CTEs, Views and Recursive Queries: Readable SQL with WITH and Hierarchical Data
A CTE lets you write a query top to bottom in named steps, but SQL Server does not materialize it; every reference runs again. We show chained CTEs, views, the SELECT * trap, SCHEMABINDING and WITH CHECK OPTION, a recursive CTE walking the category tree, cycle protection and MAXRECURSION on Bookstore data with real output and logical reads.
8 Nov 2026
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18 min
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7
