Technical Article

Why Is It Complicated?

One of the very common things that is needed in SQL Server is performing a restore of a database. It's also one of the most important things that needs to take place. So why isn't this a simpler process? Steve Jones wonders why we can't make this a simpler process.

External Article

Using Information Schema Views

Many seasoned database developers tuck away all the commonly-used INFORMATION_SCHEMA queries as templates. They're an indispensable supplement to sp_help and sp_helpText to get handy information about your database objects, and, even if you use SQL Prompt, they're usually the best standard way to access such information programmatically within a routine. They are ISO standard SQL and are here to stay. Rob Sheldon goes through the basics in a timely refresher course.

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Question of the Day

Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance

I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:

SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:
Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.
What is wrong?

See possible answers