How Can I Implement Conditional Logic in SQL SELECT Statements using CASE and IIF?

Mastering Conditional Logic in SQL SELECT Statements: CASE and IIF

Efficiently managing conditional logic within SQL SELECT statements is crucial for data manipulation and filtering. While a direct IF...THEN construct isn't available in standard SQL, the CASE statement and IIF (in SQL Server Denali and later) provide robust alternatives.

The CASE Statement: Your SQL Conditional Workhorse

The CASE statement mirrors the functionality of IF...THEN, evaluating conditions sequentially and returning a value based on the first true condition. Its structure is as follows:

SELECT
  CASE
    WHEN condition1 THEN value1
    WHEN condition2 THEN value2
    ...
    ELSE default_value
  END AS <alias>,  -- Assign an alias to the result
  *
FROM <table_name>

Consider this practical application:

SELECT CAST(
  CASE
    WHEN Obsolete = 'N' OR InStock = 'Y' THEN 1
    ELSE 0
  END AS bit) AS Saleable,  -- Casts the result as a BIT (Boolean)
  *
FROM Product

Note the CAST operator. Without it, the result is an integer (0 or 1); with CAST, it's converted to a Boolean (TRUE or FALSE).

IIF: A Concise Conditional Option (SQL Server)

SQL Server introduced the IIF (Immediate If) statement, offering a more compact alternative to CASE:

SELECT IIF(condition, true_value, false_value) AS <alias>,
  *
FROM <table_name>

Here's how it applies to our example:

SELECT IIF(Obsolete = 'N' OR InStock = 'Y', 1, 0) AS Saleable,
  *
FROM Product

Both CASE and IIF are indispensable tools for implementing conditional logic in SQL SELECT queries, empowering dynamic data manipulation and efficient filtering.

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