How to pivot unknown number of columns & no aggregate in SQL Server?

Question

I have query which returns clients loans with associated collateral names like below (1) but I want to have only one distinct loan number in a row and collateral names aside

Answer 1

While M.Ali's answer will get you the result, since you are using SQL Server 2012 I would unpivot the name and address columns slightly different to get the final result.

Since you are using SQL Server 2012, you can use CROSS APPLY with VALUES to unpivot these multiple columns into multiple rows. But before you do that, I would use row_number() to get the total number of new columns you will have.

The code to "UNPIVOT" the data using CROSS APPLY looks like:

select d.loanid, 
  col = c.col + cast(seq as varchar(10)),
  c.value
from
(
  select loanid, name, address,
    row_number() over(partition by loanid
                      order by loanid) seq
  from yourtable
) d
cross apply
(
  values
    ('name', name),
    ('address', address)
) c(col, value);

See SQL Fiddle with Demo. This is going to get your data into a format similar to:

| LOANID |      COL |    VALUE |
|--------|----------|----------|
|      1 |    name1 |     John |
|      1 | address1 | New York |
|      1 |    name2 |     Carl |
|      1 | address2 | New York |
|      1 |    name3 |    Henry |
|      1 | address3 |   Boston |

You now have a single column COL with all of your new column names and the values associated are also in a single column. The new column names now have a number at the end (1, 2, 3, etc) based on how many total entries you have per loanid. Now you can apply PIVOT:

select loanid,
  name1, address1, name2, address2,
  name3, address3
from
(
  select d.loanid, 
    col = c.col + cast(seq as varchar(10)),
    c.value
  from
  (
    select loanid, name, address,
      row_number() over(partition by loanid
                        order by loanid) seq
    from yourtable
  ) d
  cross apply
  (
    values
      ('name', name),
      ('address', address)
  ) c(col, value)
) src
pivot
(
  max(value)
  for col in (name1, address1, name2, address2,
              name3, address3)
) piv;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo. Finally if you don't know how many pairs of Name and Address you will have then you can use dynamic SQL:

DECLARE @cols AS NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @query  AS NVARCHAR(MAX)

select @cols = STUFF((SELECT ',' + QUOTENAME(col+cast(seq as varchar(10))) 
                    from 
                    (
                      select row_number() over(partition by loanid
                                                order by loanid) seq
                      from yourtable
                    ) d
                    cross apply
                    (
                      select 'Name', 1 union all
                      select 'Address', 2
                    ) c (col, so)
                    group by seq, col, so
                    order by seq, so
            FOR XML PATH(''), TYPE
            ).value('.', 'NVARCHAR(MAX)') 
        ,1,1,'')

set @query = 'SELECT loanid,' + @cols + ' 
            from 
            (
              select d.loanid, 
                col = c.col + cast(seq as varchar(10)),
                c.value
              from
              (
                select loanid, name, address,
                  row_number() over(partition by loanid
                                    order by loanid) seq
                from yourtable
              ) d
              cross apply
              (
                values
                  (''name'', name),
                  (''address'', address)
              ) c(col, value)
            ) x
            pivot 
            (
                max(value)
                for col in (' + @cols + ')
            ) p '

exec sp_executesql @query;

See SQL Fiddle with Demo. Both versions give a result:

| LOANID |  NAME1 | ADDRESS1 |  NAME2 | ADDRESS2 |  NAME3 | ADDRESS3 |
|--------|--------|----------|--------|----------|--------|----------|
|      1 |   John | New York |   Carl | New York |  Henry |   Boston |
|      2 | Robert |  Chicago | (null) |   (null) | (null) |   (null) |
|      3 | Joanne |       LA |  Chris |       LA | (null) |   (null) |