[mysql] Returning a value even if no result

I have this kind of simple query that returns a not null integer field for a given id:

SELECT field1 FROM table WHERE id = 123 LIMIT 1;

The thing is if the id is not found, the resultset is empty. I need the query to always return a value, even if there is no result.

I have this thing working but I don't like it because it runs 2 times the same subquery:

SELECT IF(EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM table WHERE id = 123) = 1, (SELECT field1 FROM table WHERE id = 123 LIMIT 1), 0);

It returns either field1 if the row exists, otherwise 0. Any way to improve that?

Thanks!

Edit following some comments and answers: yes it has to be in a single query statement and I can not use the count trick because I need to return only 1 value (FYI I run the query with the Java/Spring method SimpleJdbcTemplate.queryForLong()).

This question is related to mysql

The answer is


You could include count(id). That will always return.

select count(field1), field1 from table where id = 123 limit 1;

http://sqlfiddle.com/#!2/64c76/4


You can use COALESCE

SELECT COALESCE(SUM(column),0)
FROM   table

As you are looking for 1 record, (LIMIT 1) then this will work.

(SELECT field1 FROM table WHERE id = 123) 
UNION 
(SELECT 'default_value_if_no_record')
LIMIT 1;

Can be a handy way to display default values, or indicate no results found. I use it for reports.

See also http://blogs.uoregon.edu/developments/2011/03/31/add-a-header-row-to-mysql-query-results/ for a way to use this to create headers in reports.


k-a-f's answer works for selecting one column, if selecting multiple column, we can.

DECLARE a BIGINT DEFAULT 1;
DECLARE b BIGINT DEFAULT "name";

SELECT id, name from table into a,b;

Then we just need to check a,b for values.


Do search with LEFT OUTER JOIN. I don't know if MySQL allows inline VALUES in join clauses but you can have predefined table for this purposes.


if you want both always a return value but never a null value you can combine count with coalesce :

select count(field1), coalesce(field1,'any_other_default_value') from table;

that because count, will force mysql to always return a value (0 if there is no values to count) and coalesce will force mysql to always put a value that is not null