(There is an updated version of this post here)
MySQL has useful extention to the GROUP BY operation: function GROUP_CONCAT:
GROUP_CONCAT(expr) – This function returns a string result with the concatenated non-NULL values from a group.
Where it can be useful?
For example to get PHP array without looping inside PHP:
Table:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 | CREATE TABLE services ( id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL, client_id INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL, KEY (id)); INSERT INTO services VALUES (1,1),(1,2),(3,5),(3,6),(3,7); SELECT id,client_id FROM services WHERE id = 3; +----+-----------+ | id | client_id | +----+-----------+ | 3 | 5 | | 3 | 6 | | 3 | 7 | +----+-----------+ SELECT id,GROUP_CONCAT(client_id) FROM services WHERE id = 3 GROUP BY id; +----+-------------------------+ | id | GROUP_CONCAT(client_id) | +----+-------------------------+ | 3 | 5,6,7 | +----+-------------------------+ |
Handling in PHP:
old way:
1 2 3 4 5 6 | <!--?php $res=$mysqli--->query("SELECT id,client_id FROM services WHERE id = 3"); while ($row = $res->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC)) { $result[] = $row['client_id']; } $res->free(); ?> |
with group_concat:
1 2 3 4 5 | <!--?php $res=$mysqli--->query("SELECT id,GROUP_CONCAT(client_id) as clients FROM services WHERE id = 3 GROUP BY id"); $row = $res->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC); $result = explode(',', $row['clients']); // $row['clients'] contains string 5,6,7 $res->free(); ?> |
This should work faster, as we remove loop from PHP to MySQL server side.
Also it can be handy to use result concatenated string as part of IN statement:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | <!--?php $res=$mysqli--->query("SELECT id,GROUP_CONCAT(client_id) as clients FROM services WHERE id = 3 GROUP BY id"); $row = $res->fetch_array(MYSQLI_ASSOC); $result = $row['clients']; // $row['clients'] contains string 5,6,7 $res->free(); $resclients=$mysqli->query("SELECT id,client_name FROM clients WHERE id = IN ($result)"); // handle $resclients ?> |
Sure, last example can be handled with one query with joins, but sometimes we need the temporary ids in clients code, for example to execute query on another server.
One more thing: you may want to add ORDER BY NULL statement after GROUP_BY to avoid
unnecessary sorting with filesort
Nice info 🙂
there is error in line 4 in example 3
Vladimir
Thank you, fixed.
A litte problem I had with the group_concat function was when selecting integers only I was getting a blob instead of a string to solve this I used a cast:
SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(CAST(myInt as CHAR)) myInts FROM aTable;
Hi, Thanks
Do anybody know how to do the same as the GROUP_CONCAT() function do
in MS-Access? It seems don’t have this kind of functions
My sincere thanks to – 6. paul carey for publishing this fix – you saved my sanity.
I have created a table (with only 2 fields) with the following query
1.CREATE TABLE
users(2.
idINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY ,3.
nameVARCHAR( 20 ) NOT NULL4.) ENGINE = MYISAM ;”
There are 20,000 users in this table with ids from 1 to 20,000
On executing the following query
Code: ( text )
1. select group_concat(id separator ‘,’) from users
returns only 283 ids separated with ‘,’
GROUP_CONCAT IS VERY NICE, BUT THERE IS A LIMIT UPTO 1024, CAN WE INCREASE THE LIMIT? IF YES PLEASE
There is group_concat_max_len server variable, which by default is 1024
how to extent the limit of group concat > 1024
group_concat_max_len=4096 in my.cnf
or SET GLOBAL group_concat_max_len=4096
where i can get my.cnf file or
how to set global
Hi, is it possible to use some kind of argument in group_concat that allows it to group 2 by 2? p.ex:
SELECT id,client_id FROM services WHERE id = 3;
+—-+———–+
| id | client_id |
+—-+———–+
| 3 | 5 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 3 | 8 |
| 3 | 9 |
| 3 | 10 |
| 3 | 11 |
+—-+———–+
SELECT id,GROUP_CONCAT(client_id,2) FROM services WHERE id = 3 GROUP BY id;
+—-+————————-+
| id | GROUP_CONCAT(client_id) |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 5,6 |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 6,7 |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 7,8 |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 8,9 |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 9,10 |
+—-+————————-+
| 3 | 10,11 |
+—-+————————-+
Thanks!
Has MySQL rollup, cubes or grouping sets like Oracle?
A litte problem I had with the group_concat function was when selecting integers only I was getting a blob instead of a string to solve this I used a CONCAT:
SELECT CONCAT(GROUP_CONCAT(myInt),”) myInts FROM aTable;
Murz,
you saved my time. Thanks a lot!.
@Murz, Jasan
Alternatively you can use
CONVERT(group_concat(myInt) USING utf8)
Don’t use!
1) explode() can’t be faster than the loop
2) GROUP BY slows the query
Did you do benchmark, or you just guessed the results??
Hello !
I’ve a little problem using group_concat and user variable.
I tried to set a group_concat(id) result into a @var, and then call the same table where id in(@var)
but mysql return only the first row :\ do u have any idea ?
Here is the code :
——————
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS
user(idtinyint(3) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,nomvarchar(255) NOT NULL,PRIMARY KEY (
id)) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=10 ;
INSERT INTO
user(id,nom) VALUES (1, ‘flo’),(2, ‘seb’),(3, ‘julien’),(4, ‘julie’),(5, ‘aymeric’),(6, ‘renaud’),(7, ‘lucy’),(8, ‘charlotte’),(9, ‘aurelien’);mysql> SELECT @lid := CAST(GROUP_CONCAT(id) AS CHAR) FROM
userWHEREnomin(‘renaud’, ‘julie’, ‘lucy’);+—————————————-+
| @lid := CAST(GROUP_CONCAT(id) AS CHAR) |
+—————————————-+
| 4,6,7 |
+—————————————-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> SELECT @lid;
+——-+
| @lid |
+——-+
| 4,6,7 |
+——-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
mysql> SELECT * FROM user WHERE id IN(@lid);
+—-+——-+
| id | nom |
+—-+——-+
| 4 | julie |
+—-+——-+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
I know it is totally useless but it’s just a sample 😉
Regards.
Florian, this topic has been addressed hundreds of times on forums and mailing lists 🙂 Google is your friend.
Mysql support saved my time 🙂
mysql> SELECT * FROM user where FIND_IN_SET(id, @lid);
+—-+———-+
| id | nom |
+—-+———-+
| 4 | julie |
| 6 | renaud |
| 9 | aurelien |
+—-+———-+
3 rows in set (0.02 sec)
I have two tables – member_directory & categories – that have a many-to-many relationship. I am using a bridge table called member_categories.
SELECT DISTINCT(md.id),GROUP_CONCAT(categories.category SEPARATOR ‘, ‘) AS category FROM member_directory md LEFT JOIN member_categories mc ON md.id = mc.member_id LEFT JOIN categories ON mc.category_id = categories.id GROUP BY md.name ORDER BY md.isfeatured DESC, md.name ASC LIMIT 0, 10
====================================================================
id | category |
——————————————————————–
951 | CONDOMINIUMS, VACATION RENTALS |
1711 | VACATION RENTALS, REALTORS |
1413 | VACATION RENTALS |
1163 | BOATING/FISHING/MARINE |
2034 | VACATION RENTALS |
2240 | TRAVEL AGENCIES, VACATION RENTALS |
2033 | APARTMENT/HOUSE RENTALS |
2208 | APARTMENT/HOUSE RENTALS |
2153 | HEARING AIDS, MEDICAL SERVICES/HOSPITALS/CLINICS, AUDIOLOGY |
1002 | CONDOMINIUMS |
====================================================================
If I add any conditions regarding the category, the GROUP_CONCAT starts returning only the category mentioned in the WHERE clause (I don’t think I explained that very well, but here is an example). Adding a WHERE clause to the query:
SELECT DISTINCT(md.id), GROUP_CONCAT(categories.category SEPARATOR ‘, ‘) AS category FROM member_directory md LEFT JOIN member_categories mc ON md.id = mc.member_id LEFT JOIN categories ON mc.category_id = categories.id WHERE mc.category_id = 187 GROUP BY md.id ORDER BY md.id ASC, md.name ASC LIMIT 0, 10
====================================================================
id | category |
——————————————————————–
1417 | SHOPPING |
1736 | SHOPPING |
1768 | SHOPPING |
2219 | SHOPPING |
2403 | SHOPPING |
2407 | SHOPPING |
2426 | SHOPPING |
2431 | SHOPPING |
2456 | SHOPPING |
2458 | SHOPPING |
====================================================================
Is there any way I can get the desired result? I just need a query to get information from the member_directory and any categories it may belong to.
I was able to get what I needed by using a sub-query:
SELECT DISTINCT(md.id), (SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(categories.category SEPARATOR ‘, ‘) AS category FROM member_categories LEFT JOIN categories ON member_categories.category_id = categories.id WHERE member_categories.member_id = md.id) AS category FROM member_directory md LEFT JOIN member_categories mc ON md.id = mc.member_id LEFT JOIN categories ON mc.category_id = categories.id WHERE mc.category_id IN (138) GROUP BY md.name ORDER BY md.isfeatured DESC, RAND(1283945655) LIMIT 0, 10
====================================================================
id | category |
——————————————————————–
2275 | VACATION RENTALS, MASSAGE THERAPY, CONDOMINIUMS |
1388 | VACATION RENTALS |
1839 | VACATION RENTALS, CONDOMINIUMS |
1845 | CONDOMINIUMS, VACATION RENTALS |
1808 | REALTORS, VACATION RENTALS |
1899 | CONDOMINIUMS, VACATION RENTALS |
951 | CONDOMINIUMS, VACATION RENTALS |
1713 | VACATION RENTALS, CONDOMINIUMS |
2240 | TRAVEL AGENCIES, VACATION RENTALS |
2285 | VACATION RENTALS, CONDOMINIUMS |
====================================================================
However, if anyone has any tips to make this better, please post! Thanks!
Details
The result is truncated to the maximum length that is given by the group_concat_max_len system variable, which has a default value of 1024. The value can be set higher, although the effective maximum length of the return value is constrained by the value of max_allowed_packet. The syntax to change the value of group_concat_max_len at runtime is as follows, where val is an unsigned integer:
SET [GLOBAL | SESSION] group_concat_max_len = val;
Current values in Our server
max_allowed_packet = 67107840
group_concat_max_len = 1024
Query:
To how much extent ,I can increase this variable size .and what is the maximumm data limit of GROUP_CONCAT
When I am using in GROUP_CONCAT, It will list all the values associated wit the parent ID, But I need only few like limit in ordinary SQL statement. Anybody know how to do this in MySQL qeury?
tblmovies
MovieId MovieName
1 The Take
2 Fatal Contact
3 Flashbacks of a Fool
4 Teddy Bear
5 Nanking
tblgenres
GenreId GenreName
1 Action
2 Horror
3 Sci-Fi
4 Documentary
5 Drama
6 History
tblmovie_genres
movieId GenreId
1 2
1 4
1 5
2 4
4 5
3 5
5 6
When I was selecting the Movie whith Id 1 GROUP_CONCAT will result Horror,Documentary, Drama ; But I want to get only 2 genres which is Horror,Documentary.
Please somebody help me .
Thanks.
hi PixelMe.
you can use substring_index(group_concat(column),’,’,2). it will return the first 2 concated values.
thank bosss “@Murz, Jasan ”
it work for me..
@Murz, Jasan
Alternatively you can use
CONVERT(group_concat(myInt) USING utf8)
@bhushan .. thank you that resolved a query with bigint values!
Thanks
Hi Vadim,
many thanks for this example!
That helped me a lot!!!
@bhushan .. thank you that resolved a query with bigint values!
@Barbara,
thanks
Thank you! this really helped alot!
Hi, this is a useful tutorial but i need some more help. In my table the column I use the GROUP_CONCAT is a foreign key from another table. So, i have to display PC1,PC2,PC3 for example and no 2,3,4 which are the values of my table. I tried with LEFT JOIN but I didn’t get a result. I’m trying to make an extra query inorder to take those names but nothing yet. Can you halp me a little bit?
Thank you , Vadim Tkachenko
i used group_concat in my query but i got i problem
problem is
mysql group_concat limit length is 1024 and i need to increase it ( i did it )
(
but is there is problem when i increase group_concat length to more than 1024
)
it work fine in localhost , but on the website , i got error -> need more premission to do this
I have a table like
userid testid attempts grade
2 1 6,4,9,2,7,5,3,8,1 20,55,56,67,80,66,33,34,52
I want to get the attempts in order like
userid testid attempts grade
2 1 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 52,67,33,55,66,20,80,34,56
And my query looks like
SELECT li.userid, li.testid, group_concat(li.attempts AS att, group_concat(li.grade) FROM testattempts GROUP BY testid
Could anyone help me with this?
Hi,
Can we change the comma( , ) symbol to | symbol in group contact present in the mysql …
appreciates a reply..
Thank U
You can chanage separator as follows:
mysql> SELECT *,
-> GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT test_score
-> ORDER BY test_score DESC SEPARATOR ‘ |’)
-> FROM table_name
Is GROUP_CONCAT() Function in Sql Server too?
If it has a sample command in sql server please say to me . thanks
i have below loop
for($x=$c;$x!=1;$x–){
$sql1=”select l2tpCDR.iccid as ic, sum(l2tpCDR.data) as sdata from l2tpCDR inner join sim on sim.ICCID=l2tpCDR.iccid where StatementID=0 and sim.simID='” . $b[$x] . “‘ group by ic”;
$result1=mysql_query($sql1);
mysql_error();
$row1=mysql_fetch_array($result1);
}
and i want to tot up all the sum(l2tpCDR.data) as sdata at the end .could you please help me with this?
Hi, I doubt that GROUP_CONCAT way is faster then usual one. Does anybody did benchmark?
@Andrey:
GROUP_CONCAT is rather slower than a regular while( mysql_fetch_array() ) PHP loop. The example here is just for simplicity. But GROUP_CONCAT is really powerful, when it comes to get several records with several “subrecords” without getting too much data (duplicated) from related tables. For example:
SELECT
p.name,p.description, group_concat(pf.filenameSEPARATOR ‘:’ ) FROMpagesp LEFT JOIN
pages_filespf USING(
pages_id)will get all pages and to every page – all files assigned to it (separated by ‘:’). You can even try something like this:
SELECT
p.name,p.description, group_concat( concat(pf.description, ‘: ‘,pf.filename) SEPARATOR ‘;’ ) FROMpagesp LEFT JOIN
pages_filespf USING(
pages_id)to get same as last time, but with files and their descriptions (file and description separated by :, and different files assigned to the same page separated by 😉 in one query. With a little more work you can get a ready-to-use xml code for this kind of tree-structure, and if not for the group_concat limit – you would be able to construct a single SQL query to extract a ready-to-use XML document containing all pages and their assigned files with all the required attributes – it is up to you to use this grouping function for much more then replacing php while loop, as it’s possibilities are really huge.
thanks,
Its too simple to understand.
I just wrote up a tiny example to demonstrate the group_concat function. I´m just posting this here since it might be useful for you : http://www.giombetti.com/2013/06/06/mysql-group_concat/
Also to change seporator value in case you have commas in your values you can define it with
group_concat(table.value SEPARATOR ‘|’)
Thanks for this nice example. Didn’t know you could use group and cat to group together a set of values.
Nice work.