Pivot Tables In SQL Server

In this blog, we shall see how to use pivot tables in SQL Server.

First, let’s see the syntax for pivot tables.

SELECT first_column AS <first_column_alias>,
[pivot_value1], [pivot_value2], ... [pivot_value_n]
FROM
(<source_table>) AS <source_table_alias>
PIVOT
(
aggregate function(<aggregate column>)
FOR <pivot column>
IN ([pivot_value1], [pivot_value2], ... [pivot_value_n])
) AS <pivot_table_alias>;

Parameters or Arguments

first_column
A column or expression that will display as the first column in the pivot table.

first_column_alias
The column heading for the first column in the pivot table.

pivot_value1, pivot_value2, ... pivot_value_n

A list of values to pivot.

source_table
A SELECT statement that provides the source data for the pivot table.

source_table_alias
An alias for the source_table.

aggregate_function
An aggregate function such as SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX or AVG.

aggregate_column
The column or expression that will be used with the aggregate_function.

pivot_column
The column that contains the pivot values.

pivot_table_alias
An alias for the pivot table.

The PIVOT Clause can be used in 2005-2014 versions.