I didn't even notice the conusion about the 'rename_by_alter' instructions. I was already aware of the behaviour of sp_rename/sp_helptext, so0 that ruled out the 1st option. 2 and 3 were...

DavidBridgeTechnology.com (12/10/2012)

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SELECT STUFF('123456', 1,3,NULL) -- "456" - SQL has found the first character, removed it and two next to it (3 in total) and inserted nothing into the string...

The explanation is fine for the second example.

But there's no mention of why a NULL value for 'replace with' returns a non-null result.

This confused me when I first came across...

How do you know whether they considered...

That's exactly the conversation I had with myself. Was this a trick question or not? In the end I went with...

Shame about the endless complaints about the semi-colon (does nobody ever read the thread before adding to it?)

The easy way to have avoided confusion as to whether the syntax error...

philip.cullingworth (12/3/2012)

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For interest, I thought I'd have a bit more of a look at which options displayed this effect, what caused Æ and æ to be returned.

It appears on our...

Luckily I didn't not fail to get this wrong, but it wasn't easy due to all the double negatives.

The correct answer to most of them is of course 'it depends'...

I didn't understand the question at all, so guessed. Having read the explanation I was none the wiser.

So I tried it, and the execution plan was empty.

confused.com

Not sure how this one got through quality control, as the explanation is entirely wrong.

The value of '1900-01-01' does not arise because of any default - the default will not...

+1 😉

There's an explanation of sorts here

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188043(SQL.105).aspx

(in the comments section at the end)

There'd have been a few more wrong answers if it weren't for the "select 2" hint...

Rather complicated!

But easy to guess the right answer, as there had to be at least 2 rows in #temp (the 2 inserted outside the loop) which ruled out half the...

Why would you define your variables as int if you are going to do non-integer calculations with them? Change the declarations to

declare @Quota1 real, @Quota2 real, @Quota3 real, @Value real;

and...