In database table in Informix I have columns like this:
Table name is MYTABLE
key 1234
value 'POCO','LOCD',MACD'
Now I want to use this in a query like this
select * from table where symbol in (select value from MYTABLE where key='1234');
But this query is not working as value is stored as char and
output of select value from MYTABLE where key='1234' would be something like
"'POCO','LOCD',MACD'"
Is there a way to make this work. I want to achieve this in a single query.
Please suggest a better approach.
You cannot interpolate values like that. The database optimiser cannot be expected to know that value is going to return a string that looks like a list, which is to be interpreted in a list context.
Since you ask for a better approach…
That design breaks numerous fundamental rules about how databases should be structured. At a minimum, the 'value' column should be a COLLECTION data type, so that its role as a list of values is properly articulated. Personally I would create a standard, relational bridging table:
MYTABLE
key col1 col2
1234 .. ..
MYVALUE
key value
1234 POCO
1234 LOCD
1234 MACD
This is not the easy way out suggested by others, but it is the right answer.
Related
I feel like this should be simple but I'm relatively unskilled in SQL and I can't seem to figure it out. I'm used to wrangling data in python (pandas) or Spark (usually pyspark) and this would be a one-liner in either of those. Specifically, I'm using Snowflake SQL, but I think this is probably relevant to a lot of flavors of SQL.
Essentially I just want to trim the first character off of a specific column. More generally, what I'm trying to do is replace a column with a substring of the same column. I would even settle for creating a new column that's a substring of an existing column. I can't figure out how to do any of these things.
On obvious solution would be to create a temporary table with something like
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp_sub AS
SELECT id_col, substr(id_col, 2, 10) AS id_col_sub FROM table1
and then join it back and write a new table
CREATE TABLE table2 AS
SELECT
b.id_col_sub as id_col,
a.some_col1, a.some_col2, ...
FROM table1 a
JOIN tmp_sub b
ON a.id_col = b.id_col
My tables have roughly a billion rows though and this feels extremely inefficient. Maybe I'm wrong? Maybe this is just the right way to do it? I guess I could replace the CREATE TABLE table2 AS... to INSERT OVERWRITE INTO table1 ... and at least that wouldn't store an extra copy of the whole thing.
Any thoughts and ideas are most welcome. I come at this humbly from the perspective of someone who is baffled by a language that so many people seem to have mastery over.
I'm not sure the exact syntax/functions in Snowflake but generally speaking there's a few different ways of achieving this.
I guess the general approach that would work universally is using the SUBSTRING function that's available in any database.
Assuming you have a table called Table1 with the following data:
+-------+-----------------------------------------+
Code | Desc
+-------+-----------------------------------------+
0001 | 1First Character Will be Removed
0002 | xCharacter to be Removed
+-------+-----------------------------------------+
The SQL code to remove the first character would be:
select SUBSTRING(Desc,2,len(desc)) from Table1
Please note that the "SUBSTRING" function may vary according to different databases. In Oracle for example the function is "SUBSTR". You just need to find the Snowflake correspondent.
Another approach that would work at least in SQLServer and MySQL would be using the "RIGHT" function
select RIGHT(Desc,len(Desc) - 1) from Table1
Based on your question I assume you actually want to update the actual data within the table. In that case you can use the same function above in an update statement.
update Table1 set Desc = SUBSTRING(Desc,2,len(desc))
You didn't try this?
UPDATE tableX
SET columnY = substr(columnY, 2, 10 ) ;
-Paul-
There is no need to specify the length, as is evidenced from the following simple test harness:
SELECT $1
,SUBSTR($1, 2)
,RIGHT($1, -2)
FROM VALUES
('abcde')
,('bcd')
,('cdef')
,('defghi')
,('e')
,('fg')
,('')
;
Both expressions here - SUBSTR(<col>, 2) and RIGHT(<col>, -2) - effectively remove the first character of the <col> column value.
As for the strategy of using UPDATE versus INSERT OVERWRITE, I do not believe that there will be any difference in performance or outcome, so I might opt for the UPDATE since it is simpler. So, in conclusion, I would use:
UPDATE tableX
SET columnY = SUBSTR(columnY, 2)
;
I need to create a column name based on the value of other columns. I need to return a value from a column, but the specific name depends on the value insert on other table.
From intance:
Table A
Column1 | Column2
1 2
Base on that values I need to go to the table B to the column "VE12".
I need this dynamiclly, so the execute(#query) is my last option and I would like to avoid CASE WHEN statments because I have more than 50 options.
My query will be something like:
select case when fn.tab=8 and fo.pais=3 then cp.ve83 end
FROM fn
INNER JOIN fo ON fo.stamp = fn.stamp
INNER JOIN cp
If the value in the column tab is 8 and the value in column pais is 3 I should return the value in column ve83.
Thanks for all the help!
The only sensible option is to go back to the business meaning of the data and redesign the database according to that, instead of according to "technique-oriented abstractions" such as these that SQL was never intended to support.
The main reason for this is that SQL was founded on FIRST order logic, and this precludes supporting stuff like varying domains. Which you are doing (or at least seeking to do) because ve12 could be a DATETIME and ve83 could be a VARCHAR and ve56 coulb be a BLOB etc. etc. So there is just no way for you [or anyone else] to determine the data type of the results in your query, and it is even more impossible to attach meaning to what comes out of your desired query precisely because of this varying-domain and varying-source characteristic.
Is there any relational database that can output the return type of a query before running it? As an example, a query like this GIVE_TYPES SELECT name, age FROM person would give a result like VARCHAR(255), INTEGER without actually executing the query. If this is not a possibility, why is that the case?
EDIT
The first comment made me realize that I need to give a slightly more complicated use case. Imagine if the query were something like this:
SELECT parent_name, COUNT(name) FROM person GROUP BY parent_name;
To select the names of all parents and the number of children they have. I would expect something like VARCHAR(255), INTEGER as the result for this as well, but a column inspection would not let me know about COUNT's return type.
Count's return type always is int.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175997.aspx
If you are running on top of persistent and esqueleto, then I don't think you're going to have simple access to this sort of information. In particular, I assume any unrecognized PostgreSQL types just get mapped to a Haskell String or Text.
About the best you can do is:
CREATE TEMP TABLE t1 AS LIMIT 0
SELECT * FROM information_schema.columns WHERE table_name='t1' AND schema_name=...
DROP TABLE t1;
You'll want to identify the temporary schema-name for your table t1 (in the format pg_temp_xxx).
This (plus perhaps some follow-up queries on the information-schema for type details) should give you details on all columns of your result-set.
In my table I have a column of type nVarchar or nText
Suppose value of a this col is like this '... xxx yyy zzz ...'
I use SELECT to search table with this column
SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col_name like '%xxx yyy%'
Since the I can't force users to enter words with my sequence I want to give same result with this query too:
SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col_name like '%yyy xxx%'
It looks to me like you might want to consider normalizing your table. Specifically, if "yyy xxx" is the same as "xxx yyy", you're storing an array (or list or whatever you want to call it) in one column, which breaks first normal form. Normalize it so that each of those atoms (i.e. "xxx", "yyy") are stored separately and are related back to your original record. Then it's almost trivial to do the kind of thing you're looking to do.
You have to tokenize the user input into separate words inside your application code (not in sql) and then construct queries like
SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE
(col_name like '%yyy%') AND (col_name like '%xxx%') AND ...
Your best bet is to use both criteria, and "OR".
SELECT *
FROM tbl_name
WHERE (col_name like '%xxx yyy%')
OR (col_name like '%yyy xxx%');
how to convert result of an select sql query into a new table in msaccess ?
You can use sub queries
SELECT a,b,c INTO NewTable
FROM (SELECT a,b,c
FROM TheTable
WHERE a Is Null)
Like so:
SELECT *
INTO NewTable
FROM OldTable
First, create a table with the required keys, constraints, domain checking, references, etc. Then use an INSERT INTO..SELECT construct to populate it.
Do not be tempted by SELECT..INTO..FROM constructs. The resulting table will have no keys, therefore will not actually be a table at all. Better to start with a proper table then add the data e.g. it will be easier to trap bad data.
For an example of how things can go wrong with an SELECT..INTO clause: it can result in a column that includes the NULL value and while after the event you can change the column to NOT NULL the engine will not replace the NULLs, therefore you will end up with a NOT NULL column containing NULLs!
Also consider creating a 'viewed' table e.g. using CREATE VIEW SQL DDL rather than a base table.
If you want to do it through the user interface, you can also:
A) Create and test the select query. Save it.
B) Create a make table query. When asked what tables to show, select the query tab and your saved query.
C) Tell it the name of the table you want to create.
D) Go make coffee (depending on taste and size of table)
Select *
Into newtable
From somequery