# COALESCE
<a name="sql-reference-coalesce"></a>

```
COALESCE (
      <value-expression>
      {,<value-expression>}... )
```

The COALESCE function takes a list of expressions (all of which must be of the same type) and returns the first non-null argument from the list. If all of the expressions are null, COALESCE returns null.

## Examples
<a name="sql-reference-coalesce-examples"></a>


| Expression | Result | 
| --- | --- | 
|  COALESCE('chair')  |  chair  | 
|  COALESCE('chair', null, 'sofa')  |  chair  | 
|  COALESCE(null, null, 'sofa')  |  sofa  | 
|  COALESCE(null, 2, 5)  |  2  |