Setting column values as column names in the SQL query result

What you are attempting to do is a PIVOT MySQL does not have a PIVOT function so you can replicate this using a CASE and an aggregate function.

If you have a known number of columns, then you can use a static version and hard-code the values. Similar to this (See SQL Fiddle with demo):

select id,
  max(case when col1='name' then col2 end) name,
  max(case when col1='name2' then col2 end) name2,
  max(case when col1='name3' then col2 end) name3
from yourtable
group by id

But if you have an unknown number of columns, then you can use a prepared statement and create this dynamically:

SET @sql = NULL;
SELECT
  GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT
    CONCAT(
      'max(case when col1 = ''',
      col1,
      ''' then col2 end) AS ',
      col1
    )
  ) INTO @sql
FROM yourtable;

SET @sql = CONCAT('SELECT id, ', @sql, ' 
                  FROM yourtable 
                  GROUP BY id');

PREPARE stmt FROM @sql;
EXECUTE stmt;
DEALLOCATE PREPARE stmt;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo


This is done with a pivot table. Grouping by id, you issue CASE statements for each value you want to capture in a column and use something like a MAX() aggregate to eliminate the nulls and collapse down to one row.

SELECT
  id,
  /* if col1 matches the name string of this CASE, return col2, otherwise return NULL */
  /* Then, the outer MAX() aggregate will eliminate all NULLs and collapse it down to one row per id */
  MAX(CASE WHEN (col1 = 'name') THEN col2 ELSE NULL END) AS name,
  MAX(CASE WHEN (col1 = 'name2') THEN col2 ELSE NULL END) AS name2,
  MAX(CASE WHEN (col1 = 'name3') THEN col2 ELSE NULL END) AS name3
FROM
  yourtable
GROUP BY id
ORDER BY id

Here's a working sample

Note: This only works as is for a finite and known number of possible values for col1. If the number of possible values is unknown, you need to build the SQL statement dynamically in a loop.

Tags:

Mysql

Sql

Pivot