is it possible to select EXISTS directly as a bit?

Question

I was wondering if it\'s possible to do something like this (which doesn\'t work):

select cast( (exists(select * from theTable where theColumn like \'theValue

Answer 1

I'm a bit late on the uptake for this; just stumbled across the post. However here's a solution which is more efficient & neat than the selected answer, but should give the same functionality:

declare @t table (name nvarchar(16))
declare @b bit

insert @t select N'Simon Byorg' union select N'Roe Bott'


select @b = isnull((select top 1 1 from @t where name = N'Simon Byorg'),0)
select @b whenTrue

select @b = isnull((select top 1 1 from @t where name = N'Anne Droid'),0)
select @b whenFalse