SQL to find the number of distinct values in a column
SqlDistinctSql Problem Overview
I can select all the distinct values in a column in the following ways:
SELECT DISTINCT column_name FROM table_name;
SELECT column_name FROM table_name GROUP BY column_name;
But how do I get the row count from that query? Is a subquery required?
Sql Solutions
Solution 1 - Sql
You can use the DISTINCT
keyword within the COUNT
aggregate function:
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) AS some_alias FROM table_name
This will count only the distinct values for that column.
Solution 2 - Sql
This will give you BOTH the distinct column values and the count of each value. I usually find that I want to know both pieces of information.
SELECT [columnName], count([columnName]) AS CountOf
FROM [tableName]
GROUP BY [columnName]
Solution 3 - Sql
Be aware that Count() ignores null values, so if you need to allow for null as its own distinct value you can do something tricky like:
select count(distinct my_col)
+ count(distinct Case when my_col is null then 1 else null end)
from my_table
/
Solution 4 - Sql
An sql sum of column_name's unique values and sorted by the frequency:
SELECT column_name, COUNT(*) FROM table_name GROUP BY column_name ORDER BY 2 DESC;
Solution 5 - Sql
SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) FROM table as column_name_count;
you've got to count that distinct col, then give it an alias.
Solution 6 - Sql
select count(*) from
(
SELECT distinct column1,column2,column3,column4 FROM abcd
) T
This will give count of distinct group of columns.
Solution 7 - Sql
select Count(distinct columnName) as columnNameCount from tableName
Solution 8 - Sql
Using following SQL we can get the distinct column value count in Oracle 11g.
select count(distinct(Column_Name)) from TableName
Solution 9 - Sql
After MS SQL Server 2012, you can use window function too.
SELECT column_name, COUNT(column_name) OVER (PARTITION BY column_name)
FROM table_name
GROUP BY column_name
Solution 10 - Sql
To do this in Presto using OVER
:
SELECT DISTINCT my_col,
count(*) OVER (PARTITION BY my_col
ORDER BY my_col) AS num_rows
FROM my_tbl
Using this OVER
based approach is of course optional. In the above SQL, I found specifying DISTINCT
and ORDER BY
to be necessary.
Caution: As per the docs, using GROUP BY
may be more efficient.
Solution 11 - Sql
select count(distinct(column_name)) AS columndatacount from table_name where somecondition=true
You can use this query, to count different/distinct data.
Solution 12 - Sql
Count(distinct({fieldname})) is redundant
Simply Count({fieldname}) gives you all the distinct values in that table. It will not (as many presume) just give you the Count of the table [i.e. NOT the same as Count(*) from table]