Question

I’m trying to perform a group by action on an aliased column (example below) but can’t determine the proper syntax.

SELECT       LastName + ', ' + FirstName AS 'FullName' FROM         customers GROUP BY     'FullName' 

What is the correct syntax?

Extending the question further (I had not expected the answers I had received) would the solution still apply for a CASEed aliased column?

SELECT            CASE         WHEN LastName IS NULL THEN FirstName         WHEN LastName IS NOT NULL THEN LastName + ', ' + FirstName     END AS 'FullName' FROM         customers GROUP BY          LastName, FirstName 

And the answer is yes it does still apply.

Answer 1

You pass the expression you want to group by rather than the alias

SELECT       LastName + ', ' + FirstName AS 'FullName' FROM         customers GROUP BY      LastName + ', ' + FirstName