How to Concatenate Strings Using GROUP_CONCAT?

The GROUP_CONCAT is an aggregation function that is used to concat values from various records into one single value. Since it is an aggregating function it is used with GROUP BY clause.

Syntax:

SELECT col1, col2, ..., coln
GROUP_CONCAT ( col_name, str_val ) 
FROM table GROUP BY col1, col2, ..., coln;

Explanation:

• col1, col2, coln: The columns which will be used to group the records.
• col_name: The name of the column whose value needs to be concatenated.
• str_val: The optional separator value.
• table: The table from which to aggregate the results.

let’s Setting Up Environment for Concatenate Strings

We will create a table called test and insert some sample values in the table. The following code creates the test table and inserts some entries into it.

CREATE TABLE test (
  id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  val1 VARCHAR(20),
  val2 VARCHAR(20)
);

INSERT INTO test VALUES (21, 'val1', '32');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (11, 'val2', '90');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (90, 'val1', '18');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (77, 'val1', '65');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (43, 'val3', '20');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (81, 'val3', '88');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (29, 'val2', '72');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (55, 'val2', '47');
INSERT INTO test VALUES (72, 'val3', '11');

Output:

Explanation: Now that we have the table in place, lets go through the GROUP_CONCAT() function.

In SQLite databases, string concatenation is crucial for various tasks, from generating reports to organizing data. One particularly useful function for this purpose is GROUP_CONCAT. SQLite is a lightweight and versatile relational database management system that offers a powerful solution with its GROUP_CONCAT function. In this article, we’ll explore how to use GROUP_CONCAT to concatenate strings effortlessly within SQLite queries.