"SUM" of a varchar column?

I have a table that contains a number of columns containing either a varchar
value, or null. There are multiple rows per grouping. I would like to colapse
the multiple rows into a single row, either by appending the strings to each
other, or simply selecting the first (or last) one.
If it was a number field I could do a SUM, MAX or MIN. SUM doesn't work, for
obvious reasons. I thought MAX would work, but MAX returns only one value for
all of the columns (as opposed to one per column) and the rest are left as
null.
Any suggestions?Here's an example...
The table contains this data, all items are varchar
3261 1317
3261 Non-Client
3261 2
3261 mmarkowitz
I'd like to turn this into...
3261 1317 Non-client 2 mmarkowitz|||This looks like a PIVOT. Can you flatten this table out on the client? If
not, see http://www.aspfaq.com/2462
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(Reverse address to reply.)
"Maury Markowitz" <MauryMarkowitz@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:7838E3D4-CD8D-46EB-A75F-D069B30EE9AB@.microsoft.com...
> I have a table that contains a number of columns containing either a
varchar
> value, or null. There are multiple rows per grouping. I would like to
colapse
> the multiple rows into a single row, either by appending the strings to
each
> other, or simply selecting the first (or last) one.
> If it was a number field I could do a SUM, MAX or MIN. SUM doesn't work,
for
> obvious reasons. I thought MAX would work, but MAX returns only one value
for
> all of the columns (as opposed to one per column) and the rest are left as
> null.
> Any suggestions?|||"Maury Markowitz" <MauryMarkowitz@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:DD2FA7A5-A0F2-4BFF-85E9-42533F4E423C@.microsoft.com...
> Here's an example...
> The table contains this data, all items are varchar
>
> 3261 1317
> 3261 Non-Client
> 3261 2
> 3261 mmarkowitz
> I'd like to turn this into...
> 3261 1317 Non-client 2 mmarkowitz
I'm not sure if this will help, but you may want to take a look at the
GROUP BY WITH ROLLUP and WITH CUBE commands. It may work for what you are
after.
SELECT Col1, Max(Col2)
FROM tablename
GROUP BY Col1
WITH ROLLUP
HTH
Rick Sawtell
MCT, MCSD, MCDBA|||SELECT col1, MAX(col2), MAX(col3), MAX(col4), ...
FROM YourTable
GROUP BY col1
--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
--|||I don't think this will work, he wants to flatten one ofthe two columns in
his table out into multiple columns...
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"David Portas" <REMOVE_BEFORE_REPLYING_dportas@.acm.org> wrote in message
news:1103306604.369012.58920@.z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> SELECT col1, MAX(col2), MAX(col3), MAX(col4), ...
> FROM YourTable
> GROUP BY col1
> --
> David Portas
> SQL Server MVP
> --
>|||OK. Looks to me like 5 columns but I guess that's just presentational ;-)
Tough to pivot without an explicit attribute for the column.
--
David Portas
SQL Server MVP
--|||"Aaron [SQL Server MVP]" wrote:
> This looks like a PIVOT.
Actually it is the RESULT of a pivot, which is why it is spread out
vertically like that.
But I did figure out a "trick". After reading the page you sent, I combined
their technique of ISNULL (instead of CASE) with MIN, and presto.
Thanks!
(anyone interested in the code?)