SQL Server 2019

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CREATE TABLE dbo.meetings(meetings_id int, meetings_date date);

INSERT dbo.meetings VALUES(1,GETDATE()),(2,GETDATE()+1),(3,GETDATE()+2);
3 rows affected

SET SHOWPLAN_XML ON;
    SELECT meetings_id FROM 
    (
      SELECT TOP (2) meetings_id 
        FROM dbo.meetings 
        ORDER BY meetings_date DESC 
    ) AS bottom2
    EXCEPT
    SELECT meetings_id FROM
    (
      SELECT TOP (1) meetings_id
        FROM dbo.meetings 
        ORDER BY meetings_date DESC
    ) AS bottom1;


Microsoft SQL Server 2005 XML Showplan


<ShowPlanXML xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/showplan" Version="1.539" Build="15.0.4053.23"><BatchSequence><Batch><Statements><StmtSimple StatementText="    SELECT meetings_id FROM &#xa;    (&#xa;      SELECT TOP (2) meetings_id &#xa;        FROM dbo.meetings &#xa;        ORDER BY meetings_date DESC &#xa;    ) AS bottom2&#xa;    EXCEPT&#xa;    SELECT meetings_id FROM&#xa;    (&#xa;      SELECT TOP (1) meetings_id&#xa;        FROM dbo.meetings &#xa;        ORDER BY meetings_date DESC&#xa;    ) AS bottom1" StatementId="1" StatementCompId="1" StatementType="SELECT" RetrievedFromCache="false" StatementSubTreeCost="0.04628" StatementEstRows="1.33333" SecurityPolicyApplied="false" StatementOptmLevel="FULL" QueryHash="0xDCF0B6E1673ABA13" QueryPlanHash="0x3CFA6F8803315598" StatementOptmEarlyAbortReason="GoodEnoughPlanFound" CardinalityEstimationModelVersion="150"><StatementSetOptions QUOTED_IDENTIFIER="true" ARITHABORT="true" CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL="true" ANSI_NULLS="true" ANSI_PADDING="true" ANSI_WARNINGS="true" NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT="false"></StatementSetOptions><QueryPlan NonParallelPlanReason="NoParallelPlansInDesktopOrExpressEdition" CachedPlanSize="32" CompileTime="15" CompileCPU="15" CompileMemory="240"><MemoryGrantInfo SerialRequiredMemory="528" SerialDesiredMemory="568" GrantedMemory="0" MaxUsedMemory="0"></MemoryGrantInfo><OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties EstimatedAvailableMemoryGrant="838808" EstimatedPagesCached="52425" EstimatedAvailableDegreeOfParallelism="1" MaxCompileMemory="3462840"></OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties><OptimizerStatsUsage><StatisticsInfo LastUpdate="2022-03-29T19:11:17.50" ModificationCount="0" SamplingPercent="100" Statistics="[_WA_Sys_00000001_22AA2996]" Table="[meetings]" Schema="[dbo]" Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]"></StatisticsInfo></OptimizerStatsUsage><TraceFlags IsCompileTime="1"><TraceFlag Value="460" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag><TraceFlag Value="8017" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag></TraceFlags><RelOp NodeId="0" PhysicalOp="Merge Join" LogicalOp="Left Anti Semi Join" EstimateRows="1.33333" EstimateIO="0" EstimateCPU="0.00560433" AvgRowSize="11" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.04628" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></OutputList><Merge ManyToMany="0"><InnerSideJoinColumns><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></InnerSideJoinColumns><OuterSideJoinColumns><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></OuterSideJoinColumns><Residual><ScalarOperator ScalarString="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9].[dbo].[meetings].[meetings_id] = [fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9].[dbo].[meetings].[meetings_id]"><Compare CompareOp="IS"><ScalarOperator><Identifier><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></Identifier></ScalarOperator><ScalarOperator><Identifier><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></Identifier></ScalarOperator></Compare></ScalarOperator></Residual><RelOp NodeId="1" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="Distinct Sort" EstimateRows="2" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000103131" AvgRowSize="11" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0260186" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="0.8" Output="0.8"></MemoryFractions><Sort Distinct="1"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="1"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="2" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="TopN Sort" EstimateRows="2" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000107432" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.014654" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="1" Output="0.2"></MemoryFractions><TopSort Distinct="0" Rows="2"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="0"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="3" PhysicalOp="Table Scan" LogicalOp="Table Scan" EstimateRows="3" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimatedRowsRead="3" EstimateIO="0.003125" EstimateCPU="0.0001603" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0032853" TableCardinality="3" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><TableScan Ordered="0" ForcedIndex="0" ForceScan="0" NoExpandHint="0" Storage="RowStore"><DefinedValues><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue></DefinedValues><Object Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" TableReferenceId="1" IndexKind="Heap" Storage="RowStore"></Object></TableScan></RelOp></TopSort></RelOp></Sort></RelOp><RelOp NodeId="4" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="TopN Sort" EstimateRows="1" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000107432" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.014654" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="0.2" Output="0.2"></MemoryFractions><TopSort Distinct="0" Rows="1"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="0"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="5" PhysicalOp="Table Scan" LogicalOp="Table Scan" EstimateRows="3" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimatedRowsRead="3" EstimateIO="0.003125" EstimateCPU="0.0001603" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0032853" TableCardinality="3" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><TableScan Ordered="0" ForcedIndex="0" ForceScan="0" NoExpandHint="0" Storage="RowStore"><DefinedValues><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue></DefinedValues><Object Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" TableReferenceId="2" IndexKind="Heap" Storage="RowStore"></Object></TableScan></RelOp></TopSort></RelOp></Merge></RelOp></QueryPlan></StmtSimple></Statements></Batch></BatchSequence></ShowPlanXML>


SELECT TOP 1 meetings_id FROM
(SELECT TOP 2 meetings_id, meetings_date
FROM meetings ORDER BY meetings_date DESC) x                     
ORDER BY meetings_date;


Microsoft SQL Server 2005 XML Showplan


<ShowPlanXML xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/showplan" Version="1.539" Build="15.0.4053.23"><BatchSequence><Batch><Statements><StmtSimple StatementText="SELECT TOP 1 meetings_id FROM&#xa;(SELECT TOP 2 meetings_id, meetings_date&#xa;FROM meetings ORDER BY meetings_date DESC) x                     &#xa;ORDER BY meetings_date" StatementId="1" StatementCompId="1" StatementType="SELECT" RetrievedFromCache="false" StatementSubTreeCost="0.0260186" StatementEstRows="1" SecurityPolicyApplied="false" StatementOptmLevel="FULL" QueryHash="0xBE72B2DB4898A537" QueryPlanHash="0x2A95286131AE44F7" StatementOptmEarlyAbortReason="GoodEnoughPlanFound" CardinalityEstimationModelVersion="150"><StatementSetOptions QUOTED_IDENTIFIER="true" ARITHABORT="true" CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL="true" ANSI_NULLS="true" ANSI_PADDING="true" ANSI_WARNINGS="true" NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT="false"></StatementSetOptions><QueryPlan NonParallelPlanReason="NoParallelPlansInDesktopOrExpressEdition" CachedPlanSize="24" CompileTime="0" CompileCPU="0" CompileMemory="136"><MemoryGrantInfo SerialRequiredMemory="32" SerialDesiredMemory="48" GrantedMemory="0" MaxUsedMemory="0"></MemoryGrantInfo><OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties EstimatedAvailableMemoryGrant="838808" EstimatedPagesCached="52425" EstimatedAvailableDegreeOfParallelism="1" MaxCompileMemory="3462840"></OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties><TraceFlags IsCompileTime="1"><TraceFlag Value="460" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag><TraceFlag Value="8017" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag></TraceFlags><RelOp NodeId="0" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="TopN Sort" EstimateRows="1" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="2" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000103134" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0260186" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="0.5" Output="1"></MemoryFractions><TopSort Distinct="0" Rows="1"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="1"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="1" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="TopN Sort" EstimateRows="2" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000107432" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.014654" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="1" Output="0.5"></MemoryFractions><TopSort Distinct="0" Rows="2"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="0"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="2" PhysicalOp="Table Scan" LogicalOp="Table Scan" EstimateRows="3" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimatedRowsRead="3" EstimateIO="0.003125" EstimateCPU="0.0001603" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0032853" TableCardinality="3" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><TableScan Ordered="0" ForcedIndex="0" ForceScan="0" NoExpandHint="0" Storage="RowStore"><DefinedValues><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue></DefinedValues><Object Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" IndexKind="Heap" Storage="RowStore"></Object></TableScan></RelOp></TopSort></RelOp></TopSort></RelOp></QueryPlan></StmtSimple></Statements></Batch></BatchSequence></ShowPlanXML>


select meetings_id from meetings ORDER BY meetings_date DESC 
OFFSET 1 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY


Microsoft SQL Server 2005 XML Showplan


<ShowPlanXML xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2004/07/showplan" Version="1.539" Build="15.0.4053.23"><BatchSequence><Batch><Statements><StmtSimple StatementText="select meetings_id from meetings ORDER BY meetings_date DESC &#xa;OFFSET 1 ROWS&#xa;FETCH NEXT 1 ROWS ONLY" StatementId="1" StatementCompId="1" StatementType="SELECT" RetrievedFromCache="false" StatementSubTreeCost="0.0146542" StatementEstRows="1" SecurityPolicyApplied="false" StatementOptmLevel="TRIVIAL" QueryHash="0xD5695BCE876479E9" QueryPlanHash="0xE73AED74CD3C58AD" CardinalityEstimationModelVersion="150"><StatementSetOptions QUOTED_IDENTIFIER="true" ARITHABORT="true" CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL="true" ANSI_NULLS="true" ANSI_PADDING="true" ANSI_WARNINGS="true" NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT="false"></StatementSetOptions><QueryPlan NonParallelPlanReason="NoParallelPlansInDesktopOrExpressEdition" CachedPlanSize="24" CompileTime="0" CompileCPU="0" CompileMemory="104"><MemoryGrantInfo SerialRequiredMemory="16" SerialDesiredMemory="24" GrantedMemory="0" MaxUsedMemory="0"></MemoryGrantInfo><OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties EstimatedAvailableMemoryGrant="838808" EstimatedPagesCached="52425" EstimatedAvailableDegreeOfParallelism="1" MaxCompileMemory="3462840"></OptimizerHardwareDependentProperties><TraceFlags IsCompileTime="1"><TraceFlag Value="460" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag><TraceFlag Value="8017" Scope="Global"></TraceFlag></TraceFlags><RelOp NodeId="0" PhysicalOp="Top" LogicalOp="Top" EstimateRows="1" EstimateIO="0" EstimateCPU="2e-07" AvgRowSize="11" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0146542" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></OutputList><Top RowCount="0" IsPercent="0" WithTies="0"><OffsetExpression><ScalarOperator ScalarString="(1)"><Const ConstValue="(1)"></Const></ScalarOperator></OffsetExpression><TopExpression><ScalarOperator ScalarString="(1)"><Const ConstValue="(1)"></Const></ScalarOperator></TopExpression><RelOp NodeId="1" PhysicalOp="Sort" LogicalOp="TopN Sort" EstimateRows="2" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimateIO="0.0112613" EstimateCPU="0.000107432" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.014654" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><MemoryFractions Input="1" Output="1"></MemoryFractions><TopSort Distinct="0" Rows="2"><OrderBy><OrderByColumn Ascending="0"><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OrderByColumn></OrderBy><RelOp NodeId="2" PhysicalOp="Table Scan" LogicalOp="Table Scan" EstimateRows="3" EstimateRowsWithoutRowGoal="3" EstimatedRowsRead="3" EstimateIO="0.0032035" EstimateCPU="8.18e-05" AvgRowSize="14" EstimatedTotalSubtreeCost="0.0032853" TableCardinality="3" Parallel="0" EstimateRebinds="0" EstimateRewinds="0" EstimatedExecutionMode="Row"><OutputList><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></OutputList><TableScan Ordered="0" ForcedIndex="0" ForceScan="0" NoExpandHint="0" Storage="RowStore"><DefinedValues><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_id"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue><DefinedValue><ColumnReference Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" Column="meetings_date"></ColumnReference></DefinedValue></DefinedValues><Object Database="[fiddle_89f2493692e7472581f39afd9c02afb9]" Schema="[dbo]" Table="[meetings]" IndexKind="Heap" Storage="RowStore"></Object></TableScan></RelOp></TopSort></RelOp></Top></RelOp></QueryPlan></StmtSimple></Statements></Batch></BatchSequence></ShowPlanXML>