PIVOT

PIVOT is a SQL operation, introduced in Oracle 11g, that lets you write cross tabulation (also called transposed, crosstab and matrix) queries that rotate rows into columns while aggregating data in the rotation process.

Example

SELECT *
  FROM (SELECT job, deptno, sum(sal) sal FROM emp GROUP BY job, deptno)
         PIVOT ( sum(sal) FOR deptno IN (10, 20, 30, 40) );

JOB               10         20         30         40
--------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
CLERK           1300       1900        950
SALESMAN                              5600
PRESIDENT       5000
MANAGER         2450       2975       2850
ANALYST                    6000

For Oracle versions prior to 11g, the same results can be obtained with this (somewhat bulkier) query:

SELECT  *
  FROM  (SELECT job,
                sum(decode(deptno,10,sal)) DEPT10,
                sum(decode(deptno,20,sal)) DEPT20,
                sum(decode(deptno,30,sal)) DEPT30,
                sum(decode(deptno,40,sal)) DEPT40
           FROM scott.emp
       GROUP BY job)
ORDER BY 1;

Also see

• UNPIVOT - rotates data from columns into rows