Filtering with HAVING

Improving Query Performance in SQL Server

Dean Smith

Founder, Atamai Analytics

HAVING processing order

1.  FROM

4.  WHERE

6.  HAVING

7.  SELECT

Grouping with WHERE row filter

SELECT Team, 
    SUM(TotalPoints) AS TotalSGTeamPoints
FROM PlayerStats
WHERE Position = 'SG'
GROUP BY Team

Team	TotalSGTeamPoints
ATL	2034
BOS	1606
BRK	2126
CHI	2905
CHO	2661
CLE	2489
...	...

Row filtering with HAVING

SELECT Team, 
    SUM(TotalPoints) AS TotalSGTeamPoints
FROM PlayerStats
WHERE Position = 'SG'
GROUP BY Team

SELECT Team, 
    SUM(TotalPoints) AS TotalSGTeamPoints
FROM PlayerStats
--WHERE Position = 'SG'
GROUP BY Team, Position
HAVING Position = 'SG'

Don't use HAVING to filter individual or ungrouped rows

Team	TotalSGTeamPoints
ATL	2034
BOS	1606
BRK	2126
CHI	2905
CHO	2661
CLE	2489
...	...

Aggregating by group

SELECT 
    Team, 
    SUM(DRebound+ORebound) AS TotRebounds,
    SUM(DRebound) AS TotDef,
    SUM(ORebound) AS TotOff
FROM PlayerStats
GROUP BY Team;

Team	TotRebounds	TotDef	TotOff
ATL	3436	2693	743
BOS	3645	2878	767
BRK	3644	2852	792
CHI	3663	2873	790
CHO	3728	2901	827
CLE	3455	2761	694
...	...	...	...

Group filtering with WHERE

SELECT 
    Team, 
    SUM(DRebound+ORebound) AS TotRebounds,
    SUM(DRebound) AS TotDef,
    SUM(ORebound) AS TotOff
FROM PlayerStats
WHERE ORebound >= 1000
GROUP BY Team;

Use WHERE to filter individual rows and HAVING for a numeric filter on grouped rows

Team	TotRebounds	TotDef	TotOff

Without an aggregate function

SELECT 
    Team, 
    SUM(DRebound+ORebound) AS TotRebounds,
    SUM(DRebound) AS TotDef,
    SUM(ORebound) AS TotOff
FROM PlayerStats
GROUP BY Team
HAVING ORebound >= 1000;

Apply the HAVING filter to a numeric column using an aggregate function

------------------------------------------------
-- ERROR
Column 'PlayerStats.ORebound' is invalid in the 
HAVING clause because it is not contained in 
either an aggregate function or the GROUP BY 
clause.

With an aggregate function

SELECT 
    Team, 
    SUM(DRebound+ORebound) AS TotRebounds,
    SUM(DRebound) AS TotDef,
    SUM(ORebound) AS TotalOff
FROM PlayerStats
GROUP BY Team
    -- aggregate function SUM()
HAVING SUM(ORebound) >= 1000;

Team	TotRebounds	TotDef	TotOff
OKC	3695	2671	1024

Summary

Do not use HAVING to filter individual or ungrouped rows
Use WHERE to filter individual rows and HAVING for a numeric filter on grouped rows
HAVING can only be applied to a numeric column in an aggregate function filter

Let's practice!

Improving Query Performance in SQL Server