Conditional selection in SQL?

Question

I have the following SQL code:

SELECT eml AS "Email Address"
FROM emailtbl
WHERE DEPT LIKE 'E%'

My issue is that if the department starts in 'F' I must select fax instead of eml. What could I do to select eml if the dept starts with 'E' and select fax if the dept starts in 'F'

Thanks

Lieven Keersmaekers · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-02 12:36:21Z

9

One option is to use a UNION ALL statement

SELECT eml AS "Entity"
FROM   emailtbl
WHERE  DEPT LIKE 'E%'
UNION ALL
SELECT fax AS "Entity"
FROM   emailtbl
WHERE  DEPT LIKE 'F%'

another one is to use a CASEstatement

SELECT CASE WHEN Dept LIKE 'E%' THEN eml ELSE fax END AS "Entity"
FROM   emailtbl
WHERE  DEPT LIKE 'E%' OR DEPT LIKE 'F%'

answered Aug 2, 2012 at 12:36

Lieven Keersmaekers

58.9k15 gold badges117 silver badges151 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

James · Accepted Answer · 2012-08-02 12:38:18Z

1

How about this?

IF (SUBSTRING(@useLike,1,1) = 'E')
BEGIN
    SELECT eml AS "Email Address"
    FROM emailtbl
    WHERE DEPT LIKE @useLike

END
ELSE
BEGIN
    SELECT fax AS "Email Address"
    FROM emailtbl
    WHERE DEPT LIKE @useLike
END

answered Aug 2, 2012 at 12:38

James

2,9113 gold badges25 silver badges33 bronze badges

2 Comments

James Over a year ago

Actually now the page has refreshed; Lieven anwser is pretty cool.

Lieven Keersmaekers Over a year ago

You mean to say it wasn't before? ;)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Conditional selection in SQL?

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related