# PIVOT_NEEDS_VALUES

> a PIVOT that does not list its values

**Error** · category **project** (the project has a mistake in an asset file, croft.json or the command line) · exit **2** (invalid project or usage)

A PIVOT that does not list its values.

PIVOT example_sales ON region USING sum(amount) makes one column per distinct region, so its columns depend on
the data: DuckDB runs it as two statements, one to find the values and one to pivot. croft could neither check
it, nor bind it, nor know the table's columns before it runs, so a PIVOT in an SQL asset lists its values.

What to do, either way:
- List the values the pivot makes columns of:
    PIVOT example_sales ON region IN ('East', 'North', 'South', 'West') USING sum(amount) GROUP BY product
- Or write the columns out with FILTER:
    SELECT product,
           sum(amount) FILTER (WHERE region = 'East')  AS east,
           sum(amount) FILTER (WHERE region = 'North') AS north
    FROM example_sales
    GROUP BY product

A value that is not listed is left out, so a new value in the data adds no column by itself. croft query
"select distinct region from example_sales" shows the values there are now.

The same page is in the CLI: `croft docs PIVOT_NEEDS_VALUES`.

Source: https://croft.zabaca.com/docs/reference/errors/pivot-needs-values/