SQL Server CHOOSE() Function

The SQL Server (Transact-SQL) CHOOSE() function returns the N^th element of the list of items: val1 if N = 1, val2 if N = 2, and so on. It returns NULL if N is less than 1 or greater than the number of items specified as arguments.

Syntax

CHOOSE(N, val1, val2, val3,...)

Parameters

Return Value

Returns the N^th element of the list of items.

Example 1:

The example below shows the usage of CHOOSE() function.

SELECT CHOOSE(1, 'Learning', 'SQL Server', 'is', 'fun');
Result: 'Learning'

SELECT CHOOSE(2, 'Learning', 'SQL Server', 'is', 'fun');
Result: 'SQL Server'

SELECT CHOOSE(5, 'Learning', 'SQL Server', 'is', 'fun');
Result: NULL

SELECT CHOOSE(0, 'Learning', 'SQL Server', 'is', 'fun');
Result: NULL

SELECT CHOOSE(4, 'Learning', 'SQL Server', 'is', 'fun');
Result: 'fun'

SELECT CHOOSE(3, 10, 20, 30, '40');
Result: 30

Example 2:

Consider a database table called EmployeeLogin with the following records:

The following query can be used to get the 2^nd element from list of items specified by column records:

SELECT *, 
CHOOSE(2, Name, Date, LoginTime) AS CHOOSE_Value
FROM EmployeeLogin;

This will produce a result similar to: