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CONNECT BY clause

Applies to ❌ Open Source Edition   ✅ Express Edition   ✅ Professional Edition   ✅ Enterprise Edition

The Oracle database knows a very succinct syntax for creating hierarchical queries: the CONNECT BY clause, which is fully supported by jOOQ, including all related functions and pseudo-columns. A more or less formal definition of this clause is given here:

--   SELECT ..
--     FROM ..
--    WHERE ..
 CONNECT BY [ NOCYCLE ] condition [ AND condition, ... ] [ START WITH condition ]
-- GROUP BY ..
-- ORDER [ SIBLINGS ] BY ..

An example for an iterative query, iterating through values between 1 and 5 is this:

SELECT LEVEL
FROM DUAL
CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 5
 
// Get a table with elements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
create.select(level())
      .connectBy(level().le(5))
      .fetch();

Here's a more complex example where you can recursively fetch directories in your database, and concatenate them to a path:

SELECT
  SUBSTR(SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH(DIRECTORY.NAME, '/'), 2)
FROM DIRECTORY
CONNECT BY
  PRIOR DIRECTORY.ID = DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID
START WITH DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID IS NULL
ORDER BY 1
 
.select(
   substring(sysConnectByPath(DIRECTORY.NAME, "/"), 2))
.from(DIRECTORY)
.connectBy(
   prior(DIRECTORY.ID).eq(DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID))
.startWith(DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID.isNull())
.orderBy(1)
.fetch();

The output might then look like this

+------------------------------------------------+
|substring                                       |
+------------------------------------------------+
|C:                                              |
|C:/eclipse                                      |
|C:/eclipse/configuration                        |
|C:/eclipse/dropins                              |
|C:/eclipse/eclipse.exe                          |
+------------------------------------------------+
|...21 record(s) truncated...

Some of the supported functions and pseudo-columns are these (available from the DSL):

  • LEVEL
  • CONNECT_BY_IS_CYCLE
  • CONNECT_BY_IS_LEAF
  • CONNECT_BY_ROOT
  • SYS_CONNECT_BY_PATH
  • PRIOR

ORDER SIBLINGS

The Oracle database allows for specifying a SIBLINGS keyword in the ORDER BY clause. Instead of ordering the overall result, this will only order siblings among each other, keeping the hierarchy intact. An example is given here:

SELECT DIRECTORY.NAME
FROM DIRECTORY
CONNECT BY
  PRIOR DIRECTORY.ID = DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID
START WITH DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID IS NULL
ORDER SIBLINGS BY 1
 
.select(DIRECTORY.NAME)
.from(DIRECTORY)
.connectBy(
   prior(DIRECTORY.ID).eq(DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID))
.startWith(DIRECTORY.PARENT_ID.isNull())
.orderSiblingsBy(1)
.fetch();

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