SQLITE: Select another column if the first one is null

Question

I want to select the value from another column if there are no records in the first column (is null). I want something like this:

SELECT (if Column1 IS NULL THEN Column2), Column3, Column4 FROM MyTable

How can I do that in SQLite?

Answer 1

Use the COALESCE function, which returns the first non-null argument:

SELECT COALESCE(Column1, Column2), Column3, Column4
FROM MyTable

In this case, you will get Column1 but if it is NULL, Column2 will be returned instead.