As one who occasionally has to calm the fevered brows of those required to try and maintain some of Phil's past pecadillos (I know who you are, there is no hiding that lugubrious style) I should advise all comers not to even bother to compete.

You are in the presence of a High Priest of Obfuscation here. Just be grateful that one of the temple eunochs was around to warn you.

Select [*].*,[,].* from employee [*] inner join jobs [,] on [*].job_ID=[,].job_ID

/*
-----------------------------------
-- A simple little piece of code --
-----------------------------------
This returns the same as SELECT * FROM Titles
Note the trick with the [/*] columns

*/

SELECT TOP 1 [Titles].* FROM Titles
CROSS JOIN
(SELECT [/*] AS [*/]
FROM
(SELECT TOP 1 [*/SELECT/*] AS [/*] FROM Titles) [*/--]
CROSS JOIN Titles [*/*FROM/*] CROSS JOIN Titles ['WHERE']
WHERE LIKE ['WHERE'].Title like '*/Titles/*'
AND [*/--].[/*] like 'But&') [/*JOIN*/]

It would be interesting to reveal to the world the company that 'Arthur Megabitten' worked for when he was transformed into a temple eunoch, but my lips are sealed... for the time being.

/* nobody has said we aren't allowed variables*/

declare @c varchar(255)
Select @c=replace( replace( Replace( reverse('DI_*.&=DI_*.|* no |* nioj renni & morf eman_* ,eltit tceleS'),'*','pub'),'|','lishers'),'&','titles')
execute ( @c)

/* one can, of course go on and on with this idea*/

Here's my example (written in invisible pixels):



















Dom

Hmm. Can't get Flibble's offering to execute against the PUBS database

Here's my entry... Enjoy :)

---
SELECT
UPPER(RIGHT(LEFT(@@VERSION, 2), 1)) +
SUBSTRING(MiR, 1, 15%6) +
RIGHT(LEFT(CONVERT(VARCHAR, [c6[[447]), 4), 1) +
CHAR(CAST(STUFF(ZuB, 2, 0, '0') AS INT)) +
(
SELECT SUBSTRING(name, 3, 1)
FROM master..sysdatabases
WHERE dbid =
(
SELECT MIN(dbid)
FROM master..sysdatabases
)
) +
COALESCE(SUBSTRING([c6[[447], 0 ^ 1034, ((15 - 10) / 5) - 1), ' ') +
LEFT(SPACE(1) + RIGHT([rD9 005], LEN([rD9 005]) - (ASCII('9') - ASCII('0'))), 2) +
SUBSTRING([556 X10.], 2, 1) +
RIGHT(REVERSE(rNNNNNNoPZZ), 1) +
SUBSTRING([rD9 005], 7, 1) + [64] +
CHAR(ASCII(RIGHT(REVERSE(MiR), 1)) - 14) + RIGHT(MiR, 1) +
CHAR(ASCII(LEFT(MiR, 1)) - (ASCII(LEFT(REVERSE(MiR), 1)) - ASCII(LEFT(MiR, 1)))) +
CHAR(ASCII(LEFT(
(SELECT SUBSTRING(REVERSE(rNNNNNNoPZZ), 3, 2) x00R)
, 1))-4)+
RIGHT(LEFT([c6[[447], 6),2)+RIGHT([556 X10.], 1)+'?'
FROM
(
SELECT
STUFF(SUBSTRING(DB_NAME(1), 3, 2), 2, 0, CHAR(32)),
CONVERT(VARCHAR, low + high - 1)
FROM master..spt_values xR234
WHERE xR234.type = 'P'
AND xR234.number = 105
) x4401C6 (MiR, ZuB),
(
SELECT 0x72723668626C6C4D78785A3437, name, TYPE_NAME
FROM master..sysobjects, master..spt_datatype_info
WHERE id - 5532 = (43500929 * 2) + 1
AND ss_dtype = 34
) [889R U] ([c6[[447], [rD9 005], [556 X10.]),
(
SELECT MIN(SUBSTRING(name, 6, 5)), MAX(RIGHT(name, 1))
FROM master..syscolumns
WHERE name = CONVERT(varchar, 0x646174615F707265636973696F6E)
) MxxxxxB01 (rNNNNNNoPZZ, [64])
---

... Here's a better version :)


---
SELECT
UPPER(RIGHT(LEFT(@@VERSION,2),1))+SUBSTRING(MiR,1,15%6)+RIGHT(LEFT
(CONVERT(VARCHAR,[c6[[447]),4),1)+CHAR(CAST(STUFF(ZuB,2,0,REPLICATE('0',
1))AS INT))+(SELECT(SUBSTRING(name,3,1))FROM[master]..[sysdatabases]
WHERE(dbid)=(SELECT(MIN(dbid))FROM[master]..[sysdatabases]))+COALESCE(
SUBSTRING([c6[[447],0^1034,((15-10)/5)-1),SPACE(1))+LEFT(SPACE(1)+RIGHT(
[rD9 005],LEN([rD9 005])-(ASCII('9')-ASCII('0'))),2)+SUBSTRING([556 X10.]
,2,1)+RIGHT(REVERSE(rNNNNNNoPZZ),1)+SUBSTRING([rD9 005],7,1)+[64]+CHAR
(ASCII(RIGHT(REVERSE(MiR),1))-14)+RIGHT(MiR,1)+CHAR(ASCII(LEFT(MiR,1))
-(ASCII(LEFT(REVERSE(MiR),1))-ASCII(LEFT(MiR,1))))+CHAR(ASCII(LEFT(
(SELECT(SUBSTRING(REVERSE(rNNNNNNoPZZ),3,2))x00R),1))-4)+RIGHT(LEFT
([c6[[447],6),2)+RIGHT([556 X10.],1)+('?')FROM(SELECT(STUFF(SUBSTRING(
DB_NAME(1),3,2),2,0,CHAR(32))),CONVERT(VARCHAR,low+high-1)FROM[master]
..[spt_values][xR234]WHERE((xR234.type)='P')AND(xR234.number)=105)
[x4401C6](MiR,ZuB),(SELECT TOP 1(0x72723668626C6C4D78785A3437),name,
(TYPE_NAME)FROM[master]..sysobjects,master..[spt_datatype_info]WHERE
CONVERT(varbinary,name)=(0x730070005F004D00530072006500740072006900)
+(0X6500760065005F007000)AND(ss_dtype)=(34)ORDER BY(id))[889R U]([c6[[447],
[rD9 005],[556 X10.]),(SELECT(MIN(SUBSTRING(name,6,5))), MAX(RIGHT(name,
1))FROM[master]..[syscolumns]WHERE(name)=CONVERT(varchar,0x646174615F707265636973696F6E
))MxxxxxB01(rNNNNNNoPZZ,[64])
---

Adam Machanic's second entry wins the Phil Factor Prize for Inpenetrable Code. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, 20th Anniversary Edition by Frederick P. Brooks is winging its way to Adam.

Here is my entry


select [/\][Select * from Delete where col='Update],[(0--,..)][create trigger tr on Delete],
[Select convert('''' as int)] [Select]from (
Select [Delete from sysobjects] [/\],
[update Select Set Delete ='Select'][(0--,..)],
[Update] [Select convert('''' as int)] from ( Select stor_id [Delete from sysobjects],stor_name
[update Select Set Delete ='Select'],
city [Update] from stores [set no count on] ) [''] ) [Set No count on]

In some of the Unix-based databases such as PostgreSQL where letter-case is significant, I believe it is possible to write code like this:

Select sElect, seLect, selEct, seleCt from selecT where sElect like 'Select'

however, you'd have to create the table specially so it wouldn't help here! However, I thought I'd mention it