SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement with Example

SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

• SELECT DISTINCT returns only distinct (different) values.
• SELECT DISTINCT eliminates duplicate records from the results.
• DISTINCT can be used with aggregates: COUNT, AVG, MAX, etc.
• DISTINCT operates on a single column. DISTINCT for multiple columns is not supported.

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT syntax

The general syntax is:

1. SELECT DISTINCT column-nam FROM table-name

Can be used with COUNT and other aggregates

1. SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT column-name) FROM table-name

SQL SELECT Examples

 1) The general syntax

mysql> select distinct name from person;
+-----------------+
| name            |
+-----------------+
| subham ball     |
| jit             |
| sajal           |
| sourav biswas   |
| chayan das      |
| shantanu biswas |
| sudip saha      |
| debo            |
| NULL            |
| mono            |
| monojit         |
+-----------------+
11 rows in set (0.00 sec)

2) with COUNT and other aggregates 

mysql> select count(distinct name) from person;
+----------------------+
| count(distinct name) |
+----------------------+
|                   10 |
+----------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)