<p>I have one field that I need to sum lets say named items
However that field can be part of group a or b
In the end I need to have all of the items summed for group a and group b</p>

<p>when I say grouped I mean there is a LEFT OUTER JOIN to another table the previous table has a type for the items and the one being joined has a group assigned for this item type</p>

<p>Sorry guys Im a little new to sql I am going to try out what you have given me an get back to you</p>

<p>Ok I feel like we are getting close just not yet allain's I can get them to separate but the issue I need to have both groups to sum on the same row which is difficult because I also have several LEFT OUTER JOIN's involved</p>

<p>Tyler's looks like it might work too so I am trying to hash that out real fast</p>

<p>Alain's seems to be the way to go but I have to tweek it a little more</p>

Maybe I'm not understanding the complexity of what you're asking but... shouldn't this do?
```
```
SELECT groupname, SUM(value)
FROM items
WHERE groupname IN ('a', 'b')
GROUP BY groupname
```
```
And if you don't care which of a or b the item belongs to then this will do:
```
```
SELECT SUM(value)
FROM items
WHERE groupname IN ('a', 'b')
```
```