MySQL - Rows to Columns

Question

I tried to search posts, but I only found solutions for SQL Server/Access. I need a solution in MySQL (5.X).

I have a table (called history) with 3 columns: hostid, itemname, itemvalue.
If I do a select (select * from history), it will return

   +--------+----------+-----------+
   | hostid | itemname | itemvalue |
   +--------+----------+-----------+
   |   1    |    A     |    10     |
   +--------+----------+-----------+
   |   1    |    B     |     3     |
   +--------+----------+-----------+
   |   2    |    A     |     9     |
   +--------+----------+-----------+
   |   2    |    c     |    40     |
   +--------+----------+-----------+

How do I query the database to return something like

   +--------+------+-----+-----+
   | hostid |   A  |  B  |  C  |
   +--------+------+-----+-----+
   |   1    |  10  |  3  |  0  |
   +--------+------+-----+-----+
   |   2    |   9  |  0  |  40 |
   +--------+------+-----+-----+

Answer 1

Taking advantage of Matt Fenwick's idea that helped me to solve the problem (a lot of thanks), let's reduce it to only one query:

select
    history.*,
    coalesce(sum(case when itemname = "A" then itemvalue end), 0) as A,
    coalesce(sum(case when itemname = "B" then itemvalue end), 0) as B,
    coalesce(sum(case when itemname = "C" then itemvalue end), 0) as C
from history
group by hostid

Answer 2

Another option,especially useful if you have many items you need to pivot is to let mysql build the query for you:

SELECT
  GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT
    CONCAT(
      'ifnull(SUM(case when itemname = ''',
      itemname,
      ''' then itemvalue end),0) AS `',
      itemname, '`'
    )
  ) INTO @sql
FROM
  history;
SET @sql = CONCAT('SELECT hostid, ', @sql, ' 
                  FROM history 
                   GROUP BY hostid');

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

FIDDLE Added some extra values to see it working

GROUP_CONCAT has a default value of 1000 so if you have a really big query change this parameter before running it

SET SESSION group_concat_max_len = 1000000;

Test:

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS history;
CREATE TABLE history
(hostid INT,
itemname VARCHAR(5),
itemvalue INT);

INSERT INTO history VALUES(1,'A',10),(1,'B',3),(2,'A',9),
(2,'C',40),(2,'D',5),
(3,'A',14),(3,'B',67),(3,'D',8);

  hostid    A     B     C      D
    1     10      3     0      0
    2     9       0    40      5
    3     14     67     0      8

Answer 3

SELECT 
    hostid, 
    sum( if( itemname = 'A', itemvalue, 0 ) ) AS A,  
    sum( if( itemname = 'B', itemvalue, 0 ) ) AS B, 
    sum( if( itemname = 'C', itemvalue, 0 ) ) AS C 
FROM 
    bob 
GROUP BY 
    hostid;

Answer 4

This isn't the exact answer you are looking for but it was a solution that i needed on my project and hope this helps someone. This will list 1 to n row items separated by commas. Group_Concat makes this possible in MySQL.

select
cemetery.cemetery_id as "Cemetery_ID",
GROUP_CONCAT(distinct(names.name)) as "Cemetery_Name",
cemetery.latitude as Latitude,
cemetery.longitude as Longitude,
c.Contact_Info,
d.Direction_Type,
d.Directions

    from cemetery
    left join cemetery_names on cemetery.cemetery_id = cemetery_names.cemetery_id 
    left join names on cemetery_names.name_id = names.name_id 
    left join cemetery_contact on cemetery.cemetery_id = cemetery_contact.cemetery_id 

    left join 
    (
        select 
            cemetery_contact.cemetery_id as cID,
            group_concat(contacts.name, char(32), phone.number) as Contact_Info

                from cemetery_contact
                left join contacts on cemetery_contact.contact_id = contacts.contact_id 
                left join phone on cemetery_contact.contact_id = phone.contact_id 

            group by cID
    )
    as c on c.cID = cemetery.cemetery_id


    left join
    (
        select 
            cemetery_id as dID, 
            group_concat(direction_type.direction_type) as Direction_Type,
            group_concat(directions.value , char(13), char(9)) as Directions

                from directions
                left join direction_type on directions.type = direction_type.direction_type_id

            group by dID


    )
    as d on d.dID  = cemetery.cemetery_id

group by Cemetery_ID

This cemetery has two common names so the names are listed in different rows connected by a single id but two name ids and the query produces something like this

    CemeteryID     Cemetery_Name             Latitude
    1                    Appleton,Sulpher Springs   35.4276242832293