Does T-SQL have an aggregate function to concatenate strings?

Question

Possible Duplicates:
Is there an Implode type function in SQL Server 2000?
How can I group fields from multiple records in T-SQL by another field?

I have a view which I'm querying that looks like this:

BuildingName    PollNumber
------------    ----------
Foo Centre      12        
Foo Centre      13
Foo Centre      14
Bar Hall        15
Bar Hall        16
Baz School      17

I need to write a query that groups BuildingNames together and displays a list of PollNumbers like this:

BuildingName    PollNumbers
------------    -----------
Foo Centre      12, 13, 14
Bar Hall        15, 16
Baz School      17

How can I do this in T-SQL? I'd rather not resort to writing a stored procedure for this, since it seems like overkill, but I'm not exactly a database person. It seems like an aggregate function like SUM() or AVG() is what I need, but I don't know if T-SQL has one. I'm using SQL Server 2005.

Answer 1

for SQL Server 2017 and up use:

STRING_AGG()

set nocount on;
declare @YourTable table (RowID int, HeaderValue int, ChildValue varchar(5))
insert into @YourTable VALUES (1,1,'CCC')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (2,2,'B<&>B')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (3,2,'AAA')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (4,3,'<br>')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (5,3,'A & Z')
set nocount off
SELECT
    t1.HeaderValue
        ,STUFF(
                   (SELECT
                        ', ' + t2.ChildValue
                        FROM @YourTable t2
                        WHERE t1.HeaderValue=t2.HeaderValue
                        ORDER BY t2.ChildValue
                        FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
                   ).value('.','varchar(max)')
                   ,1,2, ''
              ) AS ChildValues
    FROM @YourTable t1
    GROUP BY t1.HeaderValue

SELECT
    HeaderValue, STRING_AGG(ChildValue,', ')
    FROM @YourTable
    GROUP BY HeaderValue

OUTPUT:

HeaderValue 
----------- -------------
1           CCC
2           B<&>B, AAA
3           <br>, A & Z

(3 rows affected)

for SQL Server 2005 and up to 2016, you need to do something like this:

--Concatenation with FOR XML and eleminating control/encoded character expansion "& < >"
set nocount on;
declare @YourTable table (RowID int, HeaderValue int, ChildValue varchar(5))
insert into @YourTable VALUES (1,1,'CCC')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (2,2,'B<&>B')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (3,2,'AAA')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (4,3,'<br>')
insert into @YourTable VALUES (5,3,'A & Z')
set nocount off
SELECT
    t1.HeaderValue
        ,STUFF(
                   (SELECT
                        ', ' + t2.ChildValue
                        FROM @YourTable t2
                        WHERE t1.HeaderValue=t2.HeaderValue
                        ORDER BY t2.ChildValue
                        FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
                   ).value('.','varchar(max)')
                   ,1,2, ''
              ) AS ChildValues
    FROM @YourTable t1
    GROUP BY t1.HeaderValue

OUTPUT:

HeaderValue ChildValues
----------- -------------------
1           CCC
2           AAA, B<&>B
3           <br>, A & Z

(3 row(s) affected)

Also, watch out, not all FOR XML PATH concatenations will properly handle XML special characters like my above example will.