# Example EXCEPT query The CATEGORY table in the database contains the following 11 rows: ``` catid | catgroup | catname | catdesc -------+----------+-----------+-------------------------------------------- 1 | Sports | MLB | Major League Baseball 2 | Sports | NHL | National Hockey League 3 | Sports | NFL | National Football League 4 | Sports | NBA | National Basketball Association 5 | Sports | MLS | Major League Soccer 6 | Shows | Musicals | Musical theatre 7 | Shows | Plays | All non-musical theatre 8 | Shows | Opera | All opera and light opera 9 | Concerts | Pop | All rock and pop music concerts 10 | Concerts | Jazz | All jazz singers and bands 11 | Concerts | Classical | All symphony, concerto, and choir concerts (11 rows) ``` Assume that a CATEGORY\$1STAGE table (a staging table) contains one additional row: ``` catid | catgroup | catname | catdesc -------+----------+-----------+-------------------------------------------- 1 | Sports | MLB | Major League Baseball 2 | Sports | NHL | National Hockey League 3 | Sports | NFL | National Football League 4 | Sports | NBA | National Basketball Association 5 | Sports | MLS | Major League Soccer 6 | Shows | Musicals | Musical theatre 7 | Shows | Plays | All non-musical theatre 8 | Shows | Opera | All opera and light opera 9 | Concerts | Pop | All rock and pop music concerts 10 | Concerts | Jazz | All jazz singers and bands 11 | Concerts | Classical | All symphony, concerto, and choir concerts 12 | Concerts | Comedy | All stand up comedy performances (12 rows) ``` Return the difference between the two tables. In other words, return rows that are in the CATEGORY\$1STAGE table but not in the CATEGORY table: ``` select * from category_stage except select * from category; catid | catgroup | catname | catdesc -------+----------+---------+---------------------------------- 12 | Concerts | Comedy | All stand up comedy performances (1 row) ``` The following equivalent query uses the synonym MINUS. ``` select * from category_stage minus select * from category; catid | catgroup | catname | catdesc -------+----------+---------+---------------------------------- 12 | Concerts | Comedy | All stand up comedy performances (1 row) ``` If you reverse the order of the SELECT expressions, the query returns no rows.