# Pivot a table

Shape / table

rows to columns, cross-tab

Page: <https://meridian.online/operations/pivot-a-table>

## Status

Runs as a SQL step.

arcform carries it as a `sql:` step today.

## The DuckDB step

rows to columns

It reads the `orders` table the proofs share. Create it first:

```sql
CREATE TABLE orders AS SELECT * FROM (VALUES
  (1,  'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-03', 120.00, 'widget', 'a|b',   '{"channel":"web","items":[1,2]}'),
  (2,  'alice ng',      'north', DATE '2026-01-05',  80.50, 'gadget', 'b',     '{"channel":"shop","items":[3]}'),
  (3,  'Bob  Okafor',   'south', DATE '2026-01-05', 300.00, 'widget', 'a|c',   '{"channel":"web","items":[4,5,6]}'),
  (4,  'Carla Díaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-09',  NULL,  'gizmo',  NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[]}'),
  (5,  'Bob Okafor',    'south', DATE '2026-01-12',  45.25, 'gadget', 'c',     '{"channel":"phone","items":[7]}'),
  (6,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-01-12', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (7,  'Carla Diaz',    'east',  DATE '2026-01-20',  99.99, 'gizmo',  'b|c',   '{"channel":"shop","items":[10]}'),
  (8,  'Dev Patel',     'west',  DATE '2026-02-02', 510.00, 'widget', 'a',     '{"channel":"web","items":[8,9]}'),
  (9,  'Eve Larsen',    NULL,    DATE '2026-02-03',  15.00, 'gadget', NULL,    '{"channel":"web","items":[11]}'),
  (10, 'Alice Ng',      'north', DATE '2026-02-10', 220.00, 'gizmo',  'a|b|c', '{"channel":"phone","items":[12,13]}')
) t(order_id, customer, region, order_date, amount, product, tags, meta);
```

Then run the statement:

```sql
CREATE TEMP TABLE result AS
PIVOT orders ON product USING sum(amount) GROUP BY region ORDER BY region;
SELECT * FROM result;
SELECT CASE WHEN ((SELECT count(*) = 5 AND max(widget) FILTER (WHERE region = 'west') = 1020 AND max(gizmo) FILTER (WHERE region = 'north') = 220 AND sum(gadget) + sum(gizmo) + sum(widget) = 1900.74 FROM result)) THEN 'as expected' ELSE error('the cells are not the sums expected') END AS verdict;
```

It needs nothing installed beyond DuckDB itself.

## What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 86.2% of 312 rows (exact class, version 2).

- Azure Data Factory: [`Pivot`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-factory/data-flow-pivot) (read 2026-09-27)
- Alteryx Designer: [`Cross Tab`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/transform/cross-tab-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Bruin: [`bruin.pivot(column, values, ...)`](https://getbruin.com/docs/bruin/assets/templating/macros.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- dbt-utils: [`pivot`](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dbt-labs/dbt-utils/main/README.md) (read 2026-09-27)
- DuckDB: [`PIVOT`](https://duckdb.org/docs/current/sql/statements/pivot) (read 2026-09-27)
- Duckle: [`Pivot`](https://github.com/slothflowlabs/duckle/blob/f85f8960edfb6efbf4cb89d58a7b32e16df0e867/website/docs/components.html) (read 2026-09-25)
- EasyMorph: [`Pivot`](https://help.easymorph.com/doku.php?id=transformations:pivot) (read 2026-09-27)
- AWS Glue: [`Pivot Rows to Columns`](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/glue/latest/dg/transforms-pivot-rows-to-columns.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`DB Pivot`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*gIBWKlZplEZzaz2M?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- KNIME Analytics Platform: [`Pivot`](https://api.hub.knime.com/nodes/*ebLbPp7VLbV4apta?details=full) (read 2026-09-27)
- OpenRefine: [`Columnize by key/value columns…`](https://openrefine.org/docs/manual/transposing#columnize-by-keyvalue-columns) (read 2026-09-27)
- Polars: [`DataFrame.pivot`](https://docs.pola.rs/api/python/stable/reference/dataframe/modify_select.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Polars: [`DataFrame.unstack`](https://docs.pola.rs/api/python/stable/reference/dataframe/modify_select.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Power Query M: [`Table.Pivot`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerquery-m/table-functions#column-operations) (read 2026-09-27)
- RapidMiner Studio: [`Pivot`](https://docs.rapidminer.com/latest/studio/operators/blending/table/rotation/pivot.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- SQLMesh: [`@PIVOT`](https://github.com/SQLMesh/sqlmesh/blob/23b237cea7218cc8f338b89c14f0957394a0003b/docs/concepts/macros/sqlmesh_macros.md) (read 2026-09-27)
- Tableau Prep: [`Pivot rows to columns`](https://help.tableau.com/current/prep/en-us/prep_pivot.htm) (read 2026-09-27)
- Talend: [`tPivotToColumnsDelimited`](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/components/8.0/delimited/delimited-component) (read 2026-09-27)
- Trifacta: [`Pivot`](https://help.alteryx.com/aac/en/trifacta-classic/reference/transformation-reference.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Trifacta: [`Pivot Transform`](https://help.alteryx.com/aac/en/trifacta-classic/wrangle-language/language-appendices/transforms.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- VisiData: [`pivot`](https://github.com/saulpw/visidata/blob/7609212ec2febafa9caba7183cbebfaf49627909/visidata/pivot.py#L306) (read 2026-09-23)