MySql Questions and Answers - part2

How many values can the SET function of MySQL take?

MySQL SET function can take zero or more values, but at the maximum it can take 64 values.

How can I load data from a text file into a table?

The MySQL provides a LOAD DATA INFILE command. You can load data from a file. Great tool but you need to make sure that:

a) Data must be delimited
b) Data fields must match table columns correctly


How many ways we can we find the current date using MySQL?

SELECT CURDATE();
SELECT CURRENT_DATE();
SELECT CURTIME();
SELECT CURRENT_TIME();

How can we encrypt and decrypt a data presented in a table using MySQL?

You can use functions: AES_ENCRYPT() and AES_DECRYPT() like:

AES_ENCRYPT(str, key_str)
AES_DECRYPT(crypt_str, key_str)

what are the different types of errors in PHP?

Here are three basic types of runtime errors in PHP:

1. Notices: These are trivial, non-critical errors that PHP encounters while executing a script - for example, accessing a variable that has not yet been defined. By default, such errors are not displayed to the user at all - although you can change this default behavior.

2. Warnings: These are more serious errors - for example, attempting to include() a file which does not exist. By default, these errors are displayed to the user, but they do not result in script termination.

3. Fatal errors: These are critical errors - for example, instantiating an object of a non-existent class, or calling a non-existent function. These errors cause the immediate termination of the script, and PHP's default behavior is to display them to the user when they take place.

What is meant by PEAR in php?

PEAR is short for "PHP Extension and Application Repository" and is pronounced just like the fruit.

The purpose of PEAR is to provide:
A structured library of open-sourced code for PHP users
A system for code distribution and package maintenance
A standard style for code written in PHP
The PHP Foundation Classes (PFC),
The PHP Extension Community Library (PECL),

A web site, mailing lists and download mirrors to support the PHP/PEAR community
PEAR is a community-driven project with the PEAR Group as the governing body. The project has been founded by Stig S. Bakken in 1999 and quite a lot of people have joined the project since then.

What is the difference between GROUP BY and ORDER BY in SQL?

To sort a result, use an ORDER BY clause.

The most general way to satisfy a GROUP BY clause is to scan the whole table and create a new temporary table where all rows from each group are consecutive, and then use this temporary table to discover groups and apply aggregate functions (if any).

ORDER BY [col1],[col2],...[coln]; Tells DBMS according to what columns it should sort the result. If two rows will hawe the same value in col1 it will try to sort them according to col2 and so on.

GROUP BY [col1],[col2],...[coln]; Tells DBMS to group (aggregate) results with same value of column col1. You can use COUNT(col1), SUM(col1), AVG(col1) with it, if you want to count all items in group, sum all values or view average.

Explain normalization?

The normalization process involves getting our data to conform to three progressive normal forms

First Normal Form
The First Normal Form (or 1NF) involves removal of redundant data from horizontal rows. We want to ensure that there is no duplication of data in a given row, and that every column stores the least amount of information possible (making the field atomic).

Second Normal Form
Where the First Normal Form deals with redundancy of data across a horizontal row, Second Normal Form (or 2NF) deals with redundancy of data in vertical columns. As stated earlier, the normal forms are progressive, so to achieve Second Normal Form, your tables must already be in First Normal Form.

Third Normal Form
In Third Normal Form we are looking for data in our tables that is not fully dependant on the primary key, but dependant on another value in the table

Mysql Questions and Answers - part1

What is the difference between mysql_fetch_object and mysql_fetch_array?

MySQL fetch object will collect first single matching record where mysql_fetch_array will collect all matching records from the table in an array

What are the different tables present in MySQL? Which type of table is generated when we are creating a table in the following syntax: create table employee(eno int(2),ename varchar(10))?

Total 5 types of tables we can create
1. MyISAM
2. Heap
3. Merge
4. INNO DB
5. ISAM
MyISAM is the default storage engine as of MySQL 3.23. When you fire the above create query MySQL will create a MyISAM table.

What is the purpose of the following files having extensions: frm, myd, and myi? What these files contain?

In MySQL, the default table type is MyISAM.
Each MyISAM table is stored on disk in three files. The files have names that begin with the table name and have an extension to indicate the file type.

The '.frm' file stores the table definition.
The data file has a '.MYD' (MYData) extension.
The index file has a '.MYI' (MYIndex) extension,

Write a select query that will be displayed the duplicated site name and how many times it is duplicated?

SELECT sitename, COUNT(*) AS NumOccurrences
FROM tbl_sites
GROUP BY sitename HAVING COUNT(*) > 1


What are the differences between DROP a table and TRUNCATE a table?

DROP TABLE table_name - This will delete the table and its data.

TRUNCATE TABLE table_name - This will delete the data of the table, but not the table definition.

Give the syntax of GRANT commands?

The generic syntax for GRANT is as following

GRANT [rights] on [database] TO [username@hostname] IDENTIFIED BY [password]

Now rights can be:
a) ALL privilages
b) Combination of CREATE, DROP, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE etc.

We can grant rights on all databse by usingh *.* or some specific database by database.* or a specific table by database.table_name.

What is the difference between CHAR and VARCHAR data types?

CHAR is a fixed length data type. CHAR(n) will take n characters of storage even if you enter less than n characters to that column. For example, "Hello!" will be stored as "Hello! " in CHAR(10) column.

VARCHAR is a variable length data type. VARCHAR(n) will take only the required storage for the actual number of characters entered to that column. For example, "Hello!" will be stored as "Hello!" in VARCHAR(10) column.

How can I execute a PHP script using command line?

Just run the PHP CLI (Command Line Interface) program and provide the PHP script file name as the command line argument. For example, "php myScript.php", assuming "php" is the command to invoke the CLI program.
Be aware that if your PHP script was written for the Web CGI interface, it may not execute properly in command line environment.

difference between get and post?

A GET request is a request to get a resource from the server. Choosing GET as the "method" will append all of the data to the URL and it will show up in the URL bar of your browser. The amount of information you can send back using a GET is restricted as URLs can only be 1024 characters.

A POST request is a request to post (to send) form data to a resource on the server.

A POST on the other hand will (typically) send the information through a socket back to the webserver and it won't show up in the URL bar. You can send much more information to the server this way - and it's not restricted to textual data either. It is possible to send files and even binary data such as serialized Java objects!

The GET method appends name/value pairs to the URL. Unfortunately, the length of a URL is limited, so this method only works if there are only a few parameters. The URL could be truncated if the form uses a large number of parameters, or if the parameters contain large amounts of data. Also, parameters passed on the URL are visible in the address field of the browser not the best place for a password to be displayed.

The POST method packages the name/value pairs inside the body of the HTTP request, which makes for a cleaner URL and imposes no size limitations on the forms output. It is also more secure.

What is the difference between session and cookie?

1. The main difference between cookies and sessions is that cookies are stored in the user's browser, and sessions are not.

2.A cookie can keep information in the user's browser until deleted. But Session work instead like a token allowing access and passing information while the user has their browser open.

3.The difference between sessions and cookies is that a session can hold multiple variables, and you don’t have to set cookies for every variable. By default, the session data is stored in a cookie with an expiry date of zero, which means that the session only remains active as long as the browser. When you close the browser, all the stored information is lost. You can modify this behavior by changing the “session.cookie_lifetime” setting in “php.ini” from zero to whatever you want the cookie lifetime to be.

In PHP:

session_start(); //starts or resumes a function
session_destroy(); //ends the session; comment this line and the browser will output the same session ID as before
If you want to remove the registered variables, you need to use the session_unset() function.