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The SQL UNION Operator

 

The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more SELECT statements.

 

Notice that each SELECT statement within the UNION must have the same number of columns.

 

The columns must also have similar data types.

 

Also, the columns in each SELECT statement must be in the same order.

 

SQL UNION Syntax

 

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1
UNION
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2

 

Note: The UNION operator selects only distinct values by default. To allow duplicate values, use UNION ALL.

SQL UNION ALL Syntax

 

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name1
UNION ALL
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table_name2

 

PS: The column names in the result-set of a UNION are always equal to the column names in the first SELECT statement in the UNION.

 

SQL UNION Example

Look at the following tables:

 

"Employees_Norway":

 

E_ID

E_Name

01

Hansen, Ola

02

Svendson, Tove

03

Svendson, Stephen

04

Pettersen, Kari

 

"Employees_USA":

 

E_ID

E_Name

01

Turner, Sally

02

Kent, Clark

03

Svendson, Stephen

04

Scott, Stephen

 

Now we want to list all the different employees in Norway and USA.

 

We use the following SELECT statement:

 

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway
UNION
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

 

The result-set will look like this:

 

E_Name

Hansen, Ola

Svendson, Tove

Svendson, Stephen

Pettersen, Kari

Turner, Sally

Kent, Clark

Scott, Stephen

 

Note: This command cannot be used to list all employees in Norway and USA. In the example above we have two employees with equal names, and only one of them will be listed. The UNION command selects only distinct values.

 

SQL UNION ALL Example

Now we want to list all employees in Norway and USA:

 

SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_Norway
UNION ALL
SELECT E_Name FROM Employees_USA

 

Result

E_Name

Hansen, Ola

Svendson, Tove

Svendson, Stephen

Pettersen, Kari

Turner, Sally

Kent, Clark

Svendson, Stephen

Scott, Stephen