The SQL UNION clause/operator is used to combine the results of two or more SELECT statements without returning any duplicate rows.
To use this UNION clause, each SELECT statement must have
- The same number of columns selected
- The same number of column expressions
- The same data type and
- Have them in the same order
But they need not have to be in the same length.
Syntax
The basic syntax of a UNION clause is as follows −
SELECT column1 [, column2 ] FROM table1 [, table2 ] [WHERE condition] UNION SELECT column1 [, column2 ] FROM table1 [, table2 ] [WHERE condition]
Here, the given condition could be any given expression based on your requirement.
Example
Consider the following two tables.
Table 1 − CUSTOMERS Table is as follows.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+ | ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY | +----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+ | 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 | | 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 | | 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 | | 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 | | 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 | | 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 | | 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 | +----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Table 2 − ORDERS Table is as follows.
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+ |OID | DATE | CUSTOMER_ID | AMOUNT | +-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+ | 102 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 3000 | | 100 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 1500 | | 101 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | 2 | 1560 | | 103 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | 4 | 2060 | +-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
Now, let us join these two tables in our SELECT statement as follows −
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, AMOUNT, DATE FROM CUSTOMERS LEFT JOIN ORDERS ON CUSTOMERS.ID = ORDERS.CUSTOMER_ID UNION SELECT ID, NAME, AMOUNT, DATE FROM CUSTOMERS RIGHT JOIN ORDERS ON CUSTOMERS.ID = ORDERS.CUSTOMER_ID;
This would produce the following result −
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+ | ID | NAME | AMOUNT | DATE | +------+----------+--------+---------------------+ | 1 | Ramesh | NULL | NULL | | 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | | 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | | 5 | Hardik | NULL | NULL | | 6 | Komal | NULL | NULL | | 7 | Muffy | NULL | NULL | +------+----------+--------+---------------------+
The UNION ALL Clause
The UNION ALL operator is used to combine the results of two SELECT statements including duplicate rows.
The same rules that apply to the UNION clause will apply to the UNION ALL operator.
Syntax
The basic syntax of the UNION ALL is as follows.
SELECT column1 [, column2 ] FROM table1 [, table2 ] [WHERE condition] UNION ALL SELECT column1 [, column2 ] FROM table1 [, table2 ] [WHERE condition]
Here, the given condition could be any given expression based on your requirement.
Example
Consider the following two tables,
Table 1 − CUSTOMERS Table is as follows.
+----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+ | ID | NAME | AGE | ADDRESS | SALARY | +----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+ | 1 | Ramesh | 32 | Ahmedabad | 2000.00 | | 2 | Khilan | 25 | Delhi | 1500.00 | | 3 | kaushik | 23 | Kota | 2000.00 | | 4 | Chaitali | 25 | Mumbai | 6500.00 | | 5 | Hardik | 27 | Bhopal | 8500.00 | | 6 | Komal | 22 | MP | 4500.00 | | 7 | Muffy | 24 | Indore | 10000.00 | +----+----------+-----+-----------+----------+
Table 2 − ORDERS table is as follows.
+-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+ |OID | DATE | CUSTOMER_ID | AMOUNT | +-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+ | 102 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 3000 | | 100 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | 3 | 1500 | | 101 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | 2 | 1560 | | 103 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | 4 | 2060 | +-----+---------------------+-------------+--------+
Now, let us join these two tables in our SELECT statement as follows −
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME, AMOUNT, DATE FROM CUSTOMERS LEFT JOIN ORDERS ON CUSTOMERS.ID = ORDERS.CUSTOMER_ID UNION ALL SELECT ID, NAME, AMOUNT, DATE FROM CUSTOMERS RIGHT JOIN ORDERS ON CUSTOMERS.ID = ORDERS.CUSTOMER_ID;
This would produce the following result −
+------+----------+--------+---------------------+ | ID | NAME | AMOUNT | DATE | +------+----------+--------+---------------------+ | 1 | Ramesh | NULL | NULL | | 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | | 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | | 5 | Hardik | NULL | NULL | | 6 | Komal | NULL | NULL | | 7 | Muffy | NULL | NULL | | 3 | kaushik | 3000 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 3 | kaushik | 1500 | 2009-10-08 00:00:00 | | 2 | Khilan | 1560 | 2009-11-20 00:00:00 | | 4 | Chaitali | 2060 | 2008-05-20 00:00:00 | +------+----------+--------+---------------------+
There are two other clauses (i.e., operators), which are like the UNION clause.
- SQL INTERSECT Clause − This is used to combine two SELECT statements, but returns rows only from the first SELECT statement that are identical to a row in the second SELECT statement.
- SQL EXCEPT Clause − This combines two SELECT statements and returns rows from the first SELECT statement that are not returned by the second SELECT statement.
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