Question

I have two tables, in PostgreSQL if that matters, with one to many relations. I need to join them so that for each “one” I only get single result from the “many” table. Not only that but I need to single out specific results from the “many” table.

TABLE_A
ID  | NAME      | DATE          | MORE COLS....
1   | JOHN      | 2012-01-10    | ....
2   | LIZA      | 2012-01-10    | ....
3   | ANNY      | 2012-01-10    | ....
4   | JAMES     | 2012-01-10    | ....
...

TABLE_B
ID  | CODE1     | CODE2     | SORT
1   | 04020     | 85003     | 1
1   | 04030     | 85002     | 4
2   | 81000     | 80703     | 1
3   | 87010     | 80102     | 4
3   | 87010     | 84701     | 5
4   | 04810     | 85003     | 1
4   | 04030     | 85002     | 4
4   | 04020     | 85003     | 1
...

QUERY RESULT
ID  | NAME      | DATE          | CODE1     | CODE2
1   | JOHN      | 2012-01-10    | 04020     | 85003
2   | LIZA      | 2012-01-10    | 81000     | 80703
3   | ANNY      | 2012-01-10    | 87010     | 80102
4   | JAMES     | 2012-01-10    | 04810     | 85003
...

The SORT column in TABLE_B is actually the last char in CODE2 reordered. CODE2 can end with 1-9 but 3 is most important then 5, 7, 4, 2, 1, 0, 6, 8, 9 hence 3–>1, 5–>2, 7–>3 and so forth.

The problem I’m facing is that I need the row from TABLE_B where sort is the lowest number. In some cases there are multiple lowest case (see ID=4 in TABLE_B) then it doesn’t matter which of the rows with lowest ID are selected, only that there is single result for that ID.

Answer 1

Simpler, shorter, faster with PostgreSQL’s DISTINCT ON:

SELECT DISTINCT ON (a.id)
       a.id, a.name, a.date, b.code1, b.code2
FROM   table_a a
LEFT   JOIN table_b b USING (id)
ORDER  BY a.id, b.sort;

Details, explanation, benchmark and links:

• Select first row in each GROUP BY group?

I use a LEFT JOIN, so that rows from table_a without any matching row in table_b are not dropped. Resulting NULL values in b.sort sort last by default.

Aside:
While being allowed in Postgres, it’s unwise to use date as column name. It’s a reserved word in every SQL standard and a type name in Postgres.