SQLite Unions clause

May 16, 2021 SQLite

SQLite Unions clause

SQLite's UNION clause/operator is used to merge the results of two or more SELECT statements without returning any duplicate lines.

In order to use UNION, each SELECT must be selected with the same number of column expressions, the same data types, and ensure that they have the same order, but they do not have to have the same length.

Grammar

The basic syntax of union is as follows:

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

UNION

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

The condition given here can be any expression as needed.

Suppose you have two tables, (1) the COMPANY table looks like this:

sqlite> select * from COMPANY;
ID          NAME                  AGE         ADDRESS     SALARY
----------  --------------------  ----------  ----------  ----------
1           Paul                  32          California  20000.0
2           Allen                 25          Texas       15000.0
3           Teddy                 23          Norway      20000.0
4           Mark                  25          Rich-Mond   65000.0
5           David                 27          Texas       85000.0
6           Kim                   22          South-Hall  45000.0
7           James                 24          Houston     10000.0

(2) The other table is THED, as follows:

ID          DEPT                  EMP_ID
----------  --------------------  ----------
1           IT Billing            1
2           Engineering           2
3           Finance               7
4           Engineering           3
5           Finance               4
6           Engineering           5
7           Finance               6

Now let's connect the two tables using the SELECT statement and the UNION clause, as follows:

sqlite> SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY INNER JOIN DEPARTMENT
        ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID
   UNION
     SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY LEFT OUTER JOIN DEPARTMENT
        ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID;

This results in the following:

EMP_ID      NAME                  DEPT
----------  --------------------  ----------
1           Paul                  IT Billing
2           Allen                 Engineerin
3           Teddy                 Engineerin
4           Mark                  Finance
5           David                 Engineerin
6           Kim                   Finance
7           James                 Finance

UNION ALL clause

The UNION ALL operator is used to combine the results of two SELECT statements, including duplicate lines.

The rules that apply to UNION also apply to union ALL operators.

Grammar

The basic syntax of UNION ALL is as follows:

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

UNION ALL

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

The condition given here can be any expression as needed.

Now let's connect the two tables using the SELECT statement and the UNION ALL clause, as follows:

sqlite> SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY INNER JOIN DEPARTMENT
        ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID
   UNION ALL
     SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY LEFT OUTER JOIN DEPARTMENT
        ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID;

This results in the following:

EMP_ID      NAME                  DEPT
----------  --------------------  ----------
1           Paul                  IT Billing
2           Allen                 Engineerin
3           Teddy                 Engineerin
4           Mark                  Finance
5           David                 Engineerin
6           Kim                   Finance
7           James                 Finance
1           Paul                  IT Billing
2           Allen                 Engineerin
3           Teddy                 Engineerin
4           Mark                  Finance
5           David                 Engineerin
6           Kim                   Finance
7           James                 Finance

SQLite Unions clause

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