Finding difference in months using analytical function in oracle

Question

I have data like below. In this I need to find rows where the diff in their months should be >= 6. The logic should be, we need to compare from first row until we got the row where diff in months is 6, then need to follow the same logic from the newly matched row and it goes on.

I am adding below my sample data and expected output.

Fromdate    LectureiD   StudentID   Diff Months Expected
1-Oct-13    1102          55586         null
15-Oct-13   1102          55586          0
15-Oct-13   1102          55586          0
4-Apr-14    1102          55586          6
19-Dec-14   1102          55586          8
27-Dec-14   1102          55586          0
14-Jan-15   1102          55586          0
14-Jan-15   1102          55586          0
29-Sep-15   1102          55586          8
1-Oct-13    1102          55557          null
15-Oct-13   1102          55557          0
15-Oct-13   1102          55557          0
4-Apr-14    1102          55557          6
19-Dec-14   1102          55557          8

Below is the logic I tried by using analytical function in oracle.

select lectureid, 
       studentid,
       floor(months_between(fromdate, 
                            lag(fromdate) over (partition by
                                                   lectureid, 
                                                   studentid 
                                                order by fromdate
                                               )
                           )
            ) monthdiff 
 from above_table;

Since the lag function will have the default offset of 1 it just checks the row only prior to that because of that the logic I mentioned above is not working properly here since that needs to checked against their prior rows dynamically based on the newly matched row. So the o/p am getting here is as below.

The rows highlighted with asterisk is getting wrong because of this since it compares only with its immediate prior row.

Fromdate    LectureiD   StudentID   Diff Month
1-Oct-13    1102           55586        null
15-Oct-13   1102           55586        0
15-Oct-13   1102           55586        0
*4-Apr-14   1102           55586        5*
19-Dec-14   1102           55586        8
27-Dec-14   1102           55586        0
14-Jan-15   1102           55586        0
14-Jan-15   1102           55586        0
29-Sep-15   1102           55586        8
1-Oct-13    1102           55557        null
15-Oct-13   1102           55557        0
15-Oct-13   1102           55557        0
*4-Apr-14   1102           55557        5*
19-Dec-14   1102           55557        8

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!!!

Answer 1

Recursive solution:

with tmp as (
  select fromdate fd, lectureid lid, studentid sid, null mb,
         row_number() over (partition by lectureid, studentid order by fromdate) rn
    from above_table ),
cte (fd, ld, lid, sid, mb, rn) as (
  select fd, fd, lid, sid, mb, rn from tmp where rn=1
  union all
  select tmp.fd, case when floor(months_between(tmp.fd, cte.ld)) >= 6 
                      then tmp.fd else cte.ld end,
         tmp.lid, tmp.sid, floor(months_between(tmp.fd, cte.ld)), tmp.rn
    from tmp join cte on tmp.lid = cte.lid and tmp.sid = cte.sid and tmp.rn = cte.rn+1)
select to_char(fd, 'yyyy-mm-dd') fromdate, lid lecture, sid student, mb 
  from cte order by sid desc, fd

Test data and output:

create table above_table (Fromdate date, LectureiD number(6), StudentID number(6), Diff number(4));
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-01', 1102, 55586, null);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-15', 1102, 55586, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-15', 1102, 55586, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2014-04-04', 1102, 55586, 6);
insert into above_table values (date '2014-12-19', 1102, 55586, 8);
insert into above_table values (date '2014-12-27', 1102, 55586, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2015-01-14', 1102, 55586, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2015-01-14', 1102, 55586, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2015-09-29', 1102, 55586, 8);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-01', 1102, 55557, null);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-15', 1102, 55557, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-15', 1102, 55557, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2013-10-29', 1102, 55557, 0);
insert into above_table values (date '2014-04-04', 1102, 55557, 6);
insert into above_table values (date '2014-12-19', 1102, 55557, 8);

FROMDATE      LECTURE    STUDENT         MB
---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
2013-10-01       1102      55586            
2013-10-15       1102      55586          0 
2013-10-15       1102      55586          0 
2014-04-04       1102      55586          6 
2014-12-19       1102      55586          8 
2014-12-27       1102      55586          0 
2015-01-14       1102      55586          0 
2015-01-14       1102      55586          0 
2015-09-29       1102      55586          9 
2013-10-01       1102      55557            
2013-10-15       1102      55557          0 
2013-10-15       1102      55557          0 
2013-10-29       1102      55557          0 
2014-04-04       1102      55557          6 
2014-12-19       1102      55557          8

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Explanation:

1. Subquery tmp only enumerates rows separately for each lecture and students:

   select fromdate fd, lectureid lid, studentid sid, null mb, row_number() over (partition by lectureid, studentid order by fromdate) rn

2. This line is the "anchor" of recursive subquery CTE, where we take two rows with numbered as 1 in first step

   select fd, fd, lid, sid, mb, rn from tmp where rn=1

3. In this step I am attaching "recursive member" using condition tmp.rn = cte.rn+1 Specially important is part below, here I am checking if there are six months between last remembered date and date from current row:

   case when floor(months_between(tmp.fd, cte.ld)) >= 6 then tmp.fd else cte.ld end

4. Last select is required part of syntax.

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Some useful links:

• Oracle docs
• Oracle examples
• wikipedia article
• SO link