One such feature is the ability to use regular expressions in SQL queries. Regular expressions provide a powerful way to search for and manipulate text data within the database. They allow you to perform complex pattern matching operations, such as finding all records that contain a specific pattern or replacing certain patterns with desired values. Another useful but often overlooked feature is the MERGE statement, which combines INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations into a single statement. It is particularly useful in scenarios where you need to synchronize data between two tables. These are just a few of the many lesser-known features that SQL offers, each with its own benefits and use cases.

One lesser-known feature of SQL is the use of window functions. Window functions allow you to perform calculations across a set of rows, without grouping the data. They can be used to calculate running totals, rankings, and moving averages. Another feature is the use of materialized views, which allow you to pre-compute and store the results of a query, improving performance for frequently used queries. Additionally, SQL also supports common table expressions (CTEs), which are temporary named result sets that can be used within a query, improving query readability and reusability.