FAQ: Subqueries - In and Not In Clauses

Frequently Asked Questions SQL FAQ
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This community-built FAQ covers the “In and Not In Clauses” exercise from the lesson “Subqueries”.

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This exercise can be found in the following Codecademy content:

Analyze Data with SQL

FAQs on the exercise In and Not In Clauses

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2

Hi !
Can we use more then one colomn in the clause NOT IN, as following :
SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM band_students
WHERE first_name, last_name NOT IN
(
SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM drama_students
);
Thank you

3

NOT IN can only be used with a single column, but you’re trying to compare pairs of columns (both first_name and last_name).

Instead, you should use a LEFT JOIN with a NOT EXISTS subquery to achieve the same result.
It would look as follows:

SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM band_students
WHERE NOT EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM drama_students
WHERE band_students.first_name = drama_students.first_name AND band_students.last_name = drama_students.last_name
);

It’s actually more complicated than initial method so I’d stick with that.

1 Like
4

Valid FAQs on the exercise In and Not In Clauses