SQL Query to get aggregated result in comma separators along with group by column in SQL Server

Question

I need to write a sql query on the table such that the result would have the group by column along with the aggregated column with comma separators.

My table would be in the below format

   |`````````|````````|
   |    ID   |  Value |
   |_________|________|
   |    1    |   a    |
   |_________|________|
   |    1    |   b    |
   |_________|________|
   |    2    |   c    |
   |_________|________|

Expected result should be in the below format

   |`````````|````````|
   |    ID   |  Value |
   |_________|________|
   |    1    |  a,b   |
   |_________|________|
   |    2    |   c    |
   |_________|________|

Answer 1

You want to use FOR XML PATH construct:

select 
    ID, 
    stuff((select ', ' + Value 
           from YourTable t2 where t1.ID = t2.ID 
           for xml path('')),
          1,2,'') [Values]
from YourTable t1
group by ID

The STUFF function is to get rid of the leading ', '.

You can also see another examples here:

• SQL same unit between two tables needs order numbers in 1 cell
• SQL and Coldfusion left join tables getting duplicate results as a list in one column

Answer 2

Just for a balanced view, you can also do this with a CTE but its not as good as the cross apply method I don't think. I've coded this of the hoof so apologies if it doesn't work.

WITH CommaDelimitedCTE (RowNumber,ID,[Value],[Values]) AS
(
  SELECT 1,MT.ID , MIN(MT.Value), CAST(MIN(MT.Value) AS VARCHAR(8000)) 
  FROM  MyTable MT
  GROUP BY MT.ID

  UNION ALL

  SELECT CT.RowNumber + 1, MT.ID, MT.Value, CT.[Values] + ', ' + MT.Value
  FROM  MyTable MT
  INNER JOIN CommaDelimitedCTE CT ON CT.ID = MT.ID
  WHERE MT.[Value] > CT.[Value]
)

Select CommaDelimitedCTE.* from CommaDelimitedCTE 
    INNER JOIN (SELECT MT.ID,MAX(RowNumber) as MaxRowNumber from CommaDelimitedCTE GROUP BY MT.ID) Q on Q.MT.ID = CommaDelimitedCTE.MT.ID
    AND Q.MaxRowNumber = CommaDelimitedCTE.RowNumber