And bear in mind that if someone has managed to update a system table in the master database, then they're already compromised that server to a large degree.

SELECT TOP 1 ... FROM .... WHERE pk NOT IN (SELECT TOP n pk FROM table ORDER BY <3_varchar_columns_here> ) 

ORDER BY <3_varchar_columns_here>

That should give you a good start.

HTH

SQL's not overly fond of double quotes. In fact, if quoted identifiers is set on (which is a default) your query returns the following error

Server: Msg 207, Level 16, State...

The quotes are in the wrong place. Try this

set @str = ' where strs in (''40301'',''40301.16'') '

The rest of atra's query should be fine.

Look up charindex and substring in Books online.

Basically, use Charindex to find the location of the quotes in the string, then substring to extract the portion you want.

DECLARE @str VARCHAR(15)

SET...

Ach, do a search through this forum. There have been several posts recently about how to get the nth row of a table. You should be able to find one...

If you're asking how you get the just inserted rows, have a look in Books Online for details of the inserted and deleted tables.

the inserted table will contain the ust...

Not necessarily. If the update affects a large portion of the table there's a good chance that SQL will take page, extent or even table locks.

Sanjeev, can you post the...

Agreed.

I don't have a DB design book handy, but iirc it only applies in certain very specific circumstances and usually something in 3rd normal is also in BCNF

Seriously, if any of my collegues submitted a trigger with...

'inserted' is only a stub of the new record

Not sure what you mean by that. inserted contains all the fields that are in the table the trigger is on. If...

Look in Books online. Exists keyword under Transact-SQL reference.

Essentially I'm saying check Table2 for any records that have an ID, CreateDate combo that is in table 1 and exclude them.

It's much...

Looks fine.