I followed the link shared by lisachenko and found another link to this blog: http://guilhembichot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/with-recursive-and-mysql.html
The post lays out ways of emulating the 2 uses of SQL WITH. Really good explanation on how these work to do a similar query as SQL WITH.
1) Use WITH so you don't have to perform the same sub query multiple times
CREATE VIEW D AS (SELECT YEAR, SUM(SALES) AS S FROM T1 GROUP BY YEAR);
SELECT D1.YEAR, (CASE WHEN D1.S>D2.S THEN 'INCREASE' ELSE 'DECREASE' END) AS TREND
FROM
D AS D1,
D AS D2
WHERE D1.YEAR = D2.YEAR-1;
DROP VIEW D;
2) Recursive queries can be done with a stored procedure that makes the call similar to a recursive with query.
CALL WITH_EMULATOR(
"EMPLOYEES_EXTENDED",
"
SELECT ID, NAME, MANAGER_ID, 0 AS REPORTS
FROM EMPLOYEES
WHERE ID NOT IN (SELECT MANAGER_ID FROM EMPLOYEES WHERE MANAGER_ID IS NOT NULL)
",
"
SELECT M.ID, M.NAME, M.MANAGER_ID, SUM(1+E.REPORTS) AS REPORTS
FROM EMPLOYEES M JOIN EMPLOYEES_EXTENDED E ON M.ID=E.MANAGER_ID
GROUP BY M.ID, M.NAME, M.MANAGER_ID
",
"SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES_EXTENDED",
0,
""
);
And this is the code or the stored procedure
# Usage: the standard syntax:
# WITH RECURSIVE recursive_table AS
# (initial_SELECT
# UNION ALL
# recursive_SELECT)
# final_SELECT;
# should be translated by you to
# CALL WITH_EMULATOR(recursive_table, initial_SELECT, recursive_SELECT,
# final_SELECT, 0, "").
# ALGORITHM:
# 1) we have an initial table T0 (actual name is an argument
# "recursive_table"), we fill it with result of initial_SELECT.
# 2) We have a union table U, initially empty.
# 3) Loop:
# add rows of T0 to U,
# run recursive_SELECT based on T0 and put result into table T1,
# if T1 is empty
# then leave loop,
# else swap T0 and T1 (renaming) and empty T1
# 4) Drop T0, T1
# 5) Rename U to T0
# 6) run final select, send relult to client
# This is for *one* recursive table.
# It would be possible to write a SP creating multiple recursive tables.
delimiter |
CREATE PROCEDURE WITH_EMULATOR(
recursive_table varchar(100), # name of recursive table
initial_SELECT varchar(65530), # seed a.k.a. anchor
recursive_SELECT varchar(65530), # recursive member
final_SELECT varchar(65530), # final SELECT on UNION result
max_recursion int unsigned, # safety against infinite loop, use 0 for default
create_table_options varchar(65530) # you can add CREATE-TABLE-time options
# to your recursive_table, to speed up initial/recursive/final SELECTs; example:
# "(KEY(some_column)) ENGINE=MEMORY"
)
BEGIN
declare new_rows int unsigned;
declare show_progress int default 0; # set to 1 to trace/debug execution
declare recursive_table_next varchar(120);
declare recursive_table_union varchar(120);
declare recursive_table_tmp varchar(120);
set recursive_table_next = concat(recursive_table, "_next");
set recursive_table_union = concat(recursive_table, "_union");
set recursive_table_tmp = concat(recursive_table, "_tmp");
# Cleanup any previous failed runs
SET @str =
CONCAT("DROP TEMPORARY TABLE IF EXISTS ", recursive_table, ",",
recursive_table_next, ",", recursive_table_union,
",", recursive_table_tmp);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# If you need to reference recursive_table more than
# once in recursive_SELECT, remove the TEMPORARY word.
SET @str = # create and fill T0
CONCAT("CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE ", recursive_table, " ",
create_table_options, " AS ", initial_SELECT);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
SET @str = # create U
CONCAT("CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE ", recursive_table_union, " LIKE ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
SET @str = # create T1
CONCAT("CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE ", recursive_table_next, " LIKE ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
if max_recursion = 0 then
set max_recursion = 100; # a default to protect the innocent
end if;
recursion: repeat
# add T0 to U (this is always UNION ALL)
SET @str =
CONCAT("INSERT INTO ", recursive_table_union, " SELECT * FROM ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# we are done if max depth reached
set max_recursion = max_recursion - 1;
if not max_recursion then
if show_progress then
select concat("max recursion exceeded");
end if;
leave recursion;
end if;
# fill T1 by applying the recursive SELECT on T0
SET @str =
CONCAT("INSERT INTO ", recursive_table_next, " ", recursive_SELECT);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# we are done if no rows in T1
select row_count() into new_rows;
if show_progress then
select concat(new_rows, " new rows found");
end if;
if not new_rows then
leave recursion;
end if;
# Prepare next iteration:
# T1 becomes T0, to be the source of next run of recursive_SELECT,
# T0 is recycled to be T1.
SET @str =
CONCAT("ALTER TABLE ", recursive_table, " RENAME ", recursive_table_tmp);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# we use ALTER TABLE RENAME because RENAME TABLE does not support temp tables
SET @str =
CONCAT("ALTER TABLE ", recursive_table_next, " RENAME ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
SET @str =
CONCAT("ALTER TABLE ", recursive_table_tmp, " RENAME ", recursive_table_next);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# empty T1
SET @str =
CONCAT("TRUNCATE TABLE ", recursive_table_next);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
until 0 end repeat;
# eliminate T0 and T1
SET @str =
CONCAT("DROP TEMPORARY TABLE ", recursive_table_next, ", ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# Final (output) SELECT uses recursive_table name
SET @str =
CONCAT("ALTER TABLE ", recursive_table_union, " RENAME ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# Run final SELECT on UNION
SET @str = final_SELECT;
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# No temporary tables may survive:
SET @str =
CONCAT("DROP TEMPORARY TABLE ", recursive_table);
PREPARE stmt FROM @str;
EXECUTE stmt;
# We are done :-)
END|
delimiter ;