Question

given a table foo of the following structure (Oracle 11g):

ID | GROUP_ID
 1 | 100
 2 | 100
 3 | 100
 4 | 200
 5 | 300
 6 | 300
 7 | 400

I want to select the first n rows (ordered by ID) or more, such that I always get a complete group.

Example:

n = 2: I want to get at least the first two rows, but since ID 3 also belongs to group 100, I want to get that as well.

n = 4: Give me the first four rows and I am happy 😉

n = 5: Rows 1-6 are requested.

Your help is highly appreciated!

Answer 1

Solution using rank():

select id, group_id
from (select t.*, rank() over (order by group_id) as rnk
    from t)
where rnk <= :n;

Building test data:

SQL> create table t (id number not null primary key
  2      , group_id number not null);

Table created.

SQL> insert into t values (1, 100);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (2, 100);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (3, 100);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (4, 200);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (5, 300);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (6, 300);

1 row created.

SQL> insert into t values (7, 400);

1 row created.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.
SQL>

Running…

SQL> var n number
SQL> exec :n := 2;

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select id, group_id
  2  from (select t.*, rank() over (order by group_id) as rnk
  3      from t)
  4  where rnk <= :n;

        ID   GROUP_ID
---------- ----------
         1        100
         2        100
         3        100

SQL> exec :n := 4;

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select id, group_id
  2  from (select t.*, rank() over (order by group_id) as rnk
  3      from t)
  4  where rnk <= :n;

        ID   GROUP_ID
---------- ----------
         1        100
         2        100
         3        100
         4        200

SQL> exec :n := 5;

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select id, group_id
  2  from (select t.*, rank() over (order by group_id) as rnk
  3      from t)
  4  where rnk <= :n;

        ID   GROUP_ID
---------- ----------
         1        100
         2        100
         3        100
         4        200
         5        300
         6        300

6 rows selected.

EDIT Here is version that includes the for update clause (:n = 2):

SQL> select id, group_id
  2  from T
  3  where rowid in (select RID
  4      from (select t.rowid as RID, t.*, rank() over (order by group_id) as rnk
  5          from t)
  6      where rnk <= :n)
  7  for update;

        ID   GROUP_ID
---------- ----------
         1        100
         2        100
         3        100