Converting Oracle rows to columns

Sometimes we need to write SQL that takes separate row results (on separate lines) and roll them together into a single column. 

Also see my notes on non-SQL techniques for displaying multiple columns on a single row.

There are native SQL techniques to display multiple columns onto a single row

• Oracle 9i xmlagg

In Oracle 9i we can use the xmlagg function to aggregate multiple rows onto one column:

select 
   deptno,
   rtrim (xmlagg (xmlelement (e, ename || ',')).extract ('//text()'), ',') enames
from 
   emp
group by 
   deptno
;

    DEPTNO ENAMES                                  
---------- ----------------------------------------
        10 CLARK,MILLER,KING                       
        20 SMITH,FORD,ADAMS,SCOTT,JONES            
        30 ALLEN,JAMES,TURNER,BLAKE,MARTIN,WARD   

• Use 11g SQL pivot for single row output

The SQL pivot operator allows you to take multiple rows and display them on a single line.

select *
from
  (select fk_department
   from employee)
   pivot
    (count(fk_department)
      for fk_department in ('INT', 'WEL', 'CEN', 'POL'));

'INT'         'WEL'       'CEN'     'POL'                                                                            
----------    ----------   ----------  -------
        7            6            0          8      

• Use SQL within group for moving rows onto one line and listagg to display multiple column values in a single column

In Oracle 11g, we have the within group SQL clause to pivot multiple rows onto a single row.  We also a have direct SQL mechanism for non first-normal form SQL display. This allows multiple table column values to be displayed in a single column, using the listagg built-in function :

select
   deptno,
   listagg (ename, ',') 
WITHIN GROUP 
(ORDER BY ename) enames
FROM 
   emp
GROUP BY 
   deptno
/ 
    DEPTNO ENAMES                                            
---------- --------------------------------------------------
        10 CLARK,KING,MILLER                                 
        20 ADAMS,FORD,JONES,SCOTT,SMITH                
        30 ALLEN,BLAKE,JAMES,MARTIN,TURNER,WARD     

• Use the SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH operator

This article by Younes Naguib describes how to display multiple values from a single column in a single output row.  In his example, he displays multiple values of the last name column on a single row.  Note his use of the sys_connect_by_path and over operators:

select 
   deptno, 
   substr(SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(lname, ','),2) name_list 
from 
   ( 
   select 
     lname, 
     deptno, 
     count(*) OVER ( partition by deptno ) cnt, 
     ROW_NUMBER () OVER ( partition by deptno order by lname) seq 
   from 
     igribun.emp 
   where 
     deptno is not null) 
where 
   seq=cnt 
start with 
   seq=1 
connect by prior 
   seq+1=seq 
and prior 
   deptno=deptno; 

DEPTNO NAME_LIST 
1      Komers,Mokrel,Stenko 
2      Hung,Tong 
3      Hamer 
4      Mansur

• Use a Cross join

Matt contributed this handy SQL techniques to pivot one row of several columns into a single column with several row, using the Oracle Cross join syntax.  Matt notes that the Cross join "has other uses in conjunction with a WHERE clause to create triangular result sets for rolling totals etc (though thanks to analytic functions those things are very nice and easy)".

SELECT
  ite,
  case 
    when ite = 'item1' then item1
    when ite = 'item2' then item2
    when ite = 'item3' then item3
  end as val
FROM
(
  SELECT
    pivoter.ite,
    item1,
    item2,
    item3
  FROM
    someTable
    CROSS JOIN
    (
      select 'item1' as ite from dual
      UNION ALL
      select 'item2' as ite from dual
      UNION ALL
      select 'item3' as ite from dual
    )pivoter
)

• Use the Oracle analytic Lag-Over Function

Analytic functions have a pronounced performance improvement since they avoid an expensive self-join and only make one full-table scan to get the results.  This site shows an example of using the Oracle LAG function to display multiple rows on a single column:

SELECT    
   ename,   
   hiredate,sal,LAG (sal, 1, 0)   
   OVER (ORDER BY hiredate) AS PrevSal
FROM    
   emp
WHERE
    job = 'CLERK';

• Use the SQL CASE operator to pivot rows onto one line

You can use the CASE statement to create a crosstab to convert the rows to columns.  Below, the Oracle CASE function to create a "crosstab" of the results, such as this example from SearchOracle:

select Sales.ItemKey  
     , sum(Sales.QtySold)   as Qty  
     , sum(
         case when OH.MOHClass = 'Fixed'
              then OH.Amt
              else .00 end ) as MOHFixed  
     , sum(
         case when OH.MOHClass = 'Var'
              then OH.Amt
              else .00 end ) as MOHVar
     , sum(
         case when OH.MOHClass = 'Cap'
              then OH.Amt
              else .00 end ) as MOHCap
  from Sales 
left outer
  join OH
    on Sales.ItemKey = OH.ItemKey
group
    by Sales.ItemKey