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Create the alphabet recursively

The task of this exercise is to create the alphabet by using a recursive CTE.

To solve this task, you need to know that you can represent the letters from A to Z by a series of numbers from 65 to 90. Accordingly, A is represented by 65 and C by 67. The function char(number) can be used to convert a number its corresponding letter.

This exercise is part of the course

Hierarchical and Recursive Queries in SQL Server

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Exercise instructions

  • Initialize number_of_letter to the number representing the letter A.
  • Increase the value of number_of_letter by 1 in each step and set the limit to 90, the value of Z.
  • Select the recursive member from the defined CTE.

Hands-on interactive exercise

Have a go at this exercise by completing this sample code.

WITH alphabet AS (
	SELECT 
  		-- Initialize letter to A
	    ___ AS number_of_letter
	-- Statement to combine the anchor and the recursive query
  	UNION ALL
	SELECT 
  		-- Add 1 each iteration
	    ___ + ___
  	-- Select from the defined CTE alphabet
	FROM ___
  	-- Limit the alphabet to A-Z
  	WHERE ___ < ___)
    
SELECT char(number_of_letter)
FROM alphabet;
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