName],'Randy'[FName] into dbo.#t1

union all select 'Smith','John'

union all select...

Ya, I agree, the order of the data is important. It generally works for my jobs as the natural order of the data is correct for this process. However, you...

Nobody mentioned that you could use UPDATE. Add in integer column and try this:

Declare @PrevGroupingColumn VarChar(256),@i Int

Select @PrevGroupingColumn='' -- Any value that would not occur in the grouping column.

Update dbo.YourTable...

... and sometimes its just better to SELECT ... INTO ... the stuff you want to keep and then rebuild indices and other stuff afterwards on that smaller dataset. Just...

Try this...

Select * from dbo.YourTable

where SomeCol like '%[^ -~]%' collate Latin1_General_BIN

the key here is to specify a binary collation type so that the like-mask works as you would expect.

the like...

Have we learned nothing from the dark ages of "religious" intolerance...

You need to specify a collation that distinguishes between upper and lower case, such as...

declare @Pattern varchar(250)

set @Pattern = '%['+char(190)+'-'+char(192)+']%'

SELECT PATINDEX (@Pattern collate Latin1_General_BIN,'abcdefghijk')

You could select each query into a temp table or temp variable saving each @@RowCount then if both row counts are not zero select both tables with Union All...

I would sort the data locally at the app. That way the user could change his mind after the initial fetch of the data and could have it re-sorted WITHOUT...

In light of the unanswered "edge" conditions how about this?

Use TempDB

If Object_Id('dbo.test') is not Null Drop table dbo.Test

Select '123'[CharNum] into dbo.Test

Union All Select '0123'

Union All Select '000123'

Union All Select '000'

Union...

Try this:

Declare @i Int,@Domain VarChar(256)

Select

   @i=CharIndex('\',suser_sname()),

   @i=Case @i when 0 then 0 else @i-1 End,

   @Domain=Left(suser_sname(),@i)

Print @Domain

Hmmm, forgot to adjust the code for the variables...

*If* you could add an Identity column to your data when you import it (ordered properly), you could:

Declare @Lo Int,@Hi Int

Select...

*If* you could add an Identity column to your data when you import it (ordered properly), you could:

Declare @Lo Int,@Hi Int

Select @Lo=Ident_Current('dbo.Data')*0.10,@Hi=Ident_Current('dbo.Data')-@Lo

Select * from dbo.Data where Ident between Ident_Current('dbo.Data')*0.10...

If your shop permits controlled use of xp_CmdShell I would use WinZIPs (v9 or greater) command-line module. With it you can compress (multiple levels) and encrypt (multiple techniques) your backup files simultaneously....