SQL query to check against a list

[Jeffrey Sheldon via SQLMonster.com]

SQL gurus...

I have one table of items that is the master file. We will call this Table A.
I have another table that contains few, some or all items from Table A. We
will call this Table B.

I want to run a query that compares the list of items on Table B against the
master list on Table A.

If the item is not present on Table B, show it in the SQL results.

Best way to achieve this? I am looping and doubling results in my sql tries.

Jeff

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Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.com

[Simon Hayes]

"Jeffrey Sheldon via SQLMonster.com" <fo***@nospam.SQLMonster.com> wrote in
message news:4F***********@SQLMonster.com...

SQL gurus...

I have one table of items that is the master file. We will call this
Table A.
I have another table that contains few, some or all items from Table A.
We
will call this Table B.

I want to run a query that compares the list of items on Table B against
the
master list on Table A.

If the item is not present on Table B, show it in the SQL results.

Best way to achieve this? I am looping and doubling results in my sql
tries.

Jeff

--
Message posted via http://www.sqlmonster.com

If you want all the items in A which do not have a corresponding row in B,
then this should work:

select
a.col, a.col2, ...
from
dbo.a a
where
not exists (
select *
from dbo.b b
where a.keycol = b.keycol)

Simon