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Home/Questions/SQL/How would you decide between using a CTE and a temporary table for a complex query?

How would you decide between using a CTE and a temporary table for a complex query?

SQLeasy0.3 min readPremium

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Asked at 1 company

Category

487

questions in SQL

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130E|271M|86H

in this category

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1,863

across 7 categories

Asked at these companies

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Expert AnswerPremium

56 wordsInterview-ready

**CTE**: Used once; readability; recursion; inlined by optimizer (or not). **Temp table**: Used multiple times; can index; statistics help optimizer; explicit materialization. **When CTE**: Simple, single use, recursive. **When temp**: Large intermediate; reused 2+ times; need index. **Benchmark**: Optimizer may inline CTE; temp forces materialization....

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