I have a query that I'm trying to rework that has over 1,000 columns when I select * FROM several tables. I want to know if there is a way in SQL to tag the column alias with the table alias so i can know from which table the columns are from. It looks like the following:
SELECT *
FROM table1 t1
join table2 t2
join table3 t3
join table4 t4
Current column output:
id, id, id, id, name, name, name, name, order, order, order, order
Desired Column output:
t1.id, t1.name, t1.order, t2.id, t2.name, t2.order,t3.id, t3.name, t3.order, t4.id, t4.name, t4.order
this is a very simple example but you can imagine trying to fish out the column you need of a sea of 1,000 columns trying to figure out what table it came from! Any ideas??
I'm not aware of a way to prefix each column with the column alias. However I do know how you could easily break the columns into groups that would allow you to figure out which table each column comes from.
SELECT 'T1' as [Table1]
, t1.*
, 'T2' as [Table2]
, t2.*
, 'T3' as [Table3]
, t3.*
, t4.* as [Table4]
, t4.*
, 'T5' as [Table5]
, t5.*
FROM table1 t1
join table2 t2
join table3 t3
join table4 t4
This would break out the columns into groups by table and it would break a little bookmark before and after each group to help you understand where they're coming.
I know not exactly what you asked for but I believe it would help you a lot in figuring out what's from what tables.
Your other option is as others have said and specifiying the prefix on every column which it sounds like you don't want to do. However it can be a lot quicker to do this if you drag the columns from the Object Explorer - and use ALT-SHIFT to add the prefix to each column.
Here's an article about copying columns from object explorer - https://www.qumio.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=56
Her's an article about adjusting code using ALT+SHIFT - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sql_pfe_blog/2017/04/11/quick-tip-shiftalt-for-multiple-line-edits/
The first method would take less than a method, the 2nd method I could see taking less than 10 minutes even for 1,000 columns.
You have to assign non-default column aliases manually:
select t1.id as t1_id, t1.name as t1_name, t1.order as t1_order,
t2.id as t2_id, t2.name as t2_name, t2.order as t2_order,
. . .
You might find that a spreadsheet or query can help, if you have a lot of columns.
Some products may have exceptions, but generally no, you can't do that. You either have to use wildcards (SELECT *) or specify the columns you wish returned by full and complete name.
If you specify columns, you can "alias" them, set the column name to something other than the source name. For example (psuedo-code, leaving out the "ON" clause):
SELECT
T1.Id as T1_Id
,T2.Id as T2_Id
from table1 T1
join table2 T2
Note that you can combine table aliases with wildcards. For example:
SELECT
T2.*
from table1 T1
join table2 T2
join table3 T3
join table4 T5
will return all the columns from table2, and only from table2. This might help in revising your query by getting a list of the available columns in each table.
Related
I am trying to write an SQL query that will return Table1, which has 10 columns. This table consists of a primary key id, 4 foreign key Id columns, and 5 other columns that I want to return but not change. The goal is to do a join to replace the foreign key Ids with their descriptions that are held in other tables.
Here is one attempt with the first FK Id:
Select * from Table1 t1
left join Table2 t2
on t1.BranchId = t2.BranchId;
This left join returns the description from table2, but does not replace it.
Here is another with the first FK Id:
Select t2.BranchName from Table1 t1
left join Table2 t2
on t1.BranchId = t2.BranchId;
This returns the name I want, but does not return table1 fully.
For the sake of an example you could pretend that OtherName3, OtherName4, OtherName5 are in tables Table3, Table4, Table5, respectively.
This may seem trivial for experienced SQL devs, but I am having a hard time figuring out the syntax.
Thanks!
I'm not sure what you mean by replace it.
I think you just need to list out all the columns you want:
Select t1.col1, t1.col2, t1.col3, . . .,
t2.name
from Table1 t1 left join
Table2 t2
on t1.BranchId = t2.BranchId;
I don't know what you mean by 'replace' but you just need to qualify what columns from which table you want. That goes for all tables you are joined to, especially if they have the same column name in multiple tables. I put junk columns in since I don't know your tables but you should get the general idea.
Select t2.BranchName, t1.BranchId, t1.Name, t1.Amount, t2.BranchLocation from Table1 t1
left join Table2 t2
on t1.BranchId = t2.BranchId;
I think this is what you are looking for:
select t1.*, t2.BranchName from Table1 t1
left join Table2 t2
on t1.BranchId = t2.BranchId;
Return Table1 fully (all columns) and only the description (BranchName) from Table2.
If using SQL Server, see all syntax options for the SELECT clause here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176104.aspx
select t1.key,t2.design,t1.price,t1.gender,t1.store
from table1 t1,table2 t2
where t1.key=t2.key;
This is my query. In this query, column KEY is distinct. I need result with distinct DESIGN values. Help me with this.
from table1 t1 join table2 t2 on t1.key = t2.key
where design like "specific design"
Your request is not precise. There are two things possible:
1) You are talking about duplicate records, i.e. for two records with the same design the columns key, price, gender and store are guaranteed to be equal. Two ways to solve it:
select DISTINCT t1.key,t2.design,t1.price,t1.gender,t1.store
from table1 t1,table2 t2
where t1.key=t2.key;
or
select t1.key,t2.design,t1.price,t1.gender,t1.store
from table1 t1, (select distinct key, design from table2) t2
where t1.key=t2.key;
2) You are talking of duplicate designs and ambigious information related, i.e. for two records for the same design you may get different prices etc. Then you must think about what information you want to get per design. The maximum price? The sum of prices? ...
select t1.key,t2.design,sum(t1.price),max(t1.gender),max(t1.store)
from table1 t1,table2 t2
where t1.key=t2.key
group by t1.key,t2.design;
This gives you records per key and design. If you want records per design only then you would group only by design and decide which key you want to show with it.
A last recommendation: Use explicit join syntax. It is easier to read and less error-prone.
select t1.key, t2.design, t1.price, t1.gender, t1.store
from table1 t1
inner join table2 t2 on t1.key = t2.key;
SQL Server 2008 R2
I have a table - T1 with id, Title, Firstname, postalcode
Second table - T2 with id, Title and PostalCode.
id is the primarykey in T1 and id is corresponding foreign key in T2.
Now i want to list out the Title from T1, Title from T2 and their id's for the matching id between T1 and T2.
BUT THE MAIN thing is only distinct column values of Title and their correspoding tables T1 and T2 along with their id should be displayed.
For example, If a value 'Mr' is found and if second time if it is found, the value shouldnt be listed again.
Hope iam clear. Please advise.
COALESCE() function could be your friend here.
The Example is a little convoluted, but i think i understand the question.
you will like want to use the Distinct key word:
SELECT DISTINCT T1.Title
FROM T1 INNER JOIN T2 ON T1.id = T2.id
UNION ALL
SELECT DISTINCT T2.Title
FROM T1 INNER JOIN T2 ON T1.id = T2.id
This should grab distinct titles from T1 and T2. I hope this is what you were looking for, if not please describe what you are looking for as far as results a little bit more clearly, if you could add a table view that would be ideal.
Thanks,
~Madullah
Sorry I missed and deleted earlier question on accident again.
I have a situation, I am trying to select distinct values from table 1 that are new and store them in table 2. The problem is that table has duplicates on column "name" but it does have a key column "id", but the different ids of course map to the same name.
My idea on the query would be
INSERT INTO TABLE2
(NAME, UniqueID)
SELECT DISTINCT TABLE1.NAME, TABLE1.ID
FROM TABLE1
LEFT JOIN TABLE2 ON TABLE1.ID=TABLE2.UniqueID
WHERE TABLE2.NAME IS NULL
Need help on getting the query to return my desired results, right now it still produces duplicates in table2 (on name column), which I don't want. I would want it to only append new records even if I run the query multiple times. For example if two new records were added into table1 but one has the name already in table 2, then the query would only add 1 new record to table2
just a note: I am using ms access, so it has strict syntax on single queries
EDIT:
Folliwing input I had came with this query
INSERT INTO TABLE2
(NAME, UniqueID)
SELECT TABLE1.NAME, Min(TABLE1.ID)
FROM TABLE1
LEFT JOIN TABLE2 ON TABLE1.NAME=TABLE2.NAME
WHERE TABLE2.UniqueID IS NULL
Group By TABLE1.NAME;
but these actually had to be separated to two separate wueries in access to run without a reserver error flag but now I ran into additional problem. When I run the two separate queries, it works fine the first time, but when I run it twice trying to test to see if any new records have been added to table 1, it then appends 1 record when no new records are in table 1, so it appends a blank name value and a duplicate unique id, and continually does that same process everytime I run it.
Since you're pulling both Name and ID, the distinct keyword will only pull distinct combinations of those. Two records with the same Name and different ID's is still valid.
In the case of two Names with different ID's, which would you like to be inserted?...
insert into table2 (Name, UniqueID)
select t1.Name, MIN(t1.ID)
from table1 t1
left join table2 t2 on t1.ID = t2.UniqueID
where t2.Name is null
group by t1.Name
in response to comments, I realize the Name field is what should be joined on, to prevent dupes that already exist.
insert into table2 (Name, UniqueID)
select t1.Name, MIN(t1.ID)
from table1 t1
left join table2 t2 on t1.Name = t2.Name
where t2.UniqueID is null
group by t1.Name
INSERT INTO TABLE2 (UniqueID, NAME)
SELECT min(t1.ID) as UniqueID, t1.NAME
FROM TABLE1 t1
LEFT JOIN TABLE2 t2 ON t1.ID=t2.UniqueID
WHERE t2.NAME IS NULL
group by t1.NAME
I tried doing this but it failed.
SELECT table2.ID, table1.* FROM table2
LEFT JOIN table1 ON table1.ID = table2.table1ID
How do you select all columns from a table?
EDIT: There is no error in the above query. I don't know what caused the error but the code is now working.
You had field names conflict as both tables have ID field. You must to
SELECT table2.ID as t2_id, table1.* FROM table2
LEFT JOIN table1 ON table1.ID = table2.table1ID
What you have is syntactically correct, exactly what did you mean by it failed? Did you get an error message or just not the results you wanted? (BTW it is a bad practice to select *, only return the columns you need. In this case you do not need all the columns as the id field in table1 will have the exact same data as the file din table 2 it is joined to)
SELECT t2.ID, t1.* FROM table2 t2
LEFT JOIN table1 t1 ON t1.ID = t2.table1ID
this works on sql 2000+
If I am working inside a stored procedure where I have a defined #Table data type, there is no issue with using select table.* especially if I am using it for an output SELECT at the end. So the comment about production servers and network traffic in this case is meaningless as the entire stored procedure executes in memory. A select.* in this case is merely returning all the columns which have been defined ahead of time.