Need Help....Data Concatenation

Question

Hey..How are you all..?
If someone can take a look at my requirement and spend some on it, I would really appreciate help..
Database version - 10g
Requirement - Need to display 'Description' inforamtion in a single/one complete line for a single record ( as shown below) which are being entered in multiple lines through screen (this column is stored in single table only).
engine_family sequence_num Description
09          1     Includes:
09          2     Clock on and off the job
09          3     Move equipment to and from work area
09          4     Record the following
09          5     Generator set model number
09          6     Generator set serial number
09          7     Engine serial number
09          8     Hours of operation
09          9     Load/unload tools, equipment and repair parts
09          10     Clean up work area
09          11     Write repair order
09          12     Write repair procedures
I am not sure whether we can display this data by concatenation(concat) function through sql query or any other technique..?
Please let me know how can concatenate the description from multiple lines to one line for a single record as displayed above...also let me know if you want other inputs from me..?
Thanks
Mark

Answer 1

Hi, Mark,
That's called String Aggregation , and this page shows several ways to do it:
http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/10g/StringAggregationTechniques.php
I think LISTAGG is the only technique that won't work in Oracle 10. (Too bad; it's the best one.)
If the order of the concatenated data isn't important, then I recommend the user-defined aggregate function. You have to copy it from the site (about 60 lines of PL/SQL) and install it, but you only have to do that once. It's a very handy function.
If order is important, then the SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH technique is good.
I hope this answers your question.
If not, post a little sample data (CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements, relevant columns only), and also post the results you want from that data.
If the output isn't completely obvious, describe what it is. (For example, if you want to have a string with embedded newline characters, so that the one string appears on multiple lines.) It helps if you fiormat the output, and type hese 6 characters:
\(small letters only, inside curly brackets) before and after each section of formatted text, to preserve spacing.
Edited by: Frank Kulash on Oct 13, 2010 12:56 PM