say i do a select statement and I get 5 record sets returned. each record set has a different number of variables ie.

r1 - xyz123, udf432, asf909, lkj011
r2 - kjf092, sdf092
r3 - dsf025, dsl985, fds986
r4 - sdf021
r5 - dsa349, fds543, xcv941, fiz091, fgs431, oiz012

what i'd like to do, is instead of getting all of the values in each record set, i'd like to only extract the 1st and the last ie.

r1 - xyz123, lkj011
r2 - kjf092, sdf092
r3 - dsf025, fds986
r4 - sdf021
r5 - dsa349, oiz012

Is this possible using 1 sql?

By variables I assume you mean columns.
Just use a Select <col1>, <col_last> From <Table>.

Before thinking about the query i would like to know first, whether the data of r1 "xyz123, udf432, asf909, lkj011" belongs to one column OR four columns ?

Cheers,
Pooja Falor

You need to be more clear in your explanation:

If you do a Select statment, the number of columns returned is always the same. The number of rows will vary depending on your Where clause.

Are you asking if a value repeats across many columns?:
Ex .. Col1 Col2 Col3 Col4
row1 - Val1 Val2 Val1 Val3

Do want to know that Val1 appears in 2 columns in row 1?


First lets start with your SQL. Please post your SQL statement for me to check.

Jim