Re: Interesting SQL Question - Flatten Multiple Records into One Record

On 03 Dec 2012 10:53, Richard Schoen wrote:

I don't know if I stated it, but my assumption would be to only use
this technique for unique fields.

If I understand correctly... Care must still be taken, as I alluded. The assumption that the predicate will be used only on a UNIQUE protected column may be irrelevant, given any failure to ensure the situation that I had presented will never transpire. That is to suggest... The example I gave does have unique\distinct values. A LIKE [or equivalent LOCATE] predicate by itself, can not guarantee just one matching result amongst those distinct values; instead, either an equivalence [equal] predicate must be used, or some constraints on the data would be required to prevent those other predicates from ever yielding more than one matching row.