PL/SQL convert rows to grouped columns - plsql

Question

I'm not sure how to phrase this question, but I am trying to convert a row value into columns in PL/SQL. I'm not a newbie, but I just can't figure how to go about doing this. I have the following table data:
Name Responsibility
Joe Sales
Steve Sales
Paul Exec
Pete Manager
John Exec
Roger Sec
Scott Exec
I need to create a query that will return and display the data as follows:
Sales Manager Exec Sec
Joe Pete John Roger
Steve Null Scott Null
Null Null Paul Null
The problem I am facing is that the row data is not related to eachother in anyway. Can this even be done?
I appreciate any help anyone can offer on this.
Thanks.

Answer 1

First of all it would be better if you give us your database version in the future.For exemple if you have Oracle 11g even if it isn't exectly what you want you can do something similar with PIVOT
with pivot_data as (select rownum as no,emp_name,job_name from (
select 'Joe' as emp_name,'Sales' as job_name from dual union all
select 'Steve','Sales' from dual union all
select 'Paul','Exec' from dual union all
select 'Pete','Manager' from dual union all
select 'John','Exec' from dual union all
select 'Roger','Sec' from dual union all
select 'Scott','Exec' from dual))
select "'Sales'" as Sales,"'Exec'" as Exec,"'Sec'" as Sec,"'Manager'" as Manager
from pivot_data
pivot(max(emp_name) for job_name in ('Sales','Exec','Sec','Manager'))
SALES EXEC SEC MANAGER
-------------------------------
Roger
Scott
John
Joe
Steve
Paul
Pete
Or if this isn't enough for you this PL/SQL does what you want.I tested it on 11g and i'm fairly certain that it would work with 10g et 9i but i can't guarantee anything for DB2 or PostGre :
declare
cursor C1 is
select 'Joe' as emp_name,'Sales' as job_name from dual union all
select 'Steve','Sales' from dual union all
select 'Paul','Exec' from dual union all
select 'Pete','Manager' from dual union all
select 'John','Exec' from dual union all
select 'Roger','Sec' from dual union all
select 'Scott','Exec' from dual;
varray_sales dbms_sql.varchar2_table;
varray_exec dbms_sql.varchar2_table;
varray_manager dbms_sql.varchar2_table;
varray_sec dbms_sql.varchar2_table;
i_sales number := 0;
i_exec number := 0;
i_manager number := 0;
i_sec number := 0;
n_line_aextr number;
colwidth number := 30;
line varchar2(120);
function max_de_deux (i number,x number) return number is
begin
return case when i > x then i else x end;
end;
begin
dbms_output.enable(120);
for l1 in c1 loop
if L1.job_name = 'Sales' then
i_sales := i_sales+1;
varray_sales(i_sales) := L1.emp_name;
elsif L1.job_name = 'Exec' then
i_exec := i_exec+1;
varray_exec(i_exec) := L1.emp_name;
elsif L1.job_name = 'Manager' then
i_Manager := i_Manager+1;
varray_manager(i_Manager) := L1.emp_name;
elsif L1.job_name = 'Sec' then
i_sec := i_sec+1;
varray_sec(i_sec) := L1.emp_name;
end if;
end loop;
dbms_output.put_line(rpad('Sales',colwidth,' ')||rpad('Exec',colwidth,' ')||rpad('Manager',colwidth,' ')
||rpad('Sec',colwidth,' '));
dbms_output.put_line(rpad('-',colwidth,'-')||rpad('-',colwidth,'-')||rpad('-',colwidth,'-')
||rpad('-',colwidth,'-'));
n_line_aextr := max_de_deux(i_manager,max_de_deux(i_sec,max_de_deux(i_sales,i_exec)));
for l in 1..n_line_aextr loop
line := '';
if l <= i_sales then
line := line || rpad(varray_sales(l),colwidth,' ');
else
line := line || rpad(' ',colwidth,' ');
end if;
if l <= i_exec then
line := line || rpad(varray_exec(l),colwidth,' ');
else
line := line || rpad(' ',colwidth,' ');
end if;
if l <= i_manager then
line := line || rpad(varray_manager(l),colwidth,' ');
else
line := line || rpad(' ',colwidth,' ');
end if;
if l <= i_sec then
line := line || rpad(varray_sec(l),colwidth,' ');
else
line := line || rpad(' ',colwidth,' ');
end if;
dbms_output.put_line(line);
end loop;
end;
Sales Exec Manager Sec
------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Paul Pete Roger
Steve John
Scott