7.4 COALESCE and IFNULL to Fill a Display Value

By Ravindra Bagale Last updated: 31 October 2026

Why. Dashboards often need a display label instead of a blank.

What. COALESCE(a,b) returns the first non-NULL. IFNULL(x,y) is SQLite’s two-argument helper.

How. SELECT IFNULL(note, '(none)') AS note_label FROM orders;

Steps

Example 1 · dataset: raja_coffee

SELECT order_id, IFNULL(note, '(none)') AS note_label
FROM orders
WHERE order_id IN (1001,1003,1013);

Output

Meaning. Blanks become the label (none).

Example 2 · dataset: interview_mini

SELECT ticket_id, COALESCE(priority, 'Unknown') AS priority_label
FROM tickets
ORDER BY ticket_id;

Output

Meaning. Every ticket shows a priority label.

Ravindra Bagale's Tip

Display fill ≠ forever fill. Do not UPDATE NULLs to 0 without asking.