CONNECT BY clause

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Description

The CONNECT BY clause specifies the relationship between rows in a hierarchy. You can use CONNECT BY to select rows in a hierarchical order by joining the table to itself and processing the hierarchical data. (Redshift SQL Language Reference CONNECT BY Clause)

Grammar Syntax

[START WITH start_with_conditions]
CONNECT BY connect_by_conditions

Sample Source Patterns

Input Code:

IN -> Redshift_01.sql
CREATE TABLE employee (
  id INT,
  name VARCHAR(20),
  manager_id INT
);
  
INSERT INTO employee(id, name, manager_id) VALUES
(100, 'Carlos', null),
(101, 'John', 100),
(102, 'Jorge', 101),
(103, 'Kwaku', 101),
(110, 'Liu', 101),
(106, 'Mateo', 102),
(110, 'Nikki', 103),
(104, 'Paulo', 103),
(105, 'Richard', 103),
(120, 'Saanvi', 104),
(200, 'Shirley', 104),
(201, 'Sofía', 102),
(205, 'Zhang', 104);

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM
Employee "start"
CONNECT BY PRIOR id = manager_id
START WITH name = 'John';

Output Code:

OUT -> Redshift_01.sql
CREATE TABLE employee (
  id INT,
  name VARCHAR(20),
  manager_id INT
)
COMMENT = '{ "origin": "sf_sc", "name": "snowconvert", "version": {  "major": 0,  "minor": 0,  "patch": "0" }, "attributes": {  "component": "redshift",  "convertedOn": "07/11/2025",  "domain": "no-domain-provided" }}';

INSERT INTO employee (id, name, manager_id) VALUES
(100, 'Carlos', null),
(101, 'John', 100),
(102, 'Jorge', 101),
(103, 'Kwaku', 101),
(110, 'Liu', 101),
(106, 'Mateo', 102),
(110, 'Nikki', 103),
(104, 'Paulo', 103),
(105, 'Richard', 103),
(120, 'Saanvi', 104),
(200, 'Shirley', 104),
(201, 'Sofía', 102),
(205, 'Zhang', 104);

SELECT
  COUNT(*)
FROM
  Employee "start"
CONNECT BY PRIOR id = manager_id
START WITH name = 'John';

There are no known issues.

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