Get unique values using STRING_AGG in SQL Server

Question

The following query returns the results shown below:

SELECT 
    ProjectID, newID.value
FROM 
    [dbo].[Data] WITH(NOLOCK)  
CROSS APPLY 
    STRING_SPLIT([         


        

Answer 1

You can make a distinct view of the table, that holds the aggregate values, that is even simpler:

Create Table Test (field1 varchar(1), field2 varchar(1));

go

Create View DistinctTest as (Select distinct field1, field2 from test group by field1,field2);

go

insert into Test Select 'A', '1';
insert into Test Select 'A', '2';
insert into Test Select 'A', '2';
insert into Test Select 'A', '2';
insert into Test Select 'D', '1';
insert into Test Select 'D', '1';

select string_agg(field1, ',')  from Test where field2 = '1';  /* duplicates: A,D,D */;

select string_agg(field1, ',')  from DistinctTest where field2 = '1';  /* no duplicates: A,D  */;

Answer 2

As @SeanLange pointed out in the comments, this is a terrible way to pull out the data, but if you had to, just make it 2 separate queries as follows:

SELECT 
    ProjectID
    ,STRING_AGG( val, ',') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY val) AS NewField
FROM
(
    SELECT DISTINCT 
        ProjectID
        ,newID.value AS val
    FROM 
        [dbo].[Data] WITH(NOLOCK)  
        CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT([bID],';') AS newID  
    WHERE 
        newID.value IN ('O95833' , 'Q96NY7-2') 
) t
GROUP BY
    ProjectID

That should do it.

Answer 3

Use the DISTINCT keyword in a subquery to remove duplicates before combining the results: SQL Fiddle

SELECT 
ProjectID
,STRING_AGG(value, ',') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY value) AS 
NewField
from (
    select distinct ProjectId, newId.value 
    FROM [dbo].[Data] WITH(NOLOCK)  
    CROSS APPLY STRING_SPLIT([bID],';') AS newID  
    WHERE newID.value IN (   'O95833' , 'Q96NY7-2'  )  
) x
GROUP BY ProjectID
ORDER BY ProjectID

Answer 4

You can use distinct in the subquery used for the apply:

SELECT d.ProjectID,
       STRING_AGG(  newID.value, ',') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY newID.value) AS 
NewField
FROM [dbo].[Data] d CROSS APPLY
     (select distinct value
      from STRING_SPLIT(d.[bID], ';') AS newID 
     ) newID
WHERE newID.value IN (   'O95833' , 'Q96NY7-2'  ) 
group by projectid;