Mysql's THE GROUP_CONCAT() function

I must have written multiple custom code in Java to aggregate my results from a table. i.e. Assume a table like below.

Table A

-----------

name

-----------

Manisha

Nilanjan

Nima

To display (Manisha, Nilanjan, Nima ) I always use to aggregate all the values, using some sort of loop. With mysql group_concat function it can be done very easily.

SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(name) As Name FROM A;

Then the output will be:

name

----

Manisha, Nilanjan, Nima

We can also use some format of GROUP_CONCAT(). Like

SELECT GROUP_CONCAT( Language SEPARATOR ‘-’)-> It will use ‘-’ instead of ‘,’

SELECT GROUP_CONCAT( Language ORDER BY Language DESC ) -> To change the order and shorting output

Another thing to remember that GROUP_CONCAT() ignores NULL values. Group_Concat function can be used in join scenarios too. i.e.

Employee_TYPE Table

--------------------
Id | Desc

1        |  1 | FT  

2        |  2 | PT  

Employee table

---------------
ID | Name
1  | Manisha
1  | Nilanjan

2  | Nima

And to display something like below group_concat can be used too.

ID   | Desc | Name
   1 |  FT  |  Manisha, Nilanjan

   2 |  PT  |  Nima 

SELECT Employee_Type.*, (

    SELECT GROUP_CONCAT(Name SEPARATOR ',')

    FROM Employee

    WHERE Employee_Type.id = Employee.person_id

) as employee

FROM Employee_Type

   
Cool isn't it. 
Manisha