Sql server complaining about this IF NOT EXISTS statement

Question

Sql server complaining about this IF NOT EXISTS statement, saying that there is 'incorrect syntax near the keyword 'OR'.

My query:

IF NOT EXISTS ( 
                (SELECT * FROM Users where userID = 1)
                OR
                (SELECT * FROM sales WHERE saleID = 1)
              )
BEGIN
            // blah blah blah

END

Answer 1

you want IF NOT EXISTS ( SELECT... ) AND NOT EXISTS ( SELECT .... )

Answer 2

try it this way instead

IF 
    NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM Users where userID = 1)  
AND 
    NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM sales WHERE saleID = 1)
BEGIN 
       -- blah blah blah
END

or, if you insist on a disjunction:

IF NOT (
    EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM Users where userID = 1)  
    OR 
    EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM sales WHERE saleID = 1)
)
BEGIN 
    -- blah blah blah
END

the EXISTS operator takes a single select statement and checks for any results (so you can use a constant 1 instead of * or a column name, it's more efficient)

Answer 3

Maybe this is what you are trying to do:

IF NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM Users WHERE userID = 1) OR (AND) NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sales WHERE saleID = 1)

Answer 4

change "or" to "union"