MySQL Server
MySQL Server

How update multi-value field in MySQL?

Hi and Happy New Year!

I have 3 tables:

Table1
Row1:
Col1: Jack
Col2: code1,code3
Row2:
Col1: Sam
Col2: code1,code2,code3
Row3:
Col1: Jeff
Col2: code2

Table2
Row1:
Col1: code1
Col2: desc1
Row2:
Col1: code2
Col2: desc2
Row3:
Col1: code3
Col2: desc3

I want to create Table3:

Table3
Row1:
Col1: Jack
Col2: desc1\r\ndesc3
Row2:
Col1: Sam
Col2: desc1\r\ndesc2\r\ndesc3
Row3:
Col1: Jeff
Col2: desc2

Table1 col2 can have between 0 and 3 of the codes (comma separated) from Table2 in any order
I want Table3 col2 to have a separate line per code (i.e. up to 3 lines using \r\n) instead of comma separated

Would sure appreciate someone putting together the insert statement I need. Thanks--
Sam

SAbboushiAsked: 2014-01-01

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LVL 25

chaauCommented: 2014-01-01

I think you need to try to normalise your data. Instead of having comma-separated list of codes in your table you need to separate the different codes into different rows, like this:

Table1
  Row1:
    ID
    Col1: Jack
    Col2: code1
  Row2:
    ID
    Col1: Jack
    Col2: code3
  Row3:
    ID
    Col1: Sam
    Col2: code1
  Row4:
    ID
    Col1: Sam
    Col2: code2
  Row5:
    ID
    Col1: Sam
    Col2: code3
  Row6:
    Col1: Jeff
    Col2: code2

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This way the data will be more manageable.

Another note: You do not need to create an extra table Table3 to store descriptions. The descriptions can always be retrieved using a query

Please let us know if you are willing to follow this advice and we can help you with the query for the descriptions from the normalised data.

Otherwise, the task you have requested is also doable using queries.

SAbboushiAuthor Commented: 2014-01-01

Thanks for the suggestions - If it were my design, I would prefer normalized.

Need to solve the problem though as outlined.

SAbboushiAuthor Commented: 2014-01-01

Anyone?

LVL 25

chaauCommented: 2014-01-01

OK, if you are stuck with this design, the query as simple as this will help you:

create table table1(person varchar(10), codes varchar(30));
create table table2(code varchar(10), descr varchar(10));
insert into table1 values('Jack', 'code1,code2'),('Mary', 'code1'),('Michael', 'code1,code2,code3');
insert into table2 values('code1','desc1'),('code2','desc2'),('code3','desc3');

select t1.person, group_concat(t2.descr ORDER BY t2.descr SEPARATOR '\r\n')
from table1 t1 inner join table2 t2 on
find_in_set(t2.code,t1.codes) > 0
group by t1.person

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SAbboushiAuthor Commented: 2014-01-01

Thanks - almost perfect... don't understand why 2nd & 3rd lines appear indented e.g.
desc1
desc2

LVL 25

chaauCommented: 2014-01-01

They are not intended here. Are you sure you used '\r\n' as a separator, not '\r\n '

SAbboushiAuthor Commented: 2014-01-01

I copied and pasted your script...

How do I configure SQL Fiddle to show the results on multiple lines (i.e. to render the \r\n?)

I am using Workbench

LVL 25

chaauCommented: 2014-01-01

There is a dropdown list next to "Run SQL" button. Select "plaintext output".
However, I think I found the problem. I believe MySQL uses unix style Carriage Returns. So, in this case modify the SEPARATOR to use '\n'