Oracle Pivot query gives columns with quotes around the column names. What? - sql

Question

I'm trying to use PIVOT in Oracle and I'm getting a weird result. It's probably just an option I need to set but what I know about Oracle/SQL I could fit into this comment box.
Here's an example of my query:
with testdata as
(
select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
union
select 'John' First_Name, 5 Items from dual
union
select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
union
select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select * from testdata
pivot (
sum(Items)
for First_Name
in ('Fred','John','Jane')
The results come out as I expected except the Column names have single quotes around them (picture from Toad - if I export to Excel the quotes get carried to Excel):
How do I get rid of the single quotes around the column names? I tried taking them out in the "in" clause and I get an error:
in (Fred,John,Jane)
I also tried replacing the single quotes with double quotes and got the same error. I don't know if this is an Oracle option I need to set/unset before running my query or a Toad thing.

Answer 1

you can provide aliases to the new columns in the pivot statement's IN clause.
(NB: This is different from the standard where clause IN() which does not allow aliases.)
with testdata as
(
select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
union
select 'John' First_Name, 5 Items from dual
union
select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
union
select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select * from testdata
pivot (
sum(Items)
for First_Name
in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
)
and also for your aggregate clause which is necessary if you have multiple clauses..
with testdata as
(
select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
union
select 'John' First_Name, 5 Items from dual
union
select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
union
select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select * from testdata
pivot (
sum(Items) itmsum,
count(Items) itmcnt
for First_Name
in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
)
returns
FRED_ITMSUM FRED_ITMCNT JOHN_ITMSUM JOHN_ITMCNT JANE_ITMSUM JANE_ITMCNT
----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
25 2 5 1 12 1
Of course you can then go full circle and use standard oracle aliasing and rename them to whatever you like including putting quotes back in again..
with testdata as
(
select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
union
select 'John' First_Name, 5 Items from dual
union
select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
union
select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select FRED_ITMSUM "Fred's Sum", FRED_ITMCNT "Fred's Count"
, JOHN_ITMSUM "John's Sum", JOHN_ITMCNT "John's Count"
, JANE_ITMSUM "Janes's Sum", JANE_ITMCNT "Janes's Count"
from testdata
pivot (
sum(Items) itmsum,
count(Items) itmcnt
for First_Name
in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
)
gives
Fred's Sum Fred's Count John's Sum John's Count Janes's Sum Janes's Count
---------- ------------ ---------- ------------ ----------- -------------
25 2 5 1 12 1