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SQL Server FOR EACH Loop

asked 2 years ago
viewed 160085 times
active

1 month ago

I have the following SQL query:Blog

16

DECLARE @MyVar datetime = '1/1/2010'

SELECT @MyVar

JNat and animuson: workin

on ur problemz

This naturally returns '1/1/2010'.

5

What i want to do is have a list of dates, say:1/1/2010

2/1/2010
3/1/2010
4/1/2010
5/1/2010

Then i want to FOR EACH through the numbers and run the SQL Query.
Something like (pseudocode):List = 1/1/2010,2/1/2010,3/1/2010,4/1/2010,5/1/2010
For each x in List
do
DECLARE @MyVar datetime = x

Linked
2 transfer data from one table

SELECT @MyVar

to another in sql server

So this would return:-

1 how to do a FOR EACH

loop in T-Sql using join?

1/1/2010 2/1/2010 3/1/2010 4/1/2010 5/1/2010

I want this to return the data as one resultset, not multiple resultsets, so I may need to use some kind
of union at the end of the query, so each iteration of the loop unions onto the next.

Related
497 How to perform an IF

THEN in an SQL SELECT?

edit

1069 Add a column, with a

I have a large query that accepts a 'to date' parameter, I need to run it 24 times, each time with a
specific to date which I need to be able to supply (these dates are going to be dynamic) I want to avoid
repeating my query 24 times with union alls joining them as if I need to come back and add additional
columns it would be very time consuming.
sql

sql-server

default value, to an existing

table in SQL Server

473 How to return the date part

only from a SQL Server

datetime datatype

215 Hidden Features of SQL

tsql

Server

share improve this question

edited Apr 24 '12 at 14:58

asked Apr 24 '12 at 14:49

SelectDistinct
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using SQL Server

2 SQL Server sample of each

type of record

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5 Can you explain why you need to do this? 95% of the time when you need a looping structure in tSQL you
are probably doing it wrong. JohnFx Apr 24 '12 at 14:53
2 Why not create a table where you can populate the dates you want to run it against that. There is almost
certainly a better way to do this than looking through hardcoded constant values. JohnFx Apr 24 '12 at
14:57

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The dates in your example are sequential by month. Is that a rule, or do you need to be able to run for an
arbitrary set of dates? Is there a reason that you can't edit the large query to take a date range or set of dates
rather than a single date? If you absolutely need to step through iterations (against the good advice given
above), then you might want to consider using a cursor. Jason Quinones Apr 24 '12 at 22:36

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6 Answers

active

oldest

votes

What do you call the act of

searching something by walking?
"mv file" and now it's missing

SQL is primarily a set-orientated language - it's generally a bad idea to use a loop in it.

23

Is it possible to "read" secure (using

SSL or TLS) messages if you know
the message?

In this case, a similar result could be achieved using a recursive CTE:

Nicolas Cage film where there are

multiples of himself appearing from
him

with cte as
(select 1 i union all
select i+1 i from cte where i < 5)
select dateadd(d, i-1, '2010-01-01') from cte

Grep first 50 lines of files for pattern

Telescopic Parentheses

share improve this answer

edited Apr 24 '12 at 15:02

answered Apr 24 '12 at 14:57

Mark Bannister
31.4k

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Here is an option with a table variable:

19

DECLARE @MyVar TABLE(Val DATETIME)

DECLARE @I INT, @StartDate DATETIME
SET @I = 1
SET @StartDate = '20100101'
WHILE @I <= 5
BEGIN
INSERT INTO @MyVar(Val)
VALUES(@StartDate)
SET @StartDate = DATEADD(DAY,1,@StartDate)
SET @I = @I + 1
END
SELECT *
FROM @MyVar

You can do the same with a temp table:

CREATE TABLE #MyVar(Val DATETIME)
DECLARE @I INT, @StartDate DATETIME
SET @I = 1
SET @StartDate = '20100101'
WHILE @I <= 5
BEGIN
INSERT INTO #MyVar(Val)
VALUES(@StartDate)
SET @StartDate = DATEADD(DAY,1,@StartDate)
SET @I = @I + 1
END
SELECT *
FROM #MyVar

You should tell us what is your main goal, as was said by @JohnFx, this could probably be done
another (more efficient) way.
share improve this answer

edited Apr 24 '12 at 15:22

answered Apr 24 '12 at 14:54

Lamak
36.8k

38

59

I need to loop dates not integers, see edited question. Would a WHILE loop work with dates ?
SelectDistinct Apr 24 '12 at 15:12
@SelectDistinct - Yes, it should work just fine. I changed my answer to returns dates instead of ints
Lamak Apr 24 '12 at 15:22
1 Mark Bannister's answer is less code and more efficient. There's no reason to use a while loop for something
like this. Sorpigal Apr 24 '12 at 16:41

This kind of depends on what you want to do with the results. If you're just after the numbers, a setbased option would be a numbers table - which comes in handy for all sorts of things.

For MSSQL 2005+, you can use a recursive CTE to generate a numbers table inline:
;WITH Numbers (N) AS (
SELECT 1 UNION ALL
SELECT 1 + N FROM Numbers WHERE N < 500
)
SELECT N FROM Numbers
OPTION (MAXRECURSION 500)

share improve this answer

answered Apr 24 '12 at 14:57

Mark Brackett
52.5k

69

116

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Interesting that you consider this to be a "set-based option" (the word RECURSION is a bit of a give away!)
onedaywhen Apr 25 '12 at 8:17
@onedaywhen - there's no contradiction there. A recursive CTE is set-based. The anchor member (SELECT 1)
is set S[0], which is then UNION ALL'ed with n more sets (SELECT 1 + N FROM S[n - 1]) until an empty set
is encountered. The result is the UNION of sets S[0] to S[n]. That being said - I personally prefer a physical
table as it's more efficient. Mark Brackett Apr 25 '12 at 13:52
Joe Celko's thoughts on the matter: "it makes the semi-procedural programmer feel good to use [a recursive]
CTE... But recursion is actually a procedural technique. It is also expensive since it is really a cursor under
the covers" -- I'm not saying he is correct but demonstrates the position isn't as clear cut as you would have it.
Not a criticism of your comments either. As I said, I find it interesting without holding strong views on the
subject myself :) onedaywhen Apr 26 '12 at 7:26
@onedaywhen - And here, Celko makes a distinction between "procedural code...a procedure or a cursor" and
a recursive CTE, which "[is] still procedural under the covers". I don't doubt that recursive CTEs are
procedurally executed...but so are JOINs. At least we can agree that a numbers table is a better option.
Mark Brackett Apr 26 '12 at 14:43

declare @counter as int

set @counter = 0
declare @date as varchar(50)
set @date = cast(1+@counter as varchar)+'/01/2013'
while(@counter < 12)
begin
select cast(1+@counter as varchar)+'/01/2013' as date
set @counter = @counter + 1
end

share improve this answer

edited Sep 6 '13 at 18:40

Jamie Kitson
1,076

13

29

answered Jul 12 '13 at 16:22

younes
41

You could use a variable table, like this:

declare @num int

set @num = 1
declare @results table ( val int )
while (@num < 6)
begin
insert into @results ( val ) values ( @num )
set @num = @num + 1
end
select val from @results

share improve this answer

edited Feb 16 at 21:46

guneysus
821

13

answered Apr 24 '12 at 14:55

Steve Mayne
9,611

19

33

+1 this worked well. Bob Blogge May 22 '13 at 14:58

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[CREATE PROCEDURE [rat].[GetYear]

AS
BEGIN
-- variable for storing start date
Declare @StartYear as int
-- Variable for the End date
Declare @EndYear as int
-- Setting the value in strat Date
select @StartYear = Value from rat.Configuration where Name = 'REPORT_START_YEAR';
-- Setting the End date
select @EndYear = Value from

rat.Configuration where Name = 'REPORT_END_YEAR';

-- Creating Tem table

with [Years] as
(
--Selecting the Year
select @StartYear [Year]
--doing Union
union all
-- doing the loop in Years table
select Year+1 Year from [Years] where Year < @EndYear
)
--Selecting the Year table
selec]

share improve this answer

edited Mar 19 at 12:39

Soner Gnl
47k

18

88

answered Mar 19 at 12:20

user3702431
152

29

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