Question

I have a list of values, say 1,2,3,4,5,6. I have a SQL table with a field storing these values but only three rows, say, 2,4,5. What sort of query will return three rows 1,3,6 for me? (storing all six in another table and left join’ing is cheating.)

Answer 1

You could also try using EXCEPT (similar to MINUS in Oracle):

(SELECT 1
UNION
SELECT 2
UNION 
SELECT 3
UNION
SELECT 4
UNION
SELECT 5
UNION
SELECT 6)
EXCEPT
(SELECT 2
 UNION
 SELECT 3
 UNION
 SELECT 4)

Or, more relevant to your example:

(SELECT 1
UNION
SELECT 2
UNION 
SELECT 3
UNION
SELECT 4
UNION
SELECT 5
UNION
SELECT 6)
EXCEPT
(SELECT Field FROM Table)        

where Field contains 2, 4, and 5.