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New function LISTAGG #8689

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  1. Purpose
    The current implementation has an aggregate function LIST which concatenates multiple row fields into a blob. The SQL standard has a similar function called LISTAGG. The major difference is that it also supports the ordered concatenation.

  2. Syntax and rules

<listagg set function> ::=
LISTAGG <left paren> [ <set quantifier> ] <character value expression> <comma> <listagg separator> [ <listagg overflow clause> ] <right paren> <within group specification>

<listagg separator> ::= 
<character string literal>

<listagg overflow clause> ::=
ON OVERFLOW <overflow behavior>

<overflow behavior> ::=
ERROR | TRUNCATE [ <listagg truncation filler> ] <listagg count indication>

<listagg truncation filler> ::=
<character string literal>

<listagg count indication> ::=
WITH COUNT | WITHOUT COUNT

<within group specification> ::=
WITHIN GROUP <left paren> ORDER BY <sort specification list> <right paren>

The legacy LIST syntax is preserved for backward compatibility, LISTAGG is added to cover the standard features.

There is a <listagg overflow clause> rule in the standard, which is intended to output an error when the output value overflows. Since the LIST function always returns a BLOB, it was decided that this rule would be meaningless. It was not implemented and silently ignored if specified.

If DISTINCT is specified for LISTAGG, then ORDER BY <sort specification list> must fully match <character value expression>

If DISTINCT is specified, the presence of WITHIN GROUP must obey the restriction and will not affect the subsequent code execution.

  1. Examples:
CREATE TABLE TEST_T
	(COL1 INT, COL2 VARCHAR(2), COL3 VARCHAR(2), COL4 VARCHAR(2), COL5 BOOLEAN, COL6 VARCHAR(2)
	CHARACTER SET WIN1251);
COMMIT;
INSERT INTO TEST_T values(1, 'A', 'A', 'J', false, 'П');
INSERT INTO TEST_T values(2, 'B', 'B', 'I', false, 'Д');
INSERT INTO TEST_T values(3, 'C', 'A', 'L', true,  'Ж');
INSERT INTO TEST_T values(4, 'D', 'B', 'K', true,  'Й');
COMMIT;

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL4, ':') AS FROM TEST_T;
=======
J:I:L:K

SELECT LISTAGG (DISTINCT COL4, ':') FROM TEST_T;
========
I:J:K:L

SELECT LISTAGG (DISTINCT COL3, ':') FROM TEST_T;
====
A:B

SELECT LISTAGG (DISTINCT COL3, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL2) FROM TEST_T;
====
A:B

SELECT LISTAGG (DISTINCT COL3, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL2 DESCENDING) FROM TEST_T;
====
A:B

SELECT LISTAGG (COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL2 DESCENDING) FROM TEST_T;
=======
D:C:B:A

SELECT LISTAGG (COL4, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 DESC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
I:K:J:L

SELECT LISTAGG (COL3, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL5 ASCENDING) FROM TEST_T;
=======
A:B:A:B

SELECT LISTAGG (COL4, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 ASC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
J:L:I:K

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL2) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL4) FROM TEST_T;
=======
B,A,D,C

SELECT LISTAGG (COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 DESC, COL4 ASC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
B:D:A:C

SELECT LISTAGG (COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 DESC, COL4 DESC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
D:B:C:A

SELECT LISTAGG (COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 ASC, COL4 DESC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
C:A:D:B

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL6, ':')FROM TEST_T;
=======
П:Д:Ж:Й

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL6, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL2 DESC) FROM TEST_T;
=======
Й:Ж:Д:П

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL6) FROM TEST_T;
=======
B:C:D:A

INSERT INTO TEST_T values(5, 'E', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);
INSERT INTO TEST_T values(6, 'F', 'C', 'N', true, 'К');

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3) FROM TEST_T;
===========
E:A:C:B:D:F

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL3 NULLS LAST) FROM TEST_T;
===========
A:C:B:D:F:E

SELECT LISTAGG (ALL COL2, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL6 NULLS FIRST) FROM TEST_T;
===========
E:B:C:D:F:A

SELECT LISTAGG (DISTINCT COL3, ':') WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY COL2) FROM TEST_T;
========
Statement failed, SQLSTATE = 42000
SQL error code = -104
-Invalid command
-Sort-key of the ORDER BY specification must match the argument list

@sim1984
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sim1984 commented Aug 6, 2025

This PR implements one of the aggregate functions (LISTAGG), which depends on the order of the input stream records. The full list can be seen here: #7632

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