IN

🎬 Scenario: Identifying Popular Crime and Sci-Fi Series

Your manager at Netflix, Alex, wants to analyze the most popular Crime and Sci-Fi series to identify trends among viewers.

Alex asks:

Can you retrieve all Netflix series that belong to either the ‘Crime’ or ‘Sci-Fi’ genres?

Your task is to query the netflix_series table and provide the requested data.

1. Filtering Data with IN

The IN operator allows you to filter data based on multiple values. Instead of using multiple OR conditions, IN makes queries cleaner and more efficient.

Syntax:

1SELECT column1, column2  
2FROM table_name  
3WHERE column_name IN (value1, value2, ...);

• The query will return rows where column_name matches any value listed inside IN().
• This is equivalent to using multiple OR conditions.

2. Using IN for Genre Filtering

Instead of writing:

1SELECT title, genre  
2FROM netflix_series  
3WHERE genre = 'Crime' OR genre = 'Sci-Fi';

You can write:

1SELECT title, genre  
2FROM netflix_series  
3WHERE genre IN ('Crime', 'Sci-Fi');

Output Example:

What’s Happening?

• IN ('Crime', 'Sci-Fi') filters only shows within these genres.
• The query is shorter and easier to read than using multiple OR conditions.

Using IN with Numeric Values

The IN clause also works for numeric comparisons.

Example Query: Finding Series Released in 2015, 2017, or 2020

1SELECT title, release_year  
2FROM netflix_series  
3WHERE release_year IN (2015, 2017, 2020);

Output Example:

What’s Happening?

• The query filters only shows released in the specified years (2015, 2017, 2020).
• Without IN, we would have to write:sqlCopyEditWHERE release_year = 2015 OR release_year = 2017 OR release_year = 2020;

SQL Exercises

Exercise 1: Filtering Netflix Shows by Genre

Alex wants to analyze popular genres. Retrieve all Netflix series that belong to either the “Crime” or “Sci-Fi” genres, sorted alphabetically by title.

Filter condition:

• genre must be ‘Crime’ or ‘Sci-Fi’.
• Sort results by title in ascending order.

Expected Output:

Write an SQL query to return the requested data.

Exercise 2: Finding Shows Released in Specific Years

Alex wants to generate a report showing all series released in 2016, 2017, or 2021, sorted by release_year in ascending order, then title in ascending order.

Filter condition:

• release_year must be 2016, 2017, or 2021.
• Sort by release_year in ascending order, then title in ascending order.

Expected Output:

Write an SQL query to return the requested data.