SQL EXCEPT operator is used to combine two select statements, which in turn returns the row that is present in the first select statement and not in the second select statement. This Clause acts like a subtract operation that we perform in sets and Venn diagrams.

SQL Except Clause Example

SQL EXCEPT returns those tuples that are returned by the first  SELECT operation, and not returned by the second SELECT operation. Let’s understand from the below diagram.

#Pictorial Representation

From above you can see that no common records will be displayed between two queries i.e., only Query1 will return all its rows.

Each Select statement within an EXCEPT query must have the same number of fields in the result sets having similar data types.

#sql #sql except #query1