PostgreSQL UNION Operator

The PostgreSQL UNION operator combines the results of two or more SELECT statements.

The UNION operator is used to merge the result sets of two or more SELECT statements.

Note that each SELECT statement within the UNION must have the same number of columns. The columns must also have similar data types. Additionally, the columns in each SELECT statement must be in the same order.

Syntax

The basic syntax for UNIONS is as follows:

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

UNION

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

The condition statement can be set to any expression as per your requirement.

Example

Create the COMPANY table (download COMPANY SQL file), with the following data content:

tutorialprodb# select * from COMPANY;
 id | name  | age | address   | salary
----+-------+-----+-----------+--------
  1 | Paul  |  32 | California|  20000
  2 | Allen |  25 | Texas     |  15000
  3 | Teddy |  23 | Norway    |  20000
  4 | Mark  |  25 | Rich-Mond |  65000
  5 | David |  27 | Texas     |  85000
  6 | Kim   |  22 | South-Hall|  45000
  7 | James |  24 | Houston   |  10000
(7 rows)

Create the DEPARTMENT table (download DEPARTMENT SQL file), with the following data content:

tutorialprodb=# SELECT * from DEPARTMENT;
 id | dept        | emp_id
----+-------------+--------
  1 | IT Billing  |      1
  2 | Engineering |      2
  3 | Finance     |      7
  4 | Engineering |      3
  5 | Finance     |      4
  6 | Engineering |      5
  7 | Finance     |      6
(7 rows)

Now, we use the UNION clause in the SELECT statements to join the two tables as follows:

SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY INNER JOIN DEPARTMENT
   ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID
   UNION
SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY LEFT OUTER JOIN DEPARTMENT
    ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID;

The result is as follows:

emp_id | name  |  dept
--------+-------+--------------
      5 | David | Engineering
      6 | Kim   | Finance
      2 | Allen | Engineering
      3 | Teddy | Engineering
      4 | Mark  | Finance
      1 | Paul  | IT Billing
      7 | James | Finance
(7 rows)

UNION ALL Clause

The UNION ALL operator can connect two SELECT statements with duplicate rows. By default, the UNION operator selects distinct values. If duplicate values are allowed, use UNION ALL.

Syntax

The basic syntax for the UNION ALL clause is as follows:

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

UNION ALL

SELECT column1 [, column2 ]
FROM table1 [, table2 ]
[WHERE condition]

FROM table1 [, table2 ] [WHERE condition]

The condition clause can be set with any expression according to your needs.

Example

Now, let's combine the two tables mentioned above using a SELECT statement with the UNION ALL clause:

SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY INNER JOIN DEPARTMENT
   ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID
   UNION ALL
SELECT EMP_ID, NAME, DEPT FROM COMPANY LEFT OUTER JOIN DEPARTMENT
    ON COMPANY.ID = DEPARTMENT.EMP_ID;

The result is as follows:

emp_id | name  | dept
--------+-------+--------------
      1 | Paul  | IT Billing
      2 | Allen | Engineering
      7 | James | Finance
      3 | Teddy | Engineering
      4 | Mark  | Finance
      5 | David | Engineering
      6 | Kim   | Finance
      1 | Paul  | IT Billing
      2 | Allen | Engineering
      7 | James | Finance
      3 | Teddy | Engineering
      4 | Mark  | Finance
      5 | David | Engineering
      6 | Kim   | Finance
(14 rows)