How to use GROUP BY to concatenate strings in SQL Server?

Question

How do I get:

id       Name       Value
1          A          4
1          B          8
2          C          9

to

id          Column
1          A:4, B:8
2          C:9

Answer 1

No CURSOR, WHILE loop, or User-Defined Function needed.

Just need to be creative with FOR XML and PATH.

[Note: This solution only works on SQL 2005 and later. Original question didn't specify the version in use.]

CREATE TABLE #YourTable ([ID] INT, [Name] CHAR(1), [Value] INT)

INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'A',4)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'B',8)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (2,'C',9)

SELECT 
  [ID],
  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) 
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS NameValues
FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID

DROP TABLE #YourTable

Answer 2

If it is SQL Server 2017 or SQL Server Vnext, SQL Azure you can use STRING_AGG as below:

SELECT id, STRING_AGG(CONCAT(name, ':', [value]), ', ')
FROM #YourTable 
GROUP BY id

Answer 3

using XML path will not perfectly concatenate as you might expect... it will replace "&" with "&" and will also mess with <" and "> ...maybe a few other things, not sure...but you can try this

I came across a workaround for this... you need to replace:

FOR XML PATH('')
)

with:

FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE
).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')

...or NVARCHAR(MAX) if thats what youre using.

why the hell doesn't SQL have a concatenate aggregate function? this is a PITA.

Answer 4

I ran into a couple of problems when I tried converting Kevin Fairchild's suggestion to work with strings containing spaces and special XML characters (&, <, >) which were encoded.

The final version of my code (which doesn't answer the original question but may be useful to someone) looks like this:

CREATE TABLE #YourTable ([ID] INT, [Name] VARCHAR(MAX), [Value] INT)

INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'Oranges & Lemons',4)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'1 < 2',8)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (2,'C',9)

SELECT  [ID],
  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + CAST([Name] AS VARCHAR(MAX))
    FROM #YourTable WHERE (ID = Results.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE 
     /* Use .value to uncomment XML entities e.g. &gt; &lt; etc*/
    ).value('.','VARCHAR(MAX)') 
  ,1,2,'') as NameValues
FROM    #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID

DROP TABLE #YourTable

Rather than using a space as a delimiter and replacing all the spaces with commas, it just pre-pends a comma and space to each value then uses STUFF to remove the first two characters.

The XML encoding is taken care of automatically by using the TYPE directive.

Answer 5

Another option using Sql Server 2005 and above

---- test data
declare @t table (OUTPUTID int, SCHME varchar(10), DESCR varchar(10))
insert @t select 1125439       ,'CKT','Approved'
insert @t select 1125439       ,'RENO','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'CKT','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'RENO','Approved'
insert @t select 1134691       ,'pn','Approved'

---- actual query
;with cte(outputid,combined,rn)
as
(
  select outputid, SCHME + ' ('+DESCR+')', rn=ROW_NUMBER() over (PARTITION by outputid order by schme, descr)
  from @t
)
,cte2(outputid,finalstatus,rn)
as
(
select OUTPUTID, convert(varchar(max),combined), 1 from cte where rn=1
union all
select cte2.outputid, convert(varchar(max),cte2.finalstatus+', '+cte.combined), cte2.rn+1
from cte2
inner join cte on cte.OUTPUTID = cte2.outputid and cte.rn=cte2.rn+1
)
select outputid, MAX(finalstatus) from cte2 group by outputid

Answer 6

Eight years later... Microsoft SQL Server vNext Database Engine has finally enhanced Transact-SQL to directly support grouped string concatenation. The Community Technical Preview version 1.0 added the STRING_AGG function and CTP 1.1 added the WITHIN GROUP clause for the STRING_AGG function.

Reference: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt775028.aspx

Answer 7

Install the SQLCLR Aggregates from http://groupconcat.codeplex.com

Then you can write code like this to get the result you asked for:

CREATE TABLE foo
(
 id INT,
 name CHAR(1),
 Value CHAR(1)
);

INSERT  INTO dbo.foo
    (id, name, Value)
VALUES  (1, 'A', '4'),
        (1, 'B', '8'),
        (2, 'C', '9');

SELECT  id,
    dbo.GROUP_CONCAT(name + ':' + Value) AS [Column]
FROM    dbo.foo
GROUP BY id;

Answer 8

SQL Server 2005 and later allow you to create your own custom aggregate functions, including for things like concatenation- see the sample at the bottom of the linked article.

Answer 9

This is just an addition to Kevin Fairchild's post (very clever by the way). I would have added it as a comment, but I don't have enough points yet :)

I was using this idea for a view I was working on, however the items I was concatinating contained spaces. So I modified the code slightly to not use spaces as delimiters.

Again thanks for the cool workaround Kevin!

CREATE TABLE #YourTable ( [ID] INT, [Name] CHAR(1), [Value] INT ) 

INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID], [Name], [Value]) VALUES (1, 'A', 4) 
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID], [Name], [Value]) VALUES (1, 'B', 8) 
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID], [Name], [Value]) VALUES (2, 'C', 9) 

SELECT [ID], 
       REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(
                          (SELECT [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) as A 
                           FROM   #YourTable 
                           WHERE  ( ID = Results.ID ) 
                           FOR XML PATH (''))
                        , '</A><A>', ', ')
                ,'<A>','')
        ,'</A>','') AS NameValues 
FROM   #YourTable Results 
GROUP  BY ID 

DROP TABLE #YourTable 

Answer 10

An example would be

In Oracle you can use LISTAGG aggregate function.

Original records

name   type
------------
name1  type1
name2  type2
name2  type3

Sql

SELECT name, LISTAGG(type, '; ') WITHIN GROUP(ORDER BY name)
FROM table
GROUP BY name

Result in

name   type
------------
name1  type1
name2  type2; type3

Answer 11

This kind of question is asked here very often, and the solution is going to depend a lot on the underlying requirements:

https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=sql+pivot

and

https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=sql+concatenate

Typically, there is no SQL-only way to do this without either dynamic sql, a user-defined function, or a cursor.

Answer 12

Just to add to what Cade said, this is usually a front-end display thing and should therefore be handled there. I know that sometimes it's easier to write something 100% in SQL for things like file export or other "SQL only" solutions, but most of the times this concatenation should be handled in your display layer.

Answer 13

Don't need a cursor... a while loop is sufficient.

------------------------------
-- Setup
------------------------------

DECLARE @Source TABLE
(
  id int,
  Name varchar(30),
  Value int
)

DECLARE @Target TABLE
(
  id int,
  Result varchar(max) 
)


INSERT INTO @Source(id, Name, Value) SELECT 1, 'A', 4
INSERT INTO @Source(id, Name, Value) SELECT 1, 'B', 8
INSERT INTO @Source(id, Name, Value) SELECT 2, 'C', 9


------------------------------
-- Technique
------------------------------

INSERT INTO @Target (id)
SELECT id
FROM @Source
GROUP BY id

DECLARE @id int, @Result varchar(max)
SET @id = (SELECT MIN(id) FROM @Target)

WHILE @id is not null
BEGIN
  SET @Result = null

  SELECT @Result =
    CASE
      WHEN @Result is null
      THEN ''
      ELSE @Result + ', '
    END + s.Name + ':' + convert(varchar(30),s.Value)
  FROM @Source s
  WHERE id = @id

  UPDATE @Target
  SET Result = @Result
  WHERE id = @id

  SET @id = (SELECT MIN(id) FROM @Target WHERE @id < id)
END

SELECT *
FROM @Target

Answer 14

Let's get very simple:

SELECT stuff(
    (
    select ', ' + x from (SELECT 'xxx' x union select 'yyyy') tb 
    FOR XML PATH('')
    )
, 1, 2, '')

Replace this line:

select ', ' + x from (SELECT 'xxx' x union select 'yyyy') tb

With your query.

Answer 15

You can improve performance significant the following way if group by contains mostly one item:

SELECT 
  [ID],

CASE WHEN MAX( [Name]) = MIN( [Name]) THEN 
MAX( [Name]) NameValues
ELSE

  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) 
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS NameValues

END

FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID

Answer 16

didn't see any cross apply answers, also no need for xml extraction. Here is a slightly different version of what Kevin Fairchild wrote. It's faster and easier to use in more complex queries:

   select T.ID
,MAX(X.cl) NameValues
 from #YourTable T
 CROSS APPLY 
 (select STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX))
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = T.ID) 
    FOR XML PATH(''))
  ,1,2,'')  [cl]) X
  GROUP BY T.ID

Answer 17

Using the Stuff and for xml path operator to concatenate rows to string :Group By two columns -->

CREATE TABLE #YourTable ([ID] INT, [Name] CHAR(1), [Value] INT)

INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'A',4)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'B',8)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (1,'B',5)
INSERT INTO #YourTable ([ID],[Name],[Value]) VALUES (2,'C',9)

-- retrieve each unique id and name columns and concatonate the values into one column
SELECT 
  [ID], 
  STUFF((
    SELECT ', ' + [Name] + ':' + CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) -- CONCATONATES EACH APPLICATION : VALUE SET      
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID and Name = results.[name] ) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS NameValues
FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID


SELECT 
  [ID],[Name] , --these are acting as the group by clause
  STUFF((
    SELECT ', '+  CAST([Value] AS VARCHAR(MAX)) -- CONCATONATES THE VALUES FOR EACH ID NAME COMBINATION 
    FROM #YourTable 
    WHERE (ID = Results.ID and Name = results.[name] ) 
    FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
  ,1,2,'') AS  NameValues
FROM #YourTable Results
GROUP BY ID, name

DROP TABLE #YourTable

Answer 18

Using Replace Function and FOR JSON PATH

SELECT T3.DEPT, REPLACE(REPLACE(T3.ENAME,'{"ENAME":"',''),'"}','') AS ENAME_LIST
FROM (
 SELECT DEPT, (SELECT ENAME AS [ENAME]
        FROM EMPLOYEE T2
        WHERE T2.DEPT=T1.DEPT
        FOR JSON PATH,WITHOUT_ARRAY_WRAPPER) ENAME
    FROM EMPLOYEE T1
    GROUP BY DEPT) T3

For sample data and more ways click here

Answer 19

If you have clr enabled you could use the Group_Concat library from GitHub

Answer 20

For all my healthcare folks out there:

 
SELECT
s.NOTE_ID
,STUFF ((
        SELECT
           [note_text] + ' ' 
        FROM
            HNO_NOTE_TEXT s1
        WHERE
            (s1.NOTE_ID = s.NOTE_ID)
        ORDER BY [line] ASC
         FOR XML PATH(''),TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')
         ,
        1,
        2,
        '') AS NOTE_TEXT_CONCATINATED
FROM
    HNO_NOTE_TEXT s
    GROUP BY NOTE_ID
 

Answer 21

Another example without the garbage: ",TYPE).value('(./text())[1]','VARCHAR(MAX)')"

WITH t AS (
    SELECT 1 n, 1 g, 1 v
    UNION ALL 
    SELECT 2 n, 1 g, 2 v
    UNION ALL 
    SELECT 3 n, 2 g, 3 v
)
SELECT g
        , STUFF (
                (
                    SELECT ', ' + CAST(v AS VARCHAR(MAX))
                    FROM t sub_t
                    WHERE sub_t.g = main_t.g
                    FOR XML PATH('')
                )
                , 1, 2, ''
        ) cg
FROM t main_t
GROUP BY g

Input-output is

*************************   ->  *********************
*   n   *   g   *   v   *       *   g   *   cg      *
*   -   *   -   *   -   *       *   -   *   -       *
*   1   *   1   *   1   *       *   1   *   1, 2    *
*   2   *   1   *   2   *       *   2   *   3       *
*   3   *   2   *   3   *       *********************
*************************   

Answer 22

I used this approach which may be easier to grasp. Get a root element, then concat to choices any item with the same ID but not the 'official' name

  Declare @IdxList as Table(id int, choices varchar(max),AisName varchar(255))
  Insert into @IdxLIst(id,choices,AisName)
  Select IdxId,''''+Max(Title)+'''',Max(Title) From [dbo].[dta_Alias] 
 where IdxId is not null group by IdxId
  Update @IdxLIst
    set choices=choices +','''+Title+''''
    From @IdxLIst JOIN [dta_Alias] ON id=IdxId And Title <> AisName
    where IdxId is not null
    Select * from @IdxList where choices like '%,%'

Answer 23

Hello it is now possible to concatenate string in group by with SQL Server, by using STRING_AGG function. Here an example

--- Create table

create table test_string_agg(
id int,
str_text varchar(100)
)

-- Insert

insert into test_string_agg 
values (1,'Text1'),(1,'Text2'),(1,'Text3'), (2,'Text4')

--Request

select id, STRING_AGG(str_text, ';') as t_string_agg from test_string_agg
group by id

--Result

-------------------------------
|  id     | t_string_agg
----------------------------------
|   1     | Text1;Text2;Text3
---------------------------------
|   2     | Text4
-----------------------------------