How to use GROUP BY to concatenate strings in SQL Server?

Question

How do I get:

id       Name       Value
1          A          4
1          B          8
2          C          9

to

id               


        

Answer 1

If it is SQL Server 2017 or SQL Server Vnext, SQL Azure you can use string_agg as below:

select id, string_agg(concat(name, ':', [value]), ', ')
from #YourTable 
group by id

Answer 2

Eight years later... Microsoft SQL Server vNext Database Engine has finally enhanced Transact-SQL to directly support grouped string concatenation. The Community Technical Preview version 1.0 added the STRING_AGG function and CTP 1.1 added the WITHIN GROUP clause for the STRING_AGG function.

Reference: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt775028.aspx

Answer 3

No CURSOR, WHILE loop, or User-Defined Function needed.

Just need to be creative with FOR XML and PATH.

[Note: This solution only works on SQL 2005 and later. Original question didn't specify the version in use.]

CREATE TABLE #YourTable ([ID] INT, [Name] CHAR(1), [Value] INT)

INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'A',4)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'B',8)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (2,'C',9)

SELECT 
  [ID],
  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) 
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS NameValues
FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID

DROP TABLE #YourTable

Answer 4

Another option using Sql Server 2005 and above

---- test data
declare @t table (OUTPUTID int, SCHME varchar(10), DESCR varchar(10))
insert @t select 1125439       ,'CKT','Approved'
insert @t select 1125439       ,'RENO','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'CKT','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'RENO','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'pn','Approved'

---- actual query
;with cte(outputid,combined,rn)
as
(
  select outputid, SCHME + ' ('+DESCR+')', rn=ROW_NUMBER() over (PARTITION by outputid order by schme, descr)
  from @t
)
,cte2(outputid,finalstatus,rn)
as
(
select OUTPUTID, convert(varchar(max),combined), 1 from cte where rn=1
union all
select cte2.outputid, convert(varchar(max),cte2.finalstatus+', '+cte.combined), cte2.rn+1
from cte2
inner join cte on cte.OUTPUTID = cte2.outputid and cte.rn=cte2.rn+1
)
select outputid, MAX(finalstatus) from cte2 group by outputid

Answer 5

You can improve performance significant the following way if group by contains mostly one item:

SELECT 
  [ID],

CASE WHEN MAX( [Name]) = MIN( [Name]) THEN 
MAX( [Name]) NameValues
ELSE

  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) 
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS NameValues

END

FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID

Answer 6

An example would be

In Oracle you can use LISTAGG aggregate function.

Original records

name   type
------------
name1  type1
name2  type2
name2  type3

Sql

SELECT name, LISTAGG(type, '; ') WITHIN GROUP(ORDER BY name)
FROM table
GROUP BY name

Result in

name   type
------------
name1  type1
name2  type2; type3