Concatenating data from multiple records into one column

  • I have data that looks like this:

    ColA ColB

    A 56432

    A 65557

    B 63492

    B 77779

    B 85000

    I need the result set to look like this

    ColA ColB

    A 56432, 65557

    B 63492, 77779, 85000

    I have looked all over the internet for a way to do this. I've found a way to concatenate column B using coalesce, but I need to include column A so that I can join the results to other tables. Thanks in advance.

  • Search this site or this forum for "Concatenate function"

    _____________
    Code for TallyGenerator

  • I searched the forums with one result, that didn't address what I need.

  • Start here:

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Test+Data/61572/[/url]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

  • Strange, when I tried to put "Concatenation function" into "search" field I've got this:

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic465637-149-1.aspx

    You need some practice in using Internet search.

    _____________
    Code for TallyGenerator

  • Sergiy (5/28/2008)


    Strange, when I tried to put "Concatenation function" into "search" field I've got this:

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic465637-149-1.aspx

    You need some practice in using Internet search.

    I appreciate your help, but take a pill. I searched in the T-SQL forum, in all forums and in the search in the menu at the top right of the screen, using keywords "Concatenation function", and got nothing.

  • There was mising bit in my previous post.

    This one:

    :rolleyes:

    _____________
    Code for TallyGenerator

  • Ann M (5/28/2008)


    I have data that looks like this:

    ColA ColB

    A 56432

    A 65557

    B 63492

    B 77779

    B 85000

    I need the result set to look like this

    ColA ColB

    A 56432, 65557

    B 63492, 77779, 85000

    I have looked all over the internet for a way to do this. I've found a way to concatenate column B using coalesce, but I need to include column A so that I can join the results to other tables. Thanks in advance.

    can you create a temporal table with the result? in that case you can do this:

    -- DROP TABLE #xx

    -- DROP TABLE #grtable

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = 1

    into #xx

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = 2

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = 3

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = 4

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = 5

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = 6

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = 7

    SELECT * FROM #xx

    DECLARE @ColA varchar(10)

    DECLARE @concat VARCHAR(4000)

    SELECT @Concat = ''

    select colA, colBconcat = CONVERT(VARCHAR(4000),NULL) INTO #grtable from #xx group by colA

    DECLARE _cursor CURSOR FOR

    select colA from #grtable

    OPEN _cursor

    FETCH NEXT FROM _cursor INTO @ColA

    WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

    SELECT @concat = @concat + CONVERT(VARCHAR,ColB)+', ' FROM #xx WHERE ColA = @ColA

    UPDATE #grtable SET ColBconcat = @Concat WHERE ColA = @ColA

    FETCH NEXT FROM _cursor INTO @ColA

    END

    CLOSE _cursor

    DEALLOCATE _cursor

    SELECT * FROM #grtable

  • Hi there

    try this - it might not be exactly what you're looking for, but the concepts could probably be amended to suit your needs. I made a test table and populated it with the example values that you provided. Hope it is of some help, if not the complete solution to your problem 🙂

    DECLARE @string VARCHAR(20), @id INT

    SET @string = ''

    SET @id=65 -- start at A (CHAR(65) in ascii)

    PRINT 'colA' + CHAR(9) + 'colB'

    WHILE @id <67-- change to suit. ascii CHAR(65) to CHAR(90) = A to Z uppercase

    BEGIN

    SET @string = ''

    SELECT @string = @string + CAST(colB AS VARCHAR(10)) + ','

    FROM test_table -- change to suit name of table

    WHERE colA = CHAR(@id)

    ORDER BY colA

    SET @string = LEFT(@string,LEN(@string)-1) -- omit trailing comma

    print CHAR(@id) + CHAR(9) + CHAR(9) + @string --use tabs for alignment

    SET @id = @id +1-- increment for loop thru alphabet

    END

  • Did you ever find the answer to this problem? I was going to post the same link that Matt did. The answer is definitely there.

  • No - I haven't found the answer. But, only because job requirements have taken me in another direction. Putting out fires. But, I will return to this issue once the fire fight has been won.

  • I have faced same problem once and i found this solution. I m taking same table for example as shown by u in ur post.

    create table test

    (

    colA varchar(5),

    colB varchar(8)

    )

    --I have inserted same records in the test table as u have shown.

    select * into test_temp from test where 1=2

    alter table test_temp alter column colB varchar(500)

    create table #temp(id1 int identity,col_A varchar(76))

    insert into #temp(col_A)

    select distinct a.colA from test a where (select count(b.colA) from test b where a.colA=b.colA)>1

    --select *from #temp

    declare @a varchar(8000)

    declare @b-2 varchar(1000)

    DECLARE @contid VARCHAR(76)

    declare @count int

    declare @maxcount int

    select @maxcount=max(id1) from #temp

    set @count=1

    while @count<=@maxcount

    BEGIN

    declare c1 cursor for

    select cast(colB as varchar(500)) from test

    where colA=(select col_A from #temp where id1=@count)

    set @a=''

    open c1

    fetch next from c1 into @b-2

    while @@fetch_status=0

    begin

    if @a=''

    set @a=@b

    else

    set @a=@a+','+@b

    fetch next from c1 into @b-2

    end

    select @contid=col_A from #temp where id1=@count

    insert into test_temp(colA,colB) values(@contid,@a)

    CLOSE c1

    DEALLOCATE c1

    set @count=@count+1

    END

    INSERT INTO test_temp (colA,colB)

    select colA,colB from Test where colA not in(select col_A from #temp) or colA is null

    drop table #temp

    select * from test_temp

    I hope this will solve ur problem

    Shailesh

    DBA (SQL server)

  • SELECT ColA = 'A'

    into dbo.tbl_pk

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B'

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = '1'

    into dbo.tbl_fk

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = '2'

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = '3'

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'A', ColB = '4'

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = '5'

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = '6'

    UNION

    SELECT ColA = 'B', ColB = '7'

    create function dbo.udf_ColBToString

    (@ColA char(1))

    returns varchar(1000)

    as

    begin

    declare @STR varchar(500)

    set @STR = ''

    select @STR = @STR + ', ' + fk.ColB

    FROM

    dbo.tbl_pk pk inner join

    dbo.tbl_fk fk on

    pk.ColA = fk.ColA and

    pk.ColA = @ColA

    return substring(@str, 2, 999)

    end

    select * from dbo.tbl_pk

    select * from dbo.tbl_fk

    select ColA, dbo.udf_ColBToString(ColA) ColBConcat from dbo.tbl_pk

    [font="Courier New"]ZenDada[/font]

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