mysql select rows with same ids and preserve their order? - mysql

Question

just a quick question:
i have to have one single query that has multiple rows - some rows are identicle - and the order of rows must be preserved in the result -
some idea of what im refering to:
SELECT id,date
FROM items
WHERE id IN (1,2,1,3)
ORDER BY id=1 DESC,id=2 DESC,id=1 DESC,id=3 DESC;
unfortunately mysql result is this:
1,2,3
not 1,2,1,3
it removes the duplicate which i have to have in my result to display in multiple panels on the same webpage -
i really dont want to loop thru each id one by one to get them the way i want to display -
is there a way to actually have one single query that will preserve the order and pull out rows based on request whether its unique or not -

Answer 1

Your query as it stands will never work, because duplicate values in a list of values of an IN clause are ignored. The only way to make this work is by using UNION ALL:
SELECT id, date FROM items where id = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT id, date FROM items where id = 2
UNION ALL
SELECT id, date FROM items where id = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT id, date FROM items where id = 3;
But to be frank, I suspect your data model so far past screwed it's unusable.

Answer 2

try
SELECT
id,
date
FROM items
WHERE id IN (1,2,1,3)
ORDER BY FIND_IN_SET(id, '1,2,1,3')

Answer 3

Another scrupulous way to answer a suspicious question:
SELECT
items.id,
items.date
FROM
items
JOIN
( SELECT 1 AS id, 1 AS ordering
UNION ALL
SELECT 2, 2
UNION ALL
SELECT 1, 3
UNION ALL
SELECT 3, 4
) AS auxilary
ON
auxilary.id = items.id
ORDER BY
auxilary.ordering

Answer 4

Another approach (untested, but should give you the idea):
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tt (id INT, ai int unsigned auto_increment primary key);
INSERT INTO tt (id) VALUES (1), (2), (1), (3);
SELECT
id,
date
FROM items JOIN tt USING (id)
ORDER BY tt.ai;
keeps the given order.

Answer 5

If you want to include the records with id=1 and the order doesn't matter as long as you get them, you can split your query into two queries, one for (1,2,3) union all the other query for id=1 or just do:
... In (1,2)
Union all
... In (1,3)
Example:
Select * from
(Select case id when 1 then 1 when 2 then 2 as pseudocol, othercolumns
From table where Id in (1,2)
Union all
Select case id when 1 then 3 when 3 then 4 as pseudocol, othercolumns
From table where Id in (1,3)) t order by pseudocol

Answer 6

Instead of doing what you are trying to, just select the unique rows you need. In the frontend code, store each unique row once in a key=>value structure, where key is the item ID and value is whatever data you need about that item.
Once you have that you can use frontend logic to output them in the desired order including duplicates. This will reduce the amount of redundant data you are trying to select.
For example This is not usable code - exact syntax required depends on your scripting language
-- setup a display order
displayOrder= [1,2,1,3];
-- select data from database, order doesn't matter here
SELECT id,date
FROM items
WHERE id IN (displayOrder);
-- cache the results in a key=> value array
arrCachedRows = {};
for (.... each db row returned ...) {
arrCachedRows[id] = date;
}
-- Now output in desired order
for (listIndex in displayOrder) {
-- Make sure the index is cached
if (listIndex exists in arrCachedRow) {
echo arrCachedRows[listIndex ];
}
}
If you must persist in using UNION despite my warnings
If you go against the above recommendation and absolutely MUST have them back in 1 query in that order then add on an additional row which will enforce the row order. See below query where I use variable #subIndex to add an incrementing value as subIndex. This in turn lets you reorder by that and it'll be in the requested order.
SELECT
i.*
FROM (
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, id, date FROM items where id = 1
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, id, date FROM items where id = 2
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, id, date FROM items where id = 1
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, id, date FROM items where id = 3
) AS i,(SELECT #subIndex:=0) v
ORDER BY i.subIndex
Or a slightly cleaner version that keeps item selection until the outside and hides the subindex
SELECT
items.*
FROM items
-- initialise variable
INNER JOIN (SELECT #subIndex:=0) v
-- create a meta-table with the ids desired in the order desired
INNER JOIN (
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, 1 AS id
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, 2 AS id
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, 1 AS id
UNION
SELECT #subIndex:=#subIndex+1 AS subIndex, 3 AS id
) AS i
ON i.id = items.id
-- order by the subindex from i
ORDER BY i.`subIndex` ASC