Is there a way to insert blank columns in output with google sheets query?
Consider the query run from sheet2
=query(Sheet!A7:A, "Select A,B,C where A='Order'")
but I want to put this in columns A,E,F in Sheet2.
I've found the workaround
=query(Sheet!A7:A, "Select A,X,Y,Z,B,C where A='Order'")
Where XYZ are blank columns from the end of the range. This seems clunky.
So far searches in both the query syntax on Google docs, and google product forums have been unproductive.
Answer
I tried a version of ttarchala's response, just giving each blank column I wanted a different "signature", if you will:
=query(Sheet!A7:C, "Select A,' ',' ',' ',B,C where A='Order'")
Note the 1, 2, and 3 spaces in the quotes.
This worked - sort of. It gave me column A, then three blank columns, then B and C. However, it gave me a header row (which in my example I didn't want), and in the blank column headers I got:
| " "() | " "() | " "() |
Which was odd, but understandable. I hid the formula one row up and merged cells across A through C. Which left me with a nice blank cell. I took advantage of the fact that the output from query() can't be shown across merged cells.
This is of course a very specific solution - I had an empty row above my output that I could use and abuse for this purpose. But I thought I would mention anyway, just in case it gives a direction for better ideas.
UPDATE
Adding:
... LABEL ' ' '', ' ' '', ' ' ''
.. to the end of the query zeros out those odd headers that are added and removes the need for that extra row. This tells the query that the label for ' ' (one space) should be nothing, ' ' (two spaces) nothing, etc. This results in no header row.