Set Operators (Transact-SQL)

Set Operators (Transact-SQL)

SQL Server provides the following set operators. Set operators combine results from two or more queries into a single result set.

UNION

Combines the results of two or more queries into a single result set that includes all the rows that belong to all queries in the union. The UNION operation is different from using joins that combine columns from two tables.

The following are basic rules for combining the result sets of two queries by using UNION:

·         The number and the order of the columns must be the same in all queries.

·         The data types must be compatible.

Syntax:

-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse 

 

    { <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }  

    UNION [ ALL ]  

   <query_specification | ( <query_expression> )  

    [ UNION [ ALL ] <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> )  

    [ ...n ] ]  

Arguments

<query_specification> | (<query_expression>)
Is a query specification or query expression that returns data to be combined with the data from another query specification or query expression. The definitions of the columns that are part of a UNION operation do not have to be the same, but they must be compatible through implicit conversion. When data types differ, the resulting data type is determined based on the rules for data type precedence. When the types are the same but differ in precision, scale, or length, the result is determined based on the same rules for combining expressions.

Columns of the xml data type must be equivalent. All columns must be either typed to an XML schema or untyped. If typed, they must be typed to the same XML schema collection.

UNION
Specifies that multiple result sets are to be combined and returned as a single result set.

ALL
Incorporates all rows into the results. This includes duplicates. If not specified, duplicate rows are removed.

Using SELECT INTO with UNION

SELECT statement specifies that the table named ProductResults holds the final result set of the union of the designated columns of the ProductModel and Gloves tables.

-- Uses AdventureWorks  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

INTO dbo.ProductResults  

FROM Production.ProductModel  

WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)  

UNION  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

FROM dbo.Gloves;  

GO  

Using UNION of two SELECT statements with ORDER BY

/* INCORRECT */  

-- Uses AdventureWorks  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

FROM Production.ProductModel  

WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)  

ORDER BY Name  

UNION  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

FROM dbo.Gloves;  

GO  

/* CORRECT */  

-- Uses AdventureWorks  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

FROM Production.ProductModel  

WHERE ProductModelID NOT IN (3, 4)  

UNION  

SELECT ProductModelID, Name  

FROM dbo.Gloves  

ORDER BY Name;  

GO  

Union Statement not only eliminates duplicate rows, but output is the sorted list

UNION All operator doesn’t sort the result:

EXCEPT and INTERSECT

Returns distinct rows by comparing the results of two queries.

EXCEPT returns distinct rows from the left input query that aren’t output by the right input query.

INTERSECT returns distinct rows that are output by both the left and right input queries operator.

The basic rules for combining the result sets of two queries that use EXCEPT or INTERSECT are the following:

• The number and the order of the columns must be the same in all queries.
• The data types must be compatible.

-- Syntax for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse  

{ <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }   

{ EXCEPT | INTERSECT }  

{ <query_specification> | ( <query_expression> ) }  

Arguments

<query_specification> | ( <query_expression> )
Is a query specification or query expression that returns data to be compared with the data from another query specification or query expression. The definitions of the columns that are part of an EXCEPT or INTERSECT operation do not have to be the same, but they must be comparable through implicit conversion. When data types differ, the type that is used to perform the comparison and return results is determined based on the rules fordata type precedence.

When the types are the same but differ in precision, scale, or length, the result is determined based on the same rules for combining expressions.

The query specification or expression cannot return xml, text, ntext, image, or non binary CLR user-defined type columns because these data types are not comparable.

EXCEPT
Returns any distinct values from the query to the left of the EXCEPT operator that are not also returned from the right query.

INTERSECT
Returns any distinct values that are returned by both the query on the left and right sides of the INTERSECT operator.

Remarks

When the data types of comparable columns that are returned by the queries to the left and right of the EXCEPT or INTERSECT operators are character data types with different collations, the required comparison is performed according to the rules of collation precedence. If this conversion cannot be performed, the SQL Server Database Engine returns an error.

When comparing column values for determining DISTINCT rows, two NULL values are considered equal.

The column names of the result set that are returned by EXCEPT or INTERSECT are the same names as those returned by the query on the left side of the operator.

Column names or aliases in ORDER BY clauses must reference column names returned by the left-side query.

The nullability of any column in the result set returned by EXCEPT or INTERSECT is the same as the nullability of the

corresponding column that is returned by the query on the left side of the operator.

If EXCEPT or INTERSECT is used together with other operators in an expression, it is evaluated in the context of the following precedence:

1.       Expressions in parentheses

2.       The INTERSECT operator

3.       EXCEPT and UNION evaluated from left to right based on their position in the expression

If EXCEPT or INTERSECT is used to compare more than two sets of queries, data type conversion is determined by comparing two queries at a time, and following the previously mentioned rules of expression evaluation.

EXCEPT and INTERSECT cannot be used in distributed partitioned view definitions, query notifications.

EXCEPT and INTERSECT may be used in distributed queries, but are only executed on the local server and not pushed to the linked server. Therefore, using EXCEPT and INTERSECT in distributed queries may affect performance.

Fast forward-only and static cursors are fully supported in the result set when they are used with an EXCEPT or INTERSECT operation. If a keyset-driven or dynamic cursor is used together with an EXCEPT or INTERSECT operation, the cursor of the result set of the operation is converted to a static cursor.

When an EXCEPT operation is displayed by using the Graphical Showplan feature in SQL Server Management Studio, the operation appears as a left anti semi join, and an INTERSECT operation appears as a left semi join.