How to check any missing number from a series of numbers? - sql

Question

I am doing a project creating an admission system for a college; the technologies are Java and Oracle.
In one of the tables, pre-generated serial numbers are stored. Later, against those serial numbers, the applicant's form data will be entered. My requirement is that when the entry process is completed I will have to generate a Lot wise report. If during feeding pre-generated serial numbers any sequence numbers went missing.
For example, say in a table, the sequence numbers are 7001, 7002, 7004, 7005, 7006, 7010.
From the above series it is clear that from 7001 to 7010 the numbers missing are 7003, 7007, 7008 and 7009
Is there any DBMS function available in Oracle to find out these numbers or if any stored procedure may fulfill my purpose then please suggest an algorithm.
I can find some techniques in Java but for speed I want to find the solution in Oracle.

Answer 1

A solution without hardcoding the 9:
select min_a - 1 + level
from ( select min(a) min_a
, max(a) max_a
from test1
)
connect by level <= max_a - min_a + 1
minus
select a
from test1
Results:
MIN_A-1+LEVEL
-------------
7003
7007
7008
7009
4 rows selected.

Answer 2

Try this:
SELECT t1.SequenceNumber + 1 AS "From",
MIN(t2.SequenceNumber) - 1 AS "To"
FROM MyTable t1
JOIN MyTable t2 ON t1.SequenceNumber < t2.SequenceNumber
GROUP BY t1.SequenceNumber
HAVING t1.SequenceNumber + 1 < MIN(t2.SequenceNumber)
Here is the result for the sequence 7001, 7002, 7004, 7005, 7006, 7010:
From To
7003 7003
7007 7009

Answer 3

This worked but selects the first sequence (start value) since it doesn't have predecessor. Tested in SQL Server but should work in Oracle
SELECT
s.sequence FROM seqs s
WHERE
s.sequence - (SELECT sequence FROM seqs WHERE sequence = s.sequence-1) IS NULL
Here is a test result
Table
-------------
7000
7001
7004
7005
7007
7008
Result
----------
7000
7004
7007
To get unassigned sequence, just do value[i] - 1 where i is greater first row e.g. (7004 - 1 = 7003 and 7007 - 1 = 7006) which are available sequences
I think you can improve on this simple query

Answer 4

This works on postgres >= 8.4. With some slight modifications to the CTE-syntax it could be made to work for oracle and microsoft, too.
-- EXPLAIN ANALYZE
WITH missing AS (
WITH RECURSIVE fullhouse AS (
SELECT MIN(num)+1 as num
FROM numbers n0
UNION ALL SELECT 1+ fh0.num AS num
FROM fullhouse fh0
WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT * FROM numbers ex
WHERE ex.num > fh0.num
)
)
SELECT * FROM fullhouse fh1
EXCEPT ( SELECT num FROM numbers nx)
)
SELECT * FROM missing;

Answer 5

Here's a solution that:
Relies on Oracle's LAG function
Does not require knowledge of the complete sequence (but thus doesn't detect if very first or last numbers in sequence were missed)
Lists the values surrounding the missing lists of numbers
Lists the missing lists of numbers as contiguous groups (perhaps convenient for reporting)
Tragically fails for very large lists of missing numbers, due to listagg limitations
SQL:
WITH MentionedValues /*this would just be your actual table, only defined here to provide data for this example */
AS (SELECT *
FROM ( SELECT LEVEL + 7000 seqnum
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 10000)
WHERE seqnum NOT IN (7003,7007,7008,7009)--omit those four per example
),
Ranges /*identifies all ranges between adjacent rows*/
AS (SELECT seqnum AS seqnum_curr,
LAG (seqnum, 1) OVER (ORDER BY seqnum) AS seqnum_prev,
seqnum - (LAG (seqnum, 1) OVER (ORDER BY seqnum)) AS diff
FROM MentionedValues)
SELECT Ranges.*,
( SELECT LISTAGG (Ranges.seqnum_prev + LEVEL, ',') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY 1)
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL < Ranges.diff) "MissingValues" /*count from lower seqnum+1 up to lower_seqnum+(diff-1)*/
FROM Ranges
WHERE diff != 1 /*ignore when diff=1 because that means the numers are sequential without skipping any*/
;
Output:
SEQNUM_CURR SEQNUM_PREV DIFF MissingValues
7004 7002 2 "7003"
7010 7006 4 "7007,7008,7009"

Answer 6

One simple way to get your answer for your scenario is this:
create table test1 ( a number(9,0));
insert into test1 values (7001);
insert into test1 values (7002);
insert into test1 values (7004);
insert into test1 values (7005);
insert into test1 values (7006);
insert into test1 values (7010);
commit;
select n.n from (select ROWNUM + 7001 as n from dual connect by level <= 9) n
left join test1 t on n.n = t.a where t.a is null;
The select will give you the answer from your example. This only makes sense, if you know in advance in which range your numbers are and the range should not too big. The first number must be the offset in the ROWNUM part and the length of the sequence is the limit to the level in the connect by part.

Answer 7

I would have suggested connect by level as Stefan has done, however, you can't use a sub-query in this statement, which means that it isn't really suitable for you as you need to know what the maximum and minimum values of your sequence are.
I would suggest a pipe-lined table function might be the best way to generate the numbers you need to do the join. In order for this to work you'd need an object in your database to return the values to:
create or replace type t_num_array as table of number;
Then the function:
create or replace function generate_serial_nos return t_num_array pipelined is
l_first number;
l_last number;
begin
select min(serial_no), max_serial_no)
into l_first, l_last
from my_table
;
for i in l_first .. l_last loop
pipe row(i);
end loop;
return;
end generate_serial_nos;
/
Using this function the following would return a list of serial numbers, between the minimum and maximum.
select * from table(generate_serial_nos);
Which means that your query to find out which serial numbers are missing becomes:
select serial_no
from ( select *
from table(generate_serial_nos)
) generator
left outer join my_table actual
on generator.column_value = actual.serial_no
where actual.serial_no is null

Answer 8

SELECT ROWNUM "Missing_Numbers" FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL <= (SELECT MAX(a) FROM test1)
MINUS
SELECT a FROM test1 ;

Answer 9

Improved query is:
SELECT ROWNUM "Missing_Numbers" FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL <= (SELECT MAX(a) FROM test1)
MINUS
SELECT ROWNUM "Missing_Numbers" FROM dual CONNECT BY LEVEL < (SELECT Min(a) FROM test1)
MINUS
SELECT a FROM test1;
Note: a is column in which we find missing value.

Answer 10

Try with a subquery:
SELECT A.EMPNO + 1 AS MissingEmpNo
FROM tblEmpMaster AS A
WHERE A.EMPNO + 1 NOT IN (SELECT EMPNO FROM tblEmpMaster)

Answer 11

select A.ID + 1 As ID
From [Missing] As A
Where A.ID + 1 Not IN (Select ID from [Missing])
And A.ID < n
Data: ID
1
2
5
7
Result: ID
3
4
6