Thread: SELECT returnig a constant

I used to be able to return a constant value in a SELECT statement in
ORACLE. I need to populate a table for testing, and I was going to do so
like this:

SELECT
        employee.id ,
        project.proj_no ,
        work_type.type  ,
        'rate' 1
FROM employee
CROSS JOIN project
CROSS JOIN work_type;

This statement works correctly, till I add the last "'rate' 1 line, then it
returns a syntax error.

How can I do this?


--
"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety."
                        -- Benjamin Franklin

On Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 09:28:51AM -0400, stan wrote:
> I used to be able to return a constant value in a SELECT statement in
> ORACLE. I need to populate a table for testing, and I was going to do so
> like this:
>
> SELECT
>         employee.id ,
>         project.proj_no ,
>         work_type.type  ,
>         'rate' 1
> FROM employee
> CROSS JOIN project
> CROSS JOIN work_type;
>
> This statement works correctly, till I add the last "'rate' 1 line, then it
> returns a syntax error.
>
> How can I do this?
>
Turns out this works.

SELECT
        employee.id ,
        project.proj_no ,
        work_type.type ,
        1 as rate
FROM employee
CROSS JOIN project
CROSS JOIN work_type;
                                ~

--
"They that would give up essential liberty for temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety."
                        -- Benjamin Franklin

On 15/10/2019 14:28, stan wrote:
> I used to be able to return a constant value in a SELECT statement in
> ORACLE. I need to populate a table for testing, and I was going to do so
> like this:
> 
> SELECT
>          employee.id ,
>         project.proj_no ,
>         work_type.type  ,
>         'rate' 1
> FROM employee
> CROSS JOIN project
> CROSS JOIN work_type;
> 
> This statement works correctly, till I add the last "'rate' 1 line, then it
> returns a syntax error.

I don't think you can use a number as a column name. Give it a different 
name and it should work:

SELECT .... , 'rate' my_constant_name FROM ...

Ray.


-- 
Raymond O'Donnell // Galway // Ireland
ray@rodonnell.ie

On Tue, 15 Oct 2019 at 14:35, Ray O'Donnell <ray@rodonnell.ie> wrote:
>
> On 15/10/2019 14:28, stan wrote:
> > I used to be able to return a constant value in a SELECT statement in
> > ORACLE. I need to populate a table for testing, and I was going to do so
> > like this:
> >
> > SELECT
> >          employee.id ,
> >               project.proj_no ,
> >               work_type.type  ,
> >               'rate' 1
> > FROM employee
> > CROSS JOIN project
> > CROSS JOIN work_type;
> >
> > This statement works correctly, till I add the last " 'rate' 1 line, then it
> > returns a syntax error.
>
> I don't think you can use a number as a column name. Give it a different
> name and it should work:

Well you can but only if you quote the column alias

SELECT
         employee.id ,
              project.proj_no ,
              work_type.type  ,
              'rate' "1"
FROM employee
CROSS JOIN project
CROSS JOIN work_type;

but I really wouldn't recommend it. That way madness lies.

Geoff

On 15/10/2019 15:01, stan wrote:
> Thanks, as you can see from my SOLVED reply, I go that part figured out.
> Now I am trying to figure out how to complete this. The SELECT returns more
> than 1 row, and when I put that in the VALUES clause this does not work.

Please reply to the list, rather than to me - reply-all should do the 
trick. :-)

You're using cross-joins, which returns the cartesian product of the 
tables concerned, without any WHERE clause.... so if the tables are big 
you'll return a LOT of data.

Ray.

-- 
Raymond O'Donnell // Galway // Ireland
ray@rodonnell.ie