In Snowflake, temporary tables take precedence over permanent tables when they share the same name and exist in the same session. After creating the permanent emp table and inserting two rows, a temporary table with the same name is created. From that point forward in the session, all references to emp resolve to the temporary table, not the permanent one.
The insert following the creation of the temporary table adds one row to the temporary table. Therefore, the first SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp returns 1, reflecting the single row in the temporary table.
When DROP TABLE emp is executed, it drops the temporary table first because it shadows the permanent table. After the temporary table is dropped, the permanent table named emp becomes visible again within the session. The final SELECT COUNT(*) FROM emp then queries the permanent table, which still contains the original two rows inserted earlier.
This behavior is frequently tested in SnowPro Architect exams to validate understanding of object resolution precedence, session scope, and temporary object behavior.
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