# Miscellaneous > Structured Query Language (SQL) >  SUM() for strings

## kromol

Hi,
Is it possible to write function like SUM() but for strings?
I have a table *categories* with fields *id, name, parent_id*
and I need a query something like this:


```
select *, STR_SUM(categories.name) as cat_name from categories
        group by categories.parent_id
```

where STR_SUM() - a function for string concatenation.
It has to return a list like this: 'cat1, cat2, cat3'
Thanks!

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## skhanal

For SQL Server you can use FOR XML PATH() statement to achieve that.

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## kromol

How to do this for MySQL Server?
I'm using MySQL Server 5.5.

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## kromol

I've solved the problem using GROUP_CONCAT
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/...functions.html

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