SQL UNION Operator

The SQL UNION Operator

The UNION operator is used to combine the result-set of two or more SELECT statements.

• Each SELECT statement within UNION must have the same number of columns
• The columns must also have similar data types
• The columns in each SELECT statement must also be in the same order

UNION Syntax

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1
UNION
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;

UNION ALL Syntax

The UNION operator selects only distinct values by default. To allow duplicate values, use UNION ALL:

SELECT column_name(s) FROM table1
UNION ALL
SELECT column_name(s) FROM table2;

Note: The column names in the result-set are usually equal to the column names in the first SELECT statement in the UNION.

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Demo Database

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la Constitución 2222	México D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	Mexico

And a selection from the "Suppliers" table:

SupplierID	SupplierName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Exotic Liquid	Charlotte Cooper	49 Gilbert St.	London	EC1 4SD	UK
2	New Orleans Cajun Delights	Shelley Burke	P.O. Box 78934	New Orleans	70117	USA
3	Grandma Kelly's Homestead	Regina Murphy	707 Oxford Rd.	Ann Arbor	48104	USA

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SQL UNION Example

The following SQL statement returns the cities (only distinct values) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:

Example

SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

Try it Yourself »

Note: If some customers or suppliers have the same city, each city will only be listed once, because UNION selects only distinct values. Use UNION ALL to also select duplicate values!

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SQL UNION ALL Example

The following SQL statement returns the cities (duplicate values also) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:

Example

SELECT City FROM Customers
UNION ALL
SELECT City FROM Suppliers
ORDER BY City;

Try it Yourself »

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SQL UNION With WHERE

The following SQL statement returns the German cities (only distinct values) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:

Example

SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

Try it Yourself »

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SQL UNION ALL With WHERE

The following SQL statement returns the German cities (duplicate values also) from both the "Customers" and the "Suppliers" table:

Example

SELECT City, Country FROM Customers
WHERE Country='Germany'
UNION ALL
SELECT City, Country FROM Suppliers
WHERE Country='Germany'
ORDER BY City;

Try it Yourself »

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Another UNION Example

The following SQL statement lists all customers and suppliers:

Example

SELECT 'Customer' AS Type, ContactName, City, Country
FROM Customers
UNION
SELECT 'Supplier', ContactName, City, Country
FROM Suppliers;

Try it Yourself »

Notice the "AS Type" above - it is an alias. SQL Aliases are used to give a table or a column a temporary name. An alias only exists for the duration of the query. So, here we have created a temporary column named "Type", that list whether the contact person is a "Customer" or a "Supplier".