Syntax Error pivoting a SQL table using string columns - sql

Question

I have a table Occupation like such:
Name | Occupation
-----------------
Sam | Doctor
Joe | Professor
John | Actor
Hailey | Singer
April | Doctor
My goal is to utilize the PIVOT function to display each distinct Occupation as their own column like so:
Doctor | Professor | Singer | Actor
-----------------------------------
Sam | Joe | Hailey | John
April
I went through various stack overflow questions with similar issues, and even utilized the documentation here and followed step by step. My efforts have been futile, so what gives? I am receiving a syntax error every time I run this code. Any suggestions?
Code:
SELECT *
FROM(SELECT Name, Occupation from Occupations) as src
PIVOT
(MAX(Name) FOR Name IN [Doctor], [Professor], [Singer], [Actor]) as piv;
I am solving this problem on Hackerrank, and the compiler was MySQL. I changed it to MSSQL and am no longer receiving a syntax error.

Answer 1

You were missing 2 () One on each side in the PIVOT part, I bolded the brackets I added:
([Doctor], [Professor], [Singer], [Actor]) - These 2
SELECT *
FROM (
SELECT Name, Occupation
FROM Occupations
) as src
PIVOT
(
MAX(Name) FOR Name IN ([Doctor], [Professor], [Singer], [Actor])
) as piv;

Answer 2

This query will generate the answer as per the way you need. The above answer does not provide the answer as the way you required. Try this answer.
DECLARE #sql NVARCHAR(MAX) = N''
DECLARE #cols NVARCHAR(MAX) = N''
--Making the column list dynamically
SELECT #cols = STUFF((SELECT DISTINCT ', '+QUOTENAME( [T2].[Occupation])
FROM Occupation_data [T2]
FOR XML PATH('')), 1, 1, '')
--preparing PIVOT query dynamically.
SET #SQL = ' SELECT
*
into #temp
FROM
(
SELECT row_number() over (order by name) as id, [Name], [Occupation]
FROM Occupation_data
) AS cp
PIVOT
(
min([Name]) FOR [Occupation] IN (' + #cols + ')
) AS up;
Select
row_number() over (order by doctor asc ) as id1
,*
into #temp_1
from #temp where Doctor is not null
Select
row_number() over (Order by Actor asc ) as id2
,*
into #temp_2
from #temp where Actor is not null
Select
row_number() over (Order by Professor asc ) as id3
,*
into #temp_3
from #temp where Professor is not null
Select
row_number() over (Order by Singer asc ) as id4
,*
into #temp_4
from #temp where Singer is not null
select
A.Doctor
,B.Actor
,C.Professor
,D.Singer
from
#temp_1 A inner join
#temp_2 B ON A.id1 = B.id2
INNER JOIN
#temp_3 C ON A.id1 = C.id3
INNER JOIN
#temp_4 D ON A.id1 = d.id4
drop table #temp
drop table #temp_1
drop table #temp_2
drop table #temp_3
drop table #temp_4
';
PRINT( #SQL)
EXEC (#SQL)
Output:
If this answer works for you I will make it more generic and give you so that you can apply this for any work like this.