How to use the PIVOT function in SQL Pivoting in SQL is a great way to transform tabular data into a compact summary table Here is a quick guide to how to use it, showing the Syntax and some use cases https://www.selectdistinct.co.uk/2023/05/22/pivot-function-in-sql/ #SQLPIVOT #SQLPIVOTTABLE #PIVOT

1. SQL Tips
and Timesavers
How to use
The PIVOT function in SQL
Introduction
Syntax
Use Cases

2. The PIVOT function in SQL can be used to
create a dataset with aggregated rows
from a list of data

3. Requirement
Assuming we have a long table of data
We want to turn this long list of dates To this…..
A simplified summary of how many days per
month in each year
This is similar to a PIVOT table in Excel

4. Inner Query
Our inner query in this example is a simple list
of individual dates to make it easy to
understand
But it can easily be modified to work on any
other data you want to summarise
For example
A daily list of sales transactions, which you
need to aggregate to monthly totals by year

5. select * from
(
select year, MonthName, date
from [dbo].[DimDate]
where year in (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
) a
PIVOT
(count(date)
for Monthname in
(January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December)
) b
SQL PIVOT
Here is the SQL code and a breakdown of what
each part does
This is the Inner query, which can be any
tabulated data set that you want to aggregate
This is the start of the PIVOT function, here we
have set the aggregation to be a simple count of
days per month
Here we have to specify which months we want
as column headings for the aggregations.
We do not have return every month
And we can alter the order, the columns are
returned in the order we list them

6. Use Cases
SQL Pivot can be very useful when you need to be able to see data over a range of columns
A good example of this any form of seasonality
Analysis of seasonality is based around having a fixed number of data points within a year so lends
itself well to using this method. It could also be used to capture sales of a product category over
weeks of the year, seeing seasonal increases and decreases over a range of years
0
5
10
15
20
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average Daily Temperature by year
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

7. You have seen that the PIVOT function can change the data orientation,
similar to a Pivot table, but all within SQL

8. For more Tips, Tricks and
Timesavers, visit our website
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