PostgreSQL UNION Operator

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

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

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

Syntax

The basic syntax of UNION is as follows:

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

UNION

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

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

Example

Create the COMPANY table (Download the COMPANY SQL file), with the data content as follows:

exampledb# 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 the DEPARTMENT SQL file), with the data content as follows:

exampledb=# 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, let's use the UNION clause in a SELECT statement to join the two tables, as shown below:

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 join two SELECT statements that contain duplicate rows. By default, the UNION operator selects distinct values. If duplicate values are allowed, use UNION ALL.

Syntax

The basic syntax of 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]

The condition here can be set to 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)