SQL Server 2005, Turn Columns into Rows

SQL Server : Columns to Rows

You can use the UNPIVOT function to convert the columns into rows:

select id, entityId,
  indicatorname,
  indicatorvalue
from yourtable
unpivot
(
  indicatorvalue
  for indicatorname in (Indicator1, Indicator2, Indicator3)
) unpiv;

Note, the datatypes of the columns you are unpivoting must be the same so you might have to convert the datatypes prior to applying the unpivot.

You could also use CROSS APPLY with UNION ALL to convert the columns:

select id, entityid,
  indicatorname,
  indicatorvalue
from yourtable
cross apply
(
  select 'Indicator1', Indicator1 union all
  select 'Indicator2', Indicator2 union all
  select 'Indicator3', Indicator3 union all
  select 'Indicator4', Indicator4 
) c (indicatorname, indicatorvalue);

Depending on your version of SQL Server you could even use CROSS APPLY with the VALUES clause:

select id, entityid,
  indicatorname,
  indicatorvalue
from yourtable
cross apply
(
  values
  ('Indicator1', Indicator1),
  ('Indicator2', Indicator2),
  ('Indicator3', Indicator3),
  ('Indicator4', Indicator4)
) c (indicatorname, indicatorvalue);

Finally, if you have 150 columns to unpivot and you don't want to hard-code the entire query, then you could generate the sql statement using dynamic SQL:

DECLARE @colsUnpivot AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
   @query  AS NVARCHAR(MAX)

select @colsUnpivot 
  = stuff((select ','+quotename(C.column_name)
           from information_schema.columns as C
           where C.table_name = 'yourtable' and
                 C.column_name like 'Indicator%'
           for xml path('')), 1, 1, '')

set @query 
  = 'select id, entityId,
        indicatorname,
        indicatorvalue
     from yourtable
     unpivot
     (
        indicatorvalue
        for indicatorname in ('+ @colsunpivot +')
     ) u'

exec sp_executesql @query;

Simple way to transpose columns and rows in SQL?

There are several ways that you can transform this data. In your original post, you stated that PIVOT seems too complex for this scenario, but it can be applied very easily using both the UNPIVOT and PIVOT functions in SQL Server.

However, if you do not have access to those functions this can be replicated using UNION ALL to UNPIVOT and then an aggregate function with a CASE statement to PIVOT:

Create Table:

CREATE TABLE yourTable([color] varchar(5), [Paul] int, [John] int, [Tim] int, [Eric] int);

INSERT INTO yourTable
    ([color], [Paul], [John], [Tim], [Eric])
VALUES
    ('Red', 1, 5, 1, 3),
    ('Green', 8, 4, 3, 5),
    ('Blue', 2, 2, 9, 1);

Union All, Aggregate and CASE Version:

select name,
  sum(case when color = 'Red' then value else 0 end) Red,
  sum(case when color = 'Green' then value else 0 end) Green,
  sum(case when color = 'Blue' then value else 0 end) Blue
from
(
  select color, Paul value, 'Paul' name
  from yourTable
  union all
  select color, John value, 'John' name
  from yourTable
  union all
  select color, Tim value, 'Tim' name
  from yourTable
  union all
  select color, Eric value, 'Eric' name
  from yourTable
) src
group by name

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

The UNION ALL performs the UNPIVOT of the data by transforming the columns Paul, John, Tim, Eric into separate rows. Then you apply the aggregate function sum() with the case statement to get the new columns for each color.

Unpivot and Pivot Static Version:

Both the UNPIVOT and PIVOT functions in SQL server make this transformation much easier. If you know all of the values that you want to transform, you can hard-code them into a static version to get the result:

select name, [Red], [Green], [Blue]
from
(
  select color, name, value
  from yourtable
  unpivot
  (
    value for name in (Paul, John, Tim, Eric)
  ) unpiv
) src
pivot
(
  sum(value)
  for color in ([Red], [Green], [Blue])
) piv

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

The inner query with the UNPIVOT performs the same function as the UNION ALL. It takes the list of columns and turns it into rows, the PIVOT then performs the final transformation into columns.

Dynamic Pivot Version:

If you have an unknown number of columns (Paul, John, Tim, Eric in your example) and then an unknown number of colors to transform you can use dynamic sql to generate the list to UNPIVOT and then PIVOT:

DECLARE @colsUnpivot AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @query  AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @colsPivot as  NVARCHAR(MAX)

select @colsUnpivot = stuff((select ','+quotename(C.name)
         from sys.columns as C
         where C.object_id = object_id('yourtable') and
               C.name <> 'color'
         for xml path('')), 1, 1, '')

select @colsPivot = STUFF((SELECT  ',' 
                      + quotename(color)
                    from yourtable t
            FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
            ).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)') 
        ,1,1,'')

set @query 
  = 'select name, '+@colsPivot+'
      from
      (
        select color, name, value
        from yourtable
        unpivot
        (
          value for name in ('+@colsUnpivot+')
        ) unpiv
      ) src
      pivot
      (
        sum(value)
        for color in ('+@colsPivot+')
      ) piv'

exec(@query)

See SQL Fiddle with Demo

The dynamic version queries both yourtable and then the sys.columns table to generate the list of items to UNPIVOT and PIVOT. This is then added to a query string to be executed. The plus of the dynamic version is if you have a changing list of colors and/or names this will generate the list at run-time.

All three queries will produce the same result:

| NAME | RED | GREEN | BLUE |
-----------------------------
| Eric |   3 |     5 |    1 |
| John |   5 |     4 |    2 |
| Paul |   1 |     8 |    2 |
|  Tim |   1 |     3 |    9 |

How do i transform rows into columns in sql server 2005

There are similar questions here,here answered in stackoverflow.

You need to use the operator PIVOT in your query to acheive this.Here is the example and explanation on how you can do that.The example is referenced from this source.

---I assumed your tablename as TESTTABLE---
DECLARE @cols NVARCHAR(2000)
DECLARE @query NVARCHAR(4000)

SELECT  @cols = STUFF(( SELECT DISTINCT TOP 100 PERCENT
                                '],[' + t.Name
                        FROM    TESTTABLE AS t
                        ORDER BY '],[' + t.Name
                        FOR XML PATH('')
                      ), 1, 2, '') + ']'

SET @query = N'SELECT '+ @cols +' FROM
(SELECT t1.Name , t1.Count FROM TESTTABLE AS t1) p
PIVOT (MAX([Count]) FOR Name IN ( '+ @cols +' ))
AS pvt;'

EXECUTE(@query)

Explanation

1.The first part of the query

SELECT  @cols = STUFF(( SELECT DISTINCT TOP 100 PERCENT
                        '],[' + t.Name
                FROM TESTTABLE AS t
                ORDER BY '],[' + t.Name
                FOR XML PATH('')
              ), 1, 2, '') + ']'

gives you a nice flattened result of your Name column values in a single row as follow

[Cheryl],[Drew],[Karen],[Kath],[Kirk],[Matt]  

You can learn more about the STUFF and XML PATH here and here.

2.SELECT + @cols + FROM will select all the rows as coloumn names for the final result set (pvt - step 3)

i.e

Select [Chery],[Drew],[Morgan],[Kath],[Kirk],[Matt] 

3.This query pulls all the rows of data that we need to create the cross-tab results. The (p) after the query is creating a temporary table of the results that can then be used to satisfy the query for step 1.

(SELECT t1.Name, t1.Count FROM  TESTTABLE AS t1) p

4.The PIVOT expression

PIVOT (MAX (Count) FOR Name IN ( @cols) AS pvt

does the actual summarization and puts the results into a temporary table called pvt as

Chery | Drew | Morgon | Kath | Kirk | Matt  
-------------------------------------------  
257     1500     13      500    200    76

Efficiently convert rows to columns in sql server

There are several ways that you can transform data from multiple rows into columns.

Using PIVOT

In SQL Server you can use the PIVOT function to transform the data from rows to columns:

select Firstname, Amount, PostalCode, LastName, AccountNumber
from
(
  select value, columnname
  from yourtable
) d
pivot
(
  max(value)
  for columnname in (Firstname, Amount, PostalCode, LastName, AccountNumber)
) piv;

See Demo.

Pivot with unknown number of columnnames

If you have an unknown number of columnnames that you want to transpose, then you can use dynamic SQL:

DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @query  AS NVARCHAR(MAX)

select @cols = STUFF((SELECT ',' + QUOTENAME(ColumnName) 
                    from yourtable
                    group by ColumnName, id
                    order by id
            FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
            ).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)') 
        ,1,1,'')

set @query = N'SELECT ' + @cols + N' from 
             (
                select value, ColumnName
                from yourtable
            ) x
            pivot 
            (
                max(value)
                for ColumnName in (' + @cols + N')
            ) p '

exec sp_executesql @query;

See Demo.

Using an aggregate function

If you do not want to use the PIVOT function, then you can use an aggregate function with a CASE expression:

select
  max(case when columnname = 'FirstName' then value end) Firstname,
  max(case when columnname = 'Amount' then value end) Amount,
  max(case when columnname = 'PostalCode' then value end) PostalCode,
  max(case when columnname = 'LastName' then value end) LastName,
  max(case when columnname = 'AccountNumber' then value end) AccountNumber
from yourtable

See Demo.

Using multiple joins

This could also be completed using multiple joins, but you will need some column to associate each of the rows which you do not have in your sample data. But the basic syntax would be:

select fn.value as FirstName,
  a.value as Amount,
  pc.value as PostalCode,
  ln.value as LastName,
  an.value as AccountNumber
from yourtable fn
left join yourtable a
  on fn.somecol = a.somecol
  and a.columnname = 'Amount'
left join yourtable pc
  on fn.somecol = pc.somecol
  and pc.columnname = 'PostalCode'
left join yourtable ln
  on fn.somecol = ln.somecol
  and ln.columnname = 'LastName'
left join yourtable an
  on fn.somecol = an.somecol
  and an.columnname = 'AccountNumber'
where fn.columnname = 'Firstname'

SQL query to convert columns into rows

Your Data

DECLARE @TABLE TABLE 
(sip_RECno INT,user1 VARCHAR(10),user2 VARCHAR(10)
,user3 VARCHAR(10),user4 VARCHAR(10))      

INSERT INTO @TABLE VALUES
(1,'ram','ravi','sam','raj')

Query

;WITH CTE
AS
  (
  SELECT * FROM (
  SELECT user1 ,user2 ,user3 , user4 FROM @TABLE) T
  UNPIVOT ( Value FOR N IN (user1 ,user2 ,user3 , user4))P
  )
 SELECT Value AS Users
 FROM CTE

Result Set

╔═══════╗
║ Users ║
╠═══════╣
║ ram   ║
║ ravi  ║
║ sam   ║
║ raj   ║
╚═══════╝

SQL: Convert multiple columns to rows

try

select *
  from yourTable
  unpivot (
    Value
    for NewCol in (Value1, Value2, Value3,Value4, Value5)
  ) up

How do I Transform Sql Columns into Rows?

You should take a look at the UNPIVOT clause.

Update1: GateKiller, strangely enough I read an article (about something unrelated) about it this morning and I'm trying to jog my memory where I saw it again, had some decent looking examples too. It'll come back to me I'm sure.

Update2: Found it: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/jeffs/archive/2008/04/23/unpivot.aspx

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