Oracle Pivot query gives columns with quotes around the column names. What?

Question

I'm trying to use PIVOT in Oracle and I'm getting a weird result. It's probably just an option I need to set but what I know about Oracle/SQL I could fit into this comment box.

Here's an example of my query:

with testdata as
(
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
    union
    select 'John' First_Name, 5  Items from dual
    union 
    select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
    union
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)

select * from testdata
pivot (
    sum(Items)
    for First_Name
    in ('Fred','John','Jane')

The results come out as I expected except the Column names have single quotes around them (picture from Toad - if I export to Excel the quotes get carried to Excel):

How do I get rid of the single quotes around the column names? I tried taking them out in the "in" clause and I get an error:

in (Fred,John,Jane)

I also tried replacing the single quotes with double quotes and got the same error. I don't know if this is an Oracle option I need to set/unset before running my query or a Toad thing.

Answer 1

you can provide aliases to the new columns in the pivot statement's IN clause. (NB: This is different from the standard where clause IN() which does not allow aliases.)

with testdata as
(
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
    union
    select 'John' First_Name, 5  Items from dual
    union 
    select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
    union
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select * from testdata
pivot (
      sum(Items) 
      for First_Name
      in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
      )

and also for your aggregate clause which is necessary if you have multiple clauses..

with testdata as
(
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
    union
    select 'John' First_Name, 5  Items from dual
    union 
    select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
    union
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select * from testdata
pivot (
    sum(Items) itmsum,
    count(Items) itmcnt
    for First_Name
    in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
   )

returns

FRED_ITMSUM FRED_ITMCNT JOHN_ITMSUM JOHN_ITMCNT JANE_ITMSUM JANE_ITMCNT
----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- ----------- -----------
         25           2           5           1          12           1

Of course you can then go full circle and use standard oracle aliasing and rename them to whatever you like including putting quotes back in again..

with testdata as
(
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 10 Items from dual
    union
    select 'John' First_Name, 5  Items from dual
    union 
    select 'Jane' First_Name, 12 Items from dual
    union
    select 'Fred' First_Name, 15 Items from dual
)
select FRED_ITMSUM "Fred's Sum", FRED_ITMCNT "Fred's Count"
     , JOHN_ITMSUM "John's Sum", JOHN_ITMCNT "John's Count"
     , JANE_ITMSUM "Janes's Sum", JANE_ITMCNT "Janes's Count"
from testdata
pivot (
    sum(Items) itmsum,
    count(Items) itmcnt
    for First_Name
    in ('Fred' as fred,'John' as john,'Jane' as jane)
   )

gives

Fred's Sum Fred's Count John's Sum John's Count Janes's Sum Janes's Count
---------- ------------ ---------- ------------ ----------- -------------
        25            2          5            1          12             1