SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

Inside a table, a column often contains many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list the different (distinct) values.

SELECT DISTINCT Syntax

SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;

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Demo Database

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table in the Northwind sample database:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la Constitución 2222	México D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taquería	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	México D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds snabbköp	Christina Berglund	Berguvsvägen 8	Luleå	S-958 22	Sweden

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SELECT Example Without DISTINCT

The following SQL statement selects ALL (including the duplicates) values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:

Example

SELECT Country FROM Customers;

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Now, let us use the DISTINCT keyword with the above SELECT statement and see the result.

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SELECT DISTINCT Examples

The following SQL statement selects only the DISTINCT values from the "Country" column in the "Customers" table:

Example

SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;

Try it Yourself »

The following SQL statement lists the number of different (distinct) customer countries:

Example

SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT Country) FROM Customers;

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Note: The example above will not work in Firefox! Because COUNT(DISTINCT column_name) is not supported in Microsoft Access databases. Firefox is using Microsoft Access in our examples.

Here is the workaround for MS Access:

Example

SELECT Count(*) AS DistinctCountries
FROM (SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers);

Try it Yourself »