Postgres: convert single row to multiple rows (unpivot)

Question

I have a table:

Table_Name: price_list
---------------------------------------------------
| id | price_type_a | price_type_b | price_type_c |
---------------------------------------------------
| 1  |    1234      |     5678     |     9012     |
| 2  |    3456      |     7890     |     1234     |
| 3  |    5678      |     9012     |     3456     |
---------------------------------------------------

I need a select query in Postgres which gives result like this:

---------------------------
| id | price_type | price |
---------------------------
| 1  |  type_a    | 1234  |
| 1  |  type_b    | 5678  |
| 1  |  type_c    | 9012  |
| 2  |  type_a    | 3456  |
| 2  |  type_b    | 7890  |
| 2  |  type_c    | 1234  |
...

Any help with links to similar examples greatly appreciated.

Thanks ! that works great.. will it be optimal for large amounts of data? — skybunk
– skybunk, Commented Nov 2, 2017 at 14:07
Thats alright. I was thinking Is there a way to do it via pivot or unpivot? because I have a huge amount of data in this table, pivot would be more optimal that way instead of having multiple unions right? — skybunk
– skybunk, Commented Nov 2, 2017 at 14:17
You would have to look into the tablefunc, and in particular at the crosstab function. — s.m.
– s.m., Commented Nov 2, 2017 at 14:21

Erwin Brandstetter · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-11 23:54:41Z

14

A single SELECT with a LATERAL join to a VALUES expression does the job of "un-pivoting" columns to separate rows:

SELECT p.id, v.*
FROM   price_list p
CROSS  JOIN LATERAL (
   VALUES
      ('type_a', p.price_type_a)
    , ('type_b', p.price_type_b)
    , ('type_c', p.price_type_c)
   ) v (price_type, price);

answered Nov 2, 2017 at 14:27

Erwin Brandstetter

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2 Comments

sanchitkhanna26 Over a year ago

What if I have a list of 50 columns like this with multiple values. Is there a better way?

Erwin Brandstetter Over a year ago

@sanchitkhanna26: This works for any number of columns. I suggest you start a new question with the details of your use case, and of your objective. (What's "better"? Faster? Safer? Shorter? ...)

Vao Tsun · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-02 14:19:22Z

0

try smth like:

select id, 'type_a',type_a  from price_list
union all
select id, 'type_b',type_b  from price_list
union all
select id, 'type_c',type_c  from price_list
;

update as a_horse_with_no_name suggests, union is way to select DISTINCT values, for here would be UNION ALL prefered - just in case (I don't know if id is UNIQUE)

Of course if it is UK - there will be no difference

edited Nov 2, 2017 at 14:19

answered Nov 2, 2017 at 14:09

Vao Tsun

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