What is the most straightforward way to pad empty dates in sql results (on either mysql or perl end)?

Question

I\'m building a quick csv from a mysql table with a query like:

select DATE(date),count(date) from table group by DATE(date) order by date asc;

Answer 1

I hope you will figure out the rest.

select  * from (
select date_add('2003-01-01 00:00:00.000', INTERVAL n5.num*10000+n4.num*1000+n3.num*100+n2.num*10+n1.num DAY ) as date from
(select 0 as num
   union all select 1
   union all select 2
   union all select 3
   union all select 4
   union all select 5
   union all select 6
   union all select 7
   union all select 8
   union all select 9) n1,
(select 0 as num
   union all select 1
   union all select 2
   union all select 3
   union all select 4
   union all select 5
   union all select 6
   union all select 7
   union all select 8
   union all select 9) n2,
(select 0 as num
   union all select 1
   union all select 2
   union all select 3
   union all select 4
   union all select 5
   union all select 6
   union all select 7
   union all select 8
   union all select 9) n3,
(select 0 as num
   union all select 1
   union all select 2
   union all select 3
   union all select 4
   union all select 5
   union all select 6
   union all select 7
   union all select 8
   union all select 9) n4,
(select 0 as num
   union all select 1
   union all select 2
   union all select 3
   union all select 4
   union all select 5
   union all select 6
   union all select 7
   union all select 8
   union all select 9) n5
) a
where date >'2011-01-02 00:00:00.000' and date < NOW()
order by date

With

select n3.num*100+n2.num*10+n1.num as date

you will get a column with numbers from 0 to max(n3)*100+max(n2)*10+max(n1)

Since here we have max n3 as 3, SELECT will return 399, plus 0 -> 400 records (dates in calendar).

You can tune your dynamic calendar by limiting it, for example, from min(date) you have to now().