Eliminate duplicates in ListAgg (Oracle)

Question

Prior to Oracle 11.2 I was using a custom aggregate function to concatenate a column into a row. 11.2 Added the LISTAGG function, so I am trying to use that instead. My problem is that I need to eliminate duplicates in the results and don't seem to be able to do that.

Here is an example.

CREATE TABLE ListAggTest AS (
  SELECT rownum Num1, DECODE(rownum,1,'2',to_char(rownum)) Num2 FROM dual 
     CONNECT BY rownum<=6
  );
SELECT * FROM ListAggTest;

      NUM1 NUM2
---------- ---------------------
         1 2
         2 2                    << Duplicate 2
         3 3
         4 4
         5 5
         6 6

What I want to see is this:

      NUM1 NUM2S
---------- --------------------
         1 2-3-4-5-6
         2 2-3-4-5-6
         3 2-3-4-5-6
         4 2-3-4-5-6
         5 2-3-4-5-6
         6 2-3-4-5-6

Here is a listagg version that is close, but doesn't eliminate duplicates.

SELECT Num1, listagg(Num2,'-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY NULL) OVER () Num2s 
FROM ListAggTest;

I have a solution, but it's worse than continuing to use the custom aggregate function.

Answer 1

You can use regular expressions and regexp_replace to remove the duplicates after concatenation with listagg:

SELECT Num1, 
       RTRIM(
         REGEXP_REPLACE(
           (listagg(Num2,'-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY Num2) OVER ()), 
           '([^-]*)(-\1)+($|-)', 
           '\1\3'),
         '-') Num2s 
FROM ListAggTest;

This could be tidier if Oracle's regex flavour supported lookahead or non-capturing groups, but it doesn't.

However this solution does avoid scanning the source more than once.

DBFiddle here

Answer 2

As far as I can see, with the currently available language specification, this is the shortest to achieve what you want if it must be done with listagg.

select distinct
       a.Num1, 
       b.num2s
  from listaggtest a cross join (
       select listagg(num2d, '-') within group (order by num2d) num2s 
       from (
         select distinct Num2 num2d from listaggtest
       )
      ) b;

What was your solution that was worse than the custom aggregate solution?

Answer 3

Although this is an old post with an accepted answer, I think the LAG() analytic function works well in this case and is noteworthy:

• LAG() removes duplicate values in column num2 with minimal expense
• No need for non-trivial regular expression to filter results
• Just one full table scan (cost=4 on simple example table)

Here is the proposed code:

with nums as (
SELECT 
    num1, 
    num2, 
    decode( lag(num2) over (partition by null order by num2), --get last num2, if any
            --if last num2 is same as this num2, then make it null
            num2, null, 
            num2) newnum2
  FROM ListAggTest
) 
select 
  num1, 
  --listagg ignores NULL values, so duplicates are ignored
  listagg( newnum2,'-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY Num2) OVER () num2s
  from nums;

The results below appear to be what the OP desires:

NUM1  NUM2S       
1   2-3-4-5-6
2   2-3-4-5-6
3   2-3-4-5-6
4   2-3-4-5-6
5   2-3-4-5-6
6   2-3-4-5-6 

Answer 4

Create a custom aggregate function to do this.

Oracle database provides a number of pre-defined aggregate functions such as MAX, MIN, SUM for performing operations on a set of records. These pre-defined aggregate functions can be used only with scalar data. However, you can create your own custom implementations of these functions, or define entirely new aggregate functions, to use with complex data—for example, with multimedia data stored using object types, opaque types, and LOBs.

User-defined aggregate functions are used in SQL DML statements just like the Oracle database built-in aggregates. Once such functions are registered with the server, the database simply invokes the aggregation routines that you supplied instead of the native ones.

User-defined aggregates can be used with scalar data as well. For example, it may be worthwhile to implement special aggregate functions for working with complex statistical data associated with financial or scientific applications.

User-defined aggregates are a feature of the Extensibility Framework. You implement them using ODCIAggregate interface routines.

Answer 5

Here was my solution to the problem which in my opinion isn't as nice as using our custom aggregate function which already exists.

SELECT Num1, listagg(Num2,'-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY NULL) OVER () Num2s FROM (
  SELECT Num1, DECODE(ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY Num2 ORDER BY NULL),
     1,Num2,NULL) Num2 FROM ListAggTest
);

Answer 6

Use WMSYS.WM_Concat instead.

SELECT Num1, Replace(Wm_Concat(DISTINCT Num2) OVER (), ',', '-')
FROM ListAggTest;

Note: This function is undocumented and unsupported. See https://forums.oracle.com/forums/message.jspa?messageID=4372641#4372641.

Answer 7

You could also use a collect statement and then write a custom pl/sql function that converts the collection to a string.

CREATE TYPE varchar2_ntt AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(4000);
CREATE TYPE varchar2_ntt AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(4000);

select cast(collect(distinct num2 order by num2) as varchar2_ntt) 
from listaggtest

You can use distinct and order by in a collect clause but if combined the distinct won't work as of 11.2.0.2 :(

Workaround could be a subselect:

select collect(num2 order by num2) 
from 
( 
    select distinct num2 
    from listaggtest
)

Answer 8

I created this solution before I encountered ListAgg, but there are still occasions, such as this duplicate value issue, then this tool is useful. The version below has 4 arguments to give you control over the results.

Explanation CLOBlist takes contructor CLOBlistParam as a parameter. CLOBlistParam has 4 arguments

string VARCHAR2(4000) - The variable to be aggregated
delimiter VARCHAR2(100) - The delimiting string
initiator VARCHAR2(100) - An initial string added before the first value only.
no_dup VARCHAR2(1) - A flag. Duplicates are suppressed if this is Y

Example usage

--vertical list of comma separated values, no duplicates.
SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(column_name,chr(10)||',','','Y')) FROM user_tab_columns
--simple csv
SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(table_name,',','','N')) FROM user_tables

Link to Gist is below.

https://gist.github.com/peter-genesys/d203bfb3d88d5a5664a86ea6ee34eeca]1

---

-- Program  : CLOBlist 
-- Name     : CLOB list 
-- Author   : Peter Burgess
-- Purpose  : CLOB list aggregation function for SQL
-- RETURNS CLOB - to allow for more than 4000 chars to be returned by SQL
-- NEW type CLOBlistParam  - allows for definition of the delimiter, and initiator of sequence
------------------------------------------------------------------
--This is an aggregating function for use in SQL.
--It takes the argument and creates a comma delimited list of each instance.

WHENEVER SQLERROR CONTINUE
DROP TYPE CLOBlistImpl;
WHENEVER SQLERROR EXIT FAILURE ROLLBACK

create or replace type CLOBlistParam as object(
  string    VARCHAR2(4000)
 ,delimiter VARCHAR2(100)  
 ,initiator VARCHAR2(100)  
 ,no_dup    VARCHAR2(1)    )
/
show error

--Creating CLOBlist()
--Implement the type CLOBlistImpl to contain the ODCIAggregate routines.
create or replace type CLOBlistImpl as object
(
  g_list CLOB, -- progressive concatenation
  static function ODCIAggregateInitialize(sctx IN OUT CLOBlistImpl)
    return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateIterate(self  IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                     , value IN     CLOBlistParam) return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateTerminate(self        IN  CLOBlistImpl
                                       , returnValue OUT CLOB
                                       , flags       IN  number) return number,
  member function ODCIAggregateMerge(self IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                   , ctx2 IN     CLOBlistImpl) return number
)
/
show error


--Implement the type body for CLOBlistImpl.
create or replace type body CLOBlistImpl is
static function ODCIAggregateInitialize(sctx IN OUT CLOBlistImpl)
return number is
begin

  sctx := CLOBlistImpl(TO_CHAR(NULL));
  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateIterate(self  IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                   , value IN     CLOBlistParam) return number is
begin

   IF self.g_list IS NULL THEN
     self.g_list := value.initiator||value.string;
   ELSIF value.no_dup = 'Y' AND
         value.delimiter||self.g_list||value.delimiter LIKE '%'||value.delimiter||value.string||value.delimiter||'%' 
         THEN
     --Do not include duplicate value    
     NULL;
  ELSE
     self.g_list := self.g_list||value.delimiter||value.string;
   END IF;

  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateTerminate(self        IN  CLOBlistImpl
                                     , returnValue OUT CLOB
                                     , flags       IN  number) return number is
begin
  returnValue := self.g_list;
  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;

member function ODCIAggregateMerge(self IN OUT CLOBlistImpl
                                 , ctx2 IN     CLOBlistImpl) return number is
begin

  self.g_list := LTRIM( self.g_list||','||ctx2.g_list,',');

  return ODCIConst.Success;
end;
end;
/
show error

--Using CLOBlist() to create a vertical list of comma separated values

--  SELECT CLOBlist(CLOBlistParam(product_code,chr(10)||',','','Y'))
--  FROM   account


--DROP FUNCTION CLOBlist
--/

PROMPT Create the user-defined aggregate.
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION CLOBlist (input CLOBlistParam) RETURN CLOB
PARALLEL_ENABLE AGGREGATE USING CLOBlistImpl;
/
show error

Answer 9

I know it's sometime after the original posting, but this was the first spot I found after Googling for an answer to the same problem and thought someone else who landed here might be happy to find a succinct answer that doesn't rely on overly complicated queries or regexes.

This will give you the desired result:

with nums as (
  select distinct num2 distinct_nums
  from listaggtest
  order by num2
) select num1,
         (select listagg(distinct_nums, '-') within group (order by 1) from nums) nums2list 
         from listaggtest;

Answer 10

My idea is to implement a stored function like this:

CREATE TYPE LISTAGG_DISTINCT_PARAMS AS OBJECT (ELEMENTO VARCHAR2(2000), SEPARATORE VARCHAR2(10));

CREATE TYPE T_LISTA_ELEMENTI AS TABLE OF VARCHAR2(2000);

CREATE TYPE T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT AS OBJECT (

    LISTA_ELEMENTI T_LISTA_ELEMENTI,
        SEPARATORE VARCHAR2(10),

    STATIC FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEINITIALIZE(SCTX  IN OUT            T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT) 
                    RETURN NUMBER,

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEITERATE   (SELF  IN OUT            T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT, 
                                            VALUE IN                    LISTAGG_DISTINCT_PARAMS ) 
                    RETURN NUMBER,

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATETERMINATE (SELF         IN     T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT,
                                            RETURN_VALUE OUT    VARCHAR2, 
                                            FLAGS        IN     NUMBER      )
                    RETURN NUMBER,

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEMERGE       (SELF               IN OUT T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT,
                                                                                        CTX2                 IN         T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT    )
                    RETURN NUMBER
);

CREATE OR REPLACE TYPE BODY T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT IS 

    STATIC FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEINITIALIZE(SCTX IN OUT T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT) RETURN NUMBER IS 
    BEGIN
                SCTX := T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT(T_LISTA_ELEMENTI() , ',');
        RETURN ODCICONST.SUCCESS;
    END;

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEITERATE(SELF IN OUT T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT, VALUE IN LISTAGG_DISTINCT_PARAMS) RETURN NUMBER IS
    BEGIN

                IF VALUE.ELEMENTO IS NOT NULL THEN
                        SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI.EXTEND;
                        SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI(SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI.LAST) := TO_CHAR(VALUE.ELEMENTO);
                        SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI:= SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI MULTISET UNION DISTINCT SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI;
                        SELF.SEPARATORE := VALUE.SEPARATORE;
                END IF;
        RETURN ODCICONST.SUCCESS;
    END;

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATETERMINATE(SELF IN T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT, RETURN_VALUE OUT VARCHAR2, FLAGS IN NUMBER) RETURN NUMBER IS
      STRINGA_OUTPUT            CLOB:='';
            LISTA_OUTPUT                T_LISTA_ELEMENTI;
            TERMINATORE                 VARCHAR2(3):='...';
            LUNGHEZZA_MAX           NUMBER:=4000;
    BEGIN

                IF SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI.EXISTS(1) THEN -- se esiste almeno un elemento nella lista

                        -- inizializza una nuova lista di appoggio
                        LISTA_OUTPUT := T_LISTA_ELEMENTI();

                        -- riversamento dei soli elementi in DISTINCT
                        LISTA_OUTPUT := SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI MULTISET UNION DISTINCT SELF.LISTA_ELEMENTI;

                        -- ordinamento degli elementi
                        SELECT CAST(MULTISET(SELECT * FROM TABLE(LISTA_OUTPUT) ORDER BY 1 ) AS T_LISTA_ELEMENTI ) INTO LISTA_OUTPUT FROM DUAL;

                        -- concatenazione in una stringa                        
                        FOR I IN LISTA_OUTPUT.FIRST .. LISTA_OUTPUT.LAST - 1
                        LOOP
                            STRINGA_OUTPUT := STRINGA_OUTPUT || LISTA_OUTPUT(I) || SELF.SEPARATORE;
                        END LOOP;
                        STRINGA_OUTPUT := STRINGA_OUTPUT || LISTA_OUTPUT(LISTA_OUTPUT.LAST);

                        -- se la stringa supera la dimensione massima impostata, tronca e termina con un terminatore
                        IF LENGTH(STRINGA_OUTPUT) > LUNGHEZZA_MAX THEN
                                    RETURN_VALUE := SUBSTR(STRINGA_OUTPUT, 0, LUNGHEZZA_MAX - LENGTH(TERMINATORE)) || TERMINATORE;
                        ELSE
                                    RETURN_VALUE:=STRINGA_OUTPUT;
                        END IF;

                ELSE -- se non esiste nessun elemento, restituisci NULL

                        RETURN_VALUE := NULL;

                END IF;

        RETURN ODCICONST.SUCCESS;
    END;

    MEMBER FUNCTION ODCIAGGREGATEMERGE(SELF IN OUT T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT, CTX2 IN T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT) RETURN NUMBER IS
    BEGIN
        RETURN ODCICONST.SUCCESS;
    END;

END; -- fine corpo

CREATE
FUNCTION LISTAGG_DISTINCT (INPUT LISTAGG_DISTINCT_PARAMS) RETURN VARCHAR2
    PARALLEL_ENABLE AGGREGATE USING T_LISTAGG_DISTINCT;

// Example
SELECT LISTAGG_DISTINCT(LISTAGG_DISTINCT_PARAMS(OWNER, ', ')) AS LISTA_OWNER
FROM SYS.ALL_OBJECTS;

I'm sorry, but in some case (for a very big set), Oracle could return this error:

Object or Collection value was too large. The size of the value
might have exceeded 30k in a SORT context, or the size might be
too big for available memory.

but I think this is a good point of start ;)

Answer 11

Try this one:

select num1,listagg(Num2,'-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY NULL) Num2s 
from (
select distinct num1
    ,b.num2
from listaggtest a
    ,(
        select num2
        from listaggtest
    ) b
    order by 1,2
    )
group by num1

The issue with other possible solutions is that there is no correlation between the results for column 1 and column 2. To work around this the inner query creates this correlation and then removes the duplicates from that result set. When you do the listagg the result set is already clean. the problem had more to do with getting the data in a usable format.

Answer 12

Please see this link in Stack Overflow answers all question - agg distinct - is now built in some versions and this post also shows work around (polyfill) for older versions. https://stackoverflow.com/a/22624072/334106

Answer 13

SQL was designed as simple language, very close to english. So why don't you write it as in english?

1. eliminate duplicates on num2 & use listagg as aggregate function - not analytic, to compute concat on string
2. join in to original, as you want one result row for one input

select num1, num2s
  from (select num2,
               listagg(num2, '-') within group(order by num2) over() num2s
          from listaggtest
         group by num2
       )
  join listaggtest using (num2);

Answer 14

SELECT Num1, listagg(Num2,'-') WITHIN GROUP
(ORDER BY num1) OVER () Num2s FROM 
(select distinct num1 from listAggTest) a,
(select distinct num2 from ListAggTest) b
where num1=num2(+);

Answer 15

The most effective solution is inner SELECT with GROUP BY, because DISTINCT and regular expressions are slow as hell.

SELECT num1, LISTAGG(num2, '-') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY num2) AS num2s
    FROM (SELECT num1, num2
              FROM ListAggTest
              GROUP BY num1, num2)
    GROUP BY num1;

This solution is pretty simple - first you get all unique combinations of num1 and num2 (inner SELECT) and then you get the string of all num2 grouped by num1.