How to convert column in rows

  • Hi frnds ,

    I have a problem . Actually , I have to show the data of column in the form of rows .

    The table will contain only one row . It will have 10 columns . And my problem is to display all the values of the column in one single column ..

    I have one solution for it as we can select fields one by one and then merging then with the help of union all . But this is not the most effective way of doing it . If anybody have any better solution , plz. mail me at

    ajha@del.aithent.com

     

    Thanks

     

    Ashish

     

  • hi

    if u r using sql 2005 u can use unpivot operator for this.

    "Keep Trying"

  • Use nested selects such as

    select
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=1) as col1,
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=2) as col2,
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=3) as col3,
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=4) as col4,
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=5) as col5,
       ....
       (select x from myTable where rowNum=10) as col10

    This is similar to what the pivoting operations in SQL 2005 can help you do but will work in SQL 7/2000.  There are MANY articles on this site about pivoting data - if what I presented abve is not sophisticated enough then some of those articles will point you in the right direction.  Certainly the above script doesn't help if your data is dynamic.  Perhaps you could post what your thoughts on the matter were and we might understand some more about your data.

    Cheers

  • Here is a generic function I wrote several years ago for the same purpose.  I'm sure there are newer/better ways, but this has always helped me in a pinch.  Feel free to use/adjust as needed.

     

    --CREATE PROCEDURE ConvertRowToColumns

    --(

    DECLARE

            @Table          varchar(100),

            @Cond           varchar(3000)

    --)

    SELECT @Table = '',

     @Cond = ''

    --AS

    DECLARE @CN     varchar(100),

            @tempTable1     varchar(100),

            @tempTable2     varchar(100),

            @sql            varchar(3000),

            @val            varchar(3000)

    -- Create unique temp table name.  Make it global using minutes and seconds so any process can access it if needed

    SELECT @tempTable1 = '##MyTable' + CONVERT(varchar, DATEPART(mi, GETDATE())) + CONVERT(varchar, DATEPART(ss, GETDATE())) + CONVERT(varchar, DATEPART(ms, GETDATE())) SELECT @tempTable2 = @tempTable1 + 'a'

    -- Create the second temp table

    SELECT @sql = 'CREATE TABLE ' + @tempTable2 + '

            (       TABLE_NAME              varchar(100) NULL,

                    COLUMN_NAME     varchar(100) PRIMARY KEY,

                    ORDINAL_POSITION        varchar(100) NULL,

                    COLUMN_DEFAULT  varchar(100) NULL,

                    IS_NULLABLE             varchar(100) NULL,

                    DATA_TYPE               varchar(100) NULL,

                    CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH        varchar(100) NULL,

                    IDENTITY_COL            int NULL,

                    COL_VAL         varchar(3000) NULL

            )'

    EXEC (@SQL)

    -- Get the data

    SELECT @sql = 'SELECT *, IDENTITYCOL AS IDCOL INTO ' + @tempTable1 + ' FROM ' + @Table

    IF LEN(@Cond) > 0 SET @sql = @sql + ' WHERE ' + @Cond

    EXEC (@SQL)

    -- Fill in the base data from the column information schema

    SELECT @sql = 'INSERT INTO ' + @tempTable2 + '(

            TABLE_NAME,

            COLUMN_NAME,

            ORDINAL_POSITION,

            COLUMN_DEFAULT,

            IS_NULLABLE,

            DATA_TYPE,

            CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH

            )

            SELECT

                    TABLE_NAME,

                    COLUMN_NAME,

                    ORDINAL_POSITION,

                    COLUMN_DEFAULT,

                    IS_NULLABLE,

                    DATA_TYPE,

                    CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH

            FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS

            WHERE   (TABLE_NAME = ' + CHAR(39) + @Table + CHAR(39) + ')

            '

    EXEC (@SQL)

    -- Get the column information

    DECLARE Cols CURSOR FOR

            SELECT  COLUMN_NAME

            FROM    INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS

            WHERE   (TABLE_NAME = @Table)

            ORDER BY ORDINAL_POSITION

    OPEN Cols

    FETCH NEXT FROM Cols INTO @CN

    WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0

    BEGIN

            BEGIN TRANSACTION

            -- For each column name, retrieve the information from the related column in temp1 and store in temp2

            SELECT @sql = 'UPDATE ' + @tempTable2 + '

                    SET     IDENTITY_COL = T1.IDCOL,

                            COL_VAL = T1.' + @CN + '

                    FROM (SELECT TOP 1 ' + @CN + ', IDCOL FROM ' + @tempTable1 + ') T1

                    WHERE COLUMN_NAME = ' + CHAR(39) + @CN + CHAR(39) + ' '

            EXEC (@SQL)

            IF @@ERROR <> 0

                    ROLLBACK TRANSACTION

            ELSE

                    COMMIT TRANSACTION

            FETCH NEXT FROM Cols INTO @CN

    END

    CLOSE Cols

    DEALLOCATE Cols

    -- Select all records from temp2

    SELECT @sql = 'SELECT '

    --      + '             TABLE_NAME, '

            + '             COLUMN_NAME, '

    --      + '             ORDINAL_POSITION, '

    --      + '             COLUMN_DEFAULT, '

    --      + '             IS_NULLABLE, '

    --      + '             DATA_TYPE, '

    --      + '             CHARACTER_MAXIMUM_LENGTH,'

    --      + '             IDENTITY_COL,'

            + '             COL_VAL

                    FROM ' + @tempTable2 + ' ORDER BY CONVERT(int, ORDINAL_POSITION)' EXEC (@SQL)

    -- Drop temp tables

    SELECT @sql = 'DROP TABLE ' + @tempTable1 + '

            DROP TABLE ' + @tempTable2

    EXEC (@SQL)

    GO

     

  • The faster way to convert columns into rows is this make a cross join with a generic table that have one columns and as much rows as column you have in the table on this case 10.

    something like this

    select CASE WHEN COLNUM = 1 THEN mytable.col1

                      WHEN COLNUM = 2 THEN mytable.col2

                       ....

                      WHEN COLNUM = 10 THEN mytable.col10

              end

    from mytable

           CROSS JOIN  (SELECT 1 as COlNUM  UNION SELECT 2 as COLNUM UNION ... SELECT 10 as COLNUM )

    so far this is the faster way that i have found.

    Pedro R. Lopez
    http://madurosfritos.blogspot.com/[/url]

  • the above method sounds trueif and only if the developer knows what is the exact row value in the 10 rows that he wish to convert as columns....

    what if there are more than 10 rows that are fetched and then needs to be converted as columns and wat if the developer does not know what are the values that he is going to fetch...the more appropriate way to do this is to generate a dynamic create table query with recordset thus generated....

    something like:

     select identity(int, 1, 1) as slno, ColId , Column_Name  Into #rows2cols

     from MyTable -- from which the rows to columns data will come 

    declare @cnt int  

    declare @STR varchar(2000) 

    select @cnt = count(*) from #rows2cols

    select @STR= 'create table #Table (SNo  varchar(50),Name varchar(50),' 

        

       while @cnt > 0  

       Begin  

       

        set @STR = @STR +  ( select '[' + Column_Name + ']' from #rows2cols where slno = @cnt ) + ' varchar(50),' 

        SET @cnt = @cnt - 1 

         

       End 

       set @STR = substring(@str, len(@str) -1) + ')'  -- substring is used to exclude the last "," after the loop exits

     

       exec (@str) 

     

    NOW this will create table query as a sql statement from a while loop till the last row value is hit.

    use and modify...

    Let me know if it works...


    Regards,

    Nitin'

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