A. Creating a simple common table expression
The following example shows the number of employees reporting directly to each manager at Adventure Works Cycles.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH DirReps(ManagerID, DirectReports) AS
(
SELECT ManagerID, COUNT(*)
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
WHERE ManagerID IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY ManagerID
)
SELECT ManagerID, DirectReports
FROM DirReps
ORDER BY ManagerID;
GO
B. Using a common table expression to limit counts and report averages
The following example shows the average number of employees reporting to managers.
WITH DirReps (Manager, DirectReports) AS
(
SELECT ManagerID, COUNT(*) AS DirectReports
FROM HumanResources.Employee
GROUP BY ManagerID
)
SELECT AVG(DirectReports) AS [Average Number of Direct Reports]
FROM DirReps
WHERE DirectReports>= 2 ;
GO
C. Referencing a common table expression more than one time
The following example shows the total number of sales orders and the most recent sales order date in the SalesOrderHeader table for each salesperson. In the running statement, the CTE is referenced two times: one time to return the selected columns for the salesperson, and again to retrieve similar details for the salesperson's manager. The data for both the salesperson and the manager are returned in a single row.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH Sales_CTE (SalesPersonID, NumberOfOrders, MaxDate)
AS
(
SELECT SalesPersonID, COUNT(*), MAX(OrderDate)
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader
GROUP BY SalesPersonID
)
SELECT E.EmployeeID, OS.NumberOfOrders, OS.MaxDate,
E.ManagerID, OM.NumberOfOrders, OM.MaxDate
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS E
JOIN Sales_CTE AS OS
ON E.EmployeeID = OS.SalesPersonID
LEFT OUTER JOIN Sales_CTE AS OM
ON E.ManagerID = OM.SalesPersonID
ORDER BY E.EmployeeID;
GO
D. Using a recursive common table expression to display multiple levels of recursion
The following example shows the hierarchical list of managers and the employees who report to them.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH DirectReports(ManagerID, EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel) AS
(
SELECT ManagerID, EmployeeID, 0 AS EmployeeLevel
FROM HumanResources.Employee
WHERE ManagerID IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT e.ManagerID, e.EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel + 1
FROM HumanResources.Employee e
INNER JOIN DirectReports d
ON e.ManagerID = d.EmployeeID
)
SELECT ManagerID, EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel
FROM DirectReports ;
GO
E. Using a recursive common table expression to display two levels of recursion
The following example shows managers and the employees reporting to them. The number of levels returned is limited to two.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH DirectReports(ManagerID, EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel) AS
(
SELECT ManagerID, EmployeeID, 0 AS EmployeeLevel
FROM HumanResources.Employee
WHERE ManagerID IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT e.ManagerID, e.EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel + 1
FROM HumanResources.Employee e
INNER JOIN DirectReports d
ON e.ManagerID = d.EmployeeID
)
SELECT ManagerID, EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel
FROM DirectReports
WHERE EmployeeLevel <= 2 ;
GO
F. Using a recursive common table expression to display a hierarchical list
The following example builds on Example C by adding the names of the manager and employees, and their respective titles. The hierarchy of managers and employees is additionally emphasized by indenting each level.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH DirectReports(Name, Title, EmployeeID, EmployeeLevel, Sort)
AS (SELECT CONVERT(varchar(255), c.FirstName + ' ' + c.LastName),
e.Title,
e.EmployeeID,
1,
CONVERT(varchar(255), c.FirstName + ' ' + c.LastName)
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
JOIN Person.Contact AS c ON e.ContactID = c.ContactID
WHERE e.ManagerID IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT CONVERT(varchar(255), REPLICATE ('| ' , EmployeeLevel) +
c.FirstName + ' ' + c.LastName),
e.Title,
e.EmployeeID,
EmployeeLevel + 1,
CONVERT (varchar(255), RTRIM(Sort) + '| ' + FirstName + ' ' +
LastName)
FROM HumanResources.Employee as e
JOIN Person.Contact AS c ON e.ContactID = c.ContactID
JOIN DirectReports AS d ON e.ManagerID = d.EmployeeID
)
SELECT EmployeeID, Name, Title, EmployeeLevel
FROM DirectReports
ORDER BY Sort;
GO
G. Using MAXRECURSION to cancel a statement
MAXRECURSION can be used to prevent a poorly formed recursive CTE from entering into an infinite loop. The following example intentionally creates an infinite loop and uses the MAXRECURSION hint to limit the number of recursion levels to two.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
--Creates an infinite loop
WITH cte (EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title) as
(
SELECT EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title
FROM HumanResources.Employee
WHERE ManagerID IS NOT NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT cte.EmployeeID, cte.ManagerID, cte.Title
FROM cte
JOIN HumanResources.Employee AS e
ON cte.ManagerID = e.EmployeeID
)
--Uses MAXRECURSION to limit the recursive levels to 2
SELECT EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title
FROM cte
OPTION (MAXRECURSION 2);
GOAfter the coding error is corrected, MAXRECURSION is no longer required. The following example shows the corrected code.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH cte (EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title)
AS
(
SELECT EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title
FROM HumanResources.Employee
WHERE ManagerID IS NOT NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.ManagerID, e.Title
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
JOIN cte ON e.ManagerID = cte.EmployeeID
)
SELECT EmployeeID, ManagerID, Title
FROM cte;
GO
H. Using a common table expression to selectively step through a recursive relationship in a SELECT statement
The following example shows the hierarchy of product assemblies and components that are required to build the bicycle for ProductAssemblyID = 800.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH Parts(AssemblyID, ComponentID, PerAssemblyQty, EndDate, ComponentLevel) AS
(
SELECT b.ProductAssemblyID, b.ComponentID, b.PerAssemblyQty,
b.EndDate, 0 AS ComponentLevel
FROM Production.BillOfMaterials AS b
WHERE b.ProductAssemblyID = 800
AND b.EndDate IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT bom.ProductAssemblyID, bom.ComponentID, p.PerAssemblyQty,
bom.EndDate, ComponentLevel + 1
FROM Production.BillOfMaterials AS bom
INNER JOIN Parts AS p
ON bom.ProductAssemblyID = p.ComponentID
AND bom.EndDate IS NULL
)
SELECT AssemblyID, ComponentID, Name, PerAssemblyQty, EndDate,
ComponentLevel
FROM Parts AS p
INNER JOIN Production.Product AS pr
ON p.ComponentID = pr.ProductID
ORDER BY ComponentLevel, AssemblyID, ComponentID;
GO
I. Using a recursive CTE in an UPDATE statement
The following example updates the VacationHours value by 25 percent for all employees who report directly or indirectly to ManagerID 12. The common table expression returns a hierarchical list of employees who report directly to ManagerID 12 and employees who report to those employees, and so on. Only the rows returned by the common table expression are modified.
USE AdventureWorks;
GO
WITH DirectReports(EmployeeID, NewVacationHours, EmployeeLevel)
AS
(SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.VacationHours, 1
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
WHERE e.ManagerID = 12
UNION ALL
SELECT e.EmployeeID, e.VacationHours, EmployeeLevel + 1
FROM HumanResources.Employee as e
JOIN DirectReports AS d ON e.ManagerID = d.EmployeeID
)
UPDATE HumanResources.Employee
SET VacationHours = VacationHours * 1.25
FROM HumanResources.Employee AS e
JOIN DirectReports AS d ON e.EmployeeID = d.EmployeeID;
GO
J. Using multiple anchor and recursive members
The following example uses multiple anchor and recursive members to return all the ancestors of a specified person. A table is created and values inserted to establish the family genealogy returned by the recursive CTE.
-- Genealogy table
IF OBJECT_ID('Person','U') IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE Person;
GO
CREATE TABLE Person(ID int, Name varchar(30), Mother int, Father int);
GO
INSERT Person VALUES(1, 'Sue', NULL, NULL);
INSERT Person VALUES(2, 'Ed', NULL, NULL);
INSERT Person VALUES(3, 'Emma', 1, 2);
INSERT Person VALUES(4, 'Jack', 1, 2);
INSERT Person VALUES(5, 'Jane', NULL, NULL);
INSERT Person VALUES(6, 'Bonnie', 5, 4);
INSERT Person VALUES(7, 'Bill', 5, 4);
GO
-- Create the recursive CTE to find all of Bonnie's ancestors.
WITH Generation (ID) AS
(
-- First anchor member returns Bonnie's mother.
SELECT Mother
FROM Person
WHERE Name = 'Bonnie'
UNION
-- Second anchor member returns Bonnie's father.
SELECT Father
FROM Person
WHERE Name = 'Bonnie'
UNION ALL
-- First recursive member returns male ancestors of the previous generation.
SELECT Person.Father
FROM Generation, Person
WHERE Generation.ID=Person.ID
UNION ALL
-- Second recursive member returns female ancestors of the previous generation.
SELECT Person.Mother
FROM Generation, Person
WHERE Generation.ID=Person.ID
)
SELECT Person.ID, Person.Name, Person.Mother, Person.Father
FROM Generation, Person
WHERE Generation.ID = Person.ID;
GO