Pivot and Unpivot table in SQL SERVER

Query for inserting the data into the table:-

Select  *  from tbl_student

Suppose we want to display the data as shown below:-

Then we can either use the Select……… Case statement or the Pivot command.
In this article I am going to show the use of the Pivot operator to display data as shown above:-

Or we can use the given below query also:-

Select studentname, [I], [II], [III], [IV] , [V] from tbl_student
Pivot  (  avg(marks) for grade in ([I],[II],[III],[IV],[V])) as pivotable order by V desc,IV desc,III desc,II desc,I desc

Both the query will gives the same result. In the first query we use the Derived table as the Source table and in the 2nd query we use the table tbl_student as the source table.

Unpivot table:- Unpivot table is reverse of Pivot table as it rotate the columns of a table into the value of a column. For example, suppose we have a table say tbl_stdmarksdata whose structure us given below:-

Create table tbl_stdmarksdata  (studentname nvarchar(100), I int, II int, III int, IV int, V int)

Please  note:- Also as per the MSDN,
When PIVOT and UNPIVOT are used against databases that are upgraded to SQL Server 2005 or later, the compatibility level of the database must be set to 90 or higher.

Further reading about the Pivot operator can be done at the following Pivot Operator