When you\u2019re working with a database, there may be times when you want to get all of the unique values in a particular dataset. For example, you may want to get a list of the names of products you have sold in the past, or you may want to get a list of all the different categories of movies that exist in a movie database. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SQL<\/code> has a built-in function that can help you retrieve this information: DISTINCT<\/code>. The DISTINCT<\/code> operator allows you to remove duplicate records so you can retrieve all of the unique combinations of values in a dataset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this tutorial, we\u2019ll break down the basics of DISTINCT<\/code> in SQL<\/code>, and when you may use this operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SQL Query Refresher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To retrieve information from a database, you have to write a query. SQL<\/code> queries almost always begin with the SELECT<\/code> statement, and they specify what information you want to retrieve from a database. Here is the basic syntax for an SQL<\/code> query:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SELECT column_name FROM table_name WHERE your_query_conditions;<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s use an example to illustrate queries in action. The following query will return the names and titles of all employees who work for our business: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SELECT name, title FROM employees;<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
If you want to retrieve multiple columns, you can do so by separating the column names with a comma as we did above. Or if you want to get information from every column, you can use an asterisk (*<\/code>), which represents all the columns in a table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we\u2019re writing a query, we can use WHERE<\/code> to filter records that meet a specific set of conditions. For example, if we want to get all the sales associates that work for our business, we could use the following query:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SELECT name, title FROM employees\nWHERE title = 'Sales Associate':<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Now we know the basics of queries, we can explore how to use DISTINCT<\/code> in SQL<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SQL Distinct<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
When you\u2019re gathering data from a database, the result may contain duplicate rows or values. Let\u2019s say we want to get a list of all the titles held by our employees. If we were to use a standard SELECT<\/code> query, we would get duplicate values. Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SELECT title FROM employees;<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our query returns the following result: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
title<\/td><\/tr>
Sales Associate Sales Associate Sales Associate Senior Sales Associate Sales Associate Vice President of Sales Marketing Director<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
(7 rows)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can see, the title Sales Associate<\/code> appears four times, because there are four employees who hold that title. But what if we only want to know what titles are in the database, rather than how many people have that title?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s where the SQL DISTINCT<\/code> operator comes in. By using the SQL DISTINCT<\/code> clause, we can remove all the duplicate data from a query. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DISTINCT<\/code> keyword is used in conjunction with the SELECT<\/code> operator. Here\u2019s an example of running the same query from above, but with the DISTINCT<\/code> operator present:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SELECT DISTINCT title FROM employees;<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Our query returns the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
title <\/td><\/tr>
Vice President of Sales Sales Associate Senior Sales Associate Marketing Director<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
(4 rows)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our query returned a list of all the titles that employees hold. However, it didn’t repeat any titles held by more than one employee. We have no duplicate values in our output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DISTINCT<\/code> operator is particularly useful when you\u2019re working with large datasets. In our example above, we only have seven employees, but if we had five hundred, it would be difficult for us to see what titles people held without using the DISTINCT<\/code> operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Now you know how to use the DISTINCT<\/code> operator on an SQL<\/code> server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we have discussed, SQL SELECT DISTINCT<\/code> allows you to fetch data from a table and remove any duplicate rows or values from the result. For example, if you want a list of all a company\u2019s branches, you could use DISTINCT<\/code> to produce a list. DISTINCT<\/code> is especially useful when you\u2019re working with larger datasets where duplicates may be distracting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you\u2019re working with a database, there may be times when you want to get all of the unique values in a particular dataset. For example, you may want to get a list of the names of products you have sold in the past, or you may want to get a list of all the…","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":12378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17284],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sql"},"acf":{"post_sub_title":"","sprint_id":"","query_class":"SQL","school_sft":"","parent_sft":"","school_privacy_policy":"","has_review":"","is_sponser_post":"","is_guest_post":""},"yoast_head":"\nSQL Distinct: A Complete Guide | Career Karma<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The DISTINCT operator in SQL allows coders to eliminate duplicate values and return unique results from a table. 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