EXISTS (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric
Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
Specifies a subquery to test for the existence of rows.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
EXISTS ( subquery )
Arguments
subquery
Is a restricted SELECT statement. The INTO keyword is not allowed. For more information, see the information about subqueries in SELECT (Transact-SQL).
Result Types
Boolean
Result Values
Returns TRUE if a subquery contains any rows.
Examples
A. Using NULL in a subquery to still return a result set
The following example returns a result set with NULL specified in the subquery and still evaluates to TRUE by using EXISTS.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT DepartmentID, Name
FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT NULL)
ORDER BY Name ASC ;
B. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and IN
The following example compares two queries that are semantically equivalent. The first query uses EXISTS and the second query uses IN.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT a.FirstName, a.LastName
FROM Person.Person AS a
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS b
WHERE a.BusinessEntityID = b.BusinessEntityID
AND a.LastName = 'Johnson') ;
GO
The following query uses IN.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT a.FirstName, a.LastName
FROM Person.Person AS a
WHERE a.LastName IN
(SELECT a.LastName
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS b
WHERE a.BusinessEntityID = b.BusinessEntityID
AND a.LastName = 'Johnson') ;
GO
Here is the result set for either query.
FirstName LastName
-------------------------------------------------- ----------
Barry Johnson
David Johnson
Willis Johnson
(3 row(s) affected)
C. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and = ANY
The following example shows two queries to find stores whose name is the same name as a vendor. The first query uses EXISTS and the second uses = ANY.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT DISTINCT s.Name
FROM Sales.Store AS s
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM Purchasing.Vendor AS v
WHERE s.Name = v.Name) ;
GO
The following query uses = ANY.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT DISTINCT s.Name
FROM Sales.Store AS s
WHERE s.Name = ANY
(SELECT v.Name
FROM Purchasing.Vendor AS v ) ;
GO
D. Comparing queries by using EXISTS and IN
The following example shows queries to find employees of departments that start with P.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle
FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Department AS d
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON d.DepartmentID = edh.DepartmentID
WHERE e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
AND d.Name LIKE 'P%') ;
GO
The following query uses IN.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle
FROM Person.Person AS p JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
WHERE edh.DepartmentID IN
(SELECT DepartmentID
FROM HumanResources.Department
WHERE Name LIKE 'P%') ;
GO
E. Using NOT EXISTS
NOT EXISTS works the opposite of EXISTS. The WHERE clause in NOT EXISTS is satisfied if no rows are returned by the subquery. The following example finds employees who are not in departments which have names that start with P.
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName, e.JobTitle
FROM Person.Person AS p
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON e.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM HumanResources.Department AS d
JOIN HumanResources.EmployeeDepartmentHistory AS edh
ON d.DepartmentID = edh.DepartmentID
WHERE e.BusinessEntityID = edh.BusinessEntityID
AND d.Name LIKE 'P%')
ORDER BY LastName, FirstName
GO
Here's the result set.
FirstName LastName Title
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------
Syed Abbas Pacific Sales Manager
Hazem Abolrous Quality Assurance Manager
Humberto Acevedo Application Specialist
Pilar Ackerman Shipping & Receiving Superviso
François Ajenstat Database Administrator
Amy Alberts European Sales Manager
Sean Alexander Quality Assurance Technician
Pamela Ansman-Wolfe Sales Representative
Zainal Arifin Document Control Manager
David Barber Assistant to CFO
Paula Barreto de Mattos Human Resources Manager
Shai Bassli Facilities Manager
Wanida Benshoof Marketing Assistant
Karen Berg Application Specialist
Karen Berge Document Control Assistant
Andreas Berglund Quality Assurance Technician
Matthias Berndt Shipping & Receiving Clerk
Jo Berry Janitor
Jimmy Bischoff Stocker
Michael Blythe Sales Representative
David Bradley Marketing Manager
Kevin Brown Marketing Assistant
David Campbell Sales Representative
Jason Carlson Information Services Manager
Fernando Caro Sales Representative
Sean Chai Document Control Assistant
Sootha Charncherngkha Quality Assurance Technician
Hao Chen HR Administrative Assistant
Kevin Chrisulis Network Administrator
Pat Coleman Janitor
Stephanie Conroy Network Manager
Debra Core Application Specialist
Ovidiu Crãcium Sr. Tool Designer
Grant Culbertson HR Administrative Assistant
Mary Dempsey Marketing Assistant
Thierry D'Hers Tool Designer
Terri Duffy VP Engineering
Susan Eaton Stocker
Terry Eminhizer Marketing Specialist
Gail Erickson Design Engineer
Janice Galvin Tool Designer
Mary Gibson Marketing Specialist
Jossef Goldberg Design Engineer
Sariya Harnpadoungsataya Marketing Specialist
Mark Harrington Quality Assurance Technician
Magnus Hedlund Facilities Assistant
Shu Ito Sales Representative
Stephen Jiang North American Sales Manager
Willis Johnson Recruiter
Brannon Jones Finance Manager
Tengiz Kharatishvili Control Specialist
Christian Kleinerman Maintenance Supervisor
Vamsi Kuppa Shipping & Receiving Clerk
David Liu Accounts Manager
Vidur Luthra Recruiter
Stuart Macrae Janitor
Diane Margheim Research & Development Enginee
Mindy Martin Benefits Specialist
Gigi Matthew Research & Development Enginee
Tete Mensa-Annan Sales Representative
Ramesh Meyyappan Application Specialist
Dylan Miller Research & Development Manager
Linda Mitchell Sales Representative
Barbara Moreland Accountant
Laura Norman Chief Financial Officer
Chris Norred Control Specialist
Jae Pak Sales Representative
Wanda Parks Janitor
Deborah Poe Accounts Receivable Specialist
Kim Ralls Stocker
Tsvi Reiter Sales Representative
Sharon Salavaria Design Engineer
Ken Sanchez Chief Executive Officer
José Saraiva Sales Representative
Mike Seamans Accountant
Ashvini Sharma Network Administrator
Janet Sheperdigian Accounts Payable Specialist
Candy Spoon Accounts Receivable Specialist
Michael Sullivan Sr. Design Engineer
Dragan Tomic Accounts Payable Specialist
Lynn Tsoflias Sales Representative
Rachel Valdez Sales Representative
Garrett Vargar Sales Representative
Ranjit Varkey Chudukatil Sales Representative
Bryan Walton Accounts Receivable Specialist
Jian Shuo Wang Engineering Manager
Brian Welcker VP Sales
Jill Williams Marketing Specialist
Dan Wilson Database Administrator
John Wood Marketing Specialist
Peng Wu Quality Assurance Supervisor
(91 row(s) affected)
Examples: Azure Synapse Analytics and Analytics Platform System (PDW)
F. Using EXISTS
The following example identifies whether any rows in the ProspectiveBuyer table could be matches to rows in the DimCustomer table. The query will return rows only when both the LastName and BirthDate values in the two tables match.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT a.LastName, a.BirthDate
FROM DimCustomer AS a
WHERE EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM dbo.ProspectiveBuyer AS b
WHERE (a.LastName = b.LastName) AND (a.BirthDate = b.BirthDate)) ;
G. Using NOT EXISTS
NOT EXISTS works as the opposite as EXISTS. The WHERE clause in NOT EXISTS is satisfied if no rows are returned by the subquery. The following example finds rows in the DimCustomer table where the LastName and BirthDate do not match any entries in the ProspectiveBuyers table.
-- Uses AdventureWorks
SELECT a.LastName, a.BirthDate
FROM DimCustomer AS a
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(SELECT *
FROM dbo.ProspectiveBuyer AS b
WHERE (a.LastName = b.LastName) AND (a.BirthDate = b.BirthDate)) ;
See Also
Expressions (Transact-SQL)
Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
WHERE (Transact-SQL)