I have a prefs
table, and here are the relevant columns:
mydb=> SELECT pref_id, pref_name, pref_value FROM prefs;
pref_id | pref_name | pref_value
---------+--------------+----------------
1 | PagerNumber | 2125551234
2 | PagerCarrier | @att.com
3 | PagerCarrier | @something.com
I want to produce something like this:
section | pager_number | pager_carrier
---------+----------------+---------------
1 | 2125551234 |
2 | | @att.com
3 | | @something.com
So I used crosstab, following this example on stackoverflow: PostgreSQL Crosstab Query
SELECT row_name AS section,
category_1::text AS pager_number,
category_2::text AS pager_carrier
FROM crosstab('select pref_id::bigint, pref_name::text, pref_value::text
FROM prefs')
AS ct (row_name bigint, category_1 text, category_2 text);
All the values are going into pager_number
, and pager_carrier
is left empty:
section | pager_number | pager_carrier
---------+----------------+---------------
1 | 2125551234 |
2 | @att.com |
3 | @something.com |
Can anyone see what's going on?
Test case (preferred way to provide sample data):
CREATE TEMP TABLE prefs (pref_id int, pref_name text, pref_value text);
INSERT INTO prefs VALUES
(1, 'PagerNumber' , '2125551234')
,(2, 'PagerCarrier', '@att.com')
,(3, 'PagerCarrier', '@something.com');
Query:
SELECT *
FROM crosstab(
'SELECT pref_id, pref_name, pref_value
FROM prefs
ORDER BY 1, 2',
$$VALUES ('PagerNumber'::text), ('PagerCarrier')$$
)
AS x (section text, pager_number bigint, pager_carrier text);
Returns exactly the result depicted in your question. If a PagerNumber
can be something else than a valid bigint
number, use text
instead.
The answer you are referring to in your question was outdated and never correct to begin with. I added a proper answer with explanation and links over there.
Instead of:
SELECT row_name AS section, category_1::text AS pager_number, category_2::text
AS pager_carrier
FROM crosstab('select pref_id::bigint, pref_name::text, pref_value::text
FROM prefs')
AS ct (row_name bigint, category_1 text, category_2 text);
try:
SELECT *
FROM crosstab('select pref_id::bigint, pref_name::text, pref_value::text
FROM prefs ORDER BY 1,2')
AS prefs (row_name bigint, carrier_1 text, carrier_2 text);
If you had:
pref_id | pref_name | pref_value
---------+--------------+----------------
1 | PagerNumber | 2125551234
2 | PagerCarrier | @att.com
3 | PagerCarrier | @something.com
2 | PageNumber | 2332323232
3 | PagerCarrier | @somethingelse.com
You would have gotten:
row_name | carrier_1 | carrier_2
-----+--------------+----------------
1 | 2125551234 |
2 | @att.com | 2332323232
3 | @something.com | @somethingelse.com
Postgress Crosstab Reference