SQL: Visual QuickStart Guide

Aggregating Distinct Values with DISTINCT

You can use DISTINCT to eliminate duplicate values in aggregate function calculations; see “Eliminating Duplicate Rows with DISTINCT” in Chapter 4. The general syntax of an aggregate function is:

					agg_func([ALL | DISTINCT] expr)

agg_func is MIN, MAX, SUM, AVG, or COUNT. expr is a column name, literal, or expression. ALL applies the aggregate function to all values, and DISTINCT specifies that each unique value is considered. ALL is the default and rarely is seen in practice.

With SUM(), AVG(), and COUNT(expr), DISTINCT eliminates duplicate values before the sum, average, or count is calculated. DISTINCT isn’t meaningful with MIN() and MAX(); you can use it, but it won’t change the result. You can’t ...