Question

Possible Duplicate:
Simulating group_concat MySQL function in MS SQL Server 2005?

I have a query that needs to return a set of fields, along with a list of data returned as a single character-separated string.

Say I have 2 tables

tblPeople

NamePK    Name
-----------------
1         Fred
2         Tom

tblNotes

NameFK    Note
------------------------
1         Likes to talk
1         Types fast
2         Joined the internet

Then my answer would look like this (if I separated with a ‘+’)

NamePK    Name    Notes
-------------------------------------------
1         Fred    Likes to talk+Types fast
2         Tom     Joined the internet

I believe I have to use the COALESCE function. I have used it in the past to create comma-delimited values, but I am unsure on how to do this in a select. I’m using MSSQL.

Any ideas or approaches?

suggestions:
Sql COALESCE entire rows

Answer 1

Use STUFF and FOR XML PATH to do the concatenation. See this question for an example. There are improvements that can be made, such as eliminating extra delimiters, if you search around for other questions involving STUFF.

SELECT p.NamePK, p.Name,
 STUFF((
        select '+' + n.Note
        from tblNote n
        where n.NameFK = p.NamePK
        for xml path('')
    ), 1, 1, '')
FROM tblPeople p