Question

I have a SQL query written by someone else and I’m trying to figure out what it does. Can someone please explain what the Partition By and Row_Number keywords does here and give a simple example of it in action, as well as why one would want to use it?

An example of partition by:

(SELECT cdt.*,
        ROW_NUMBER ()
        OVER (PARTITION BY cdt.country_code, cdt.account, cdt.currency
              ORDER BY cdt.country_code, cdt.account, cdt.currency)
           seq_no
   FROM CUSTOMER_DETAILS cdt);

Answer 1

PARTITION BY segregate sets, this enables you to be able to work(ROW_NUMBER(),COUNT(),SUM(),etc) on related set independently.

In your query, the related set comprised of rows with similar cdt.country_code, cdt.account, cdt.currency. When you partition on those columns and you apply ROW_NUMBER on them. Those other columns on those combination/set will receive sequential number from ROW_NUMBER

But that query is funny, if your partition by some unique data and you put a row_number on it, it will just produce same number. It’s like you do an ORDER BY on a partition that is guaranteed to be unique. Example, think of GUID as unique combination of cdt.country_code, cdt.account, cdt.currency

newid() produces GUID, so what shall you expect by this expression?

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by newid() order by hi,ho)
from tbl;

…Right, all the partitioned(none was partitioned, every row is partitioned in their own row) rows’ row_numbers are all set to 1

Basically, you should partition on non-unique columns. ORDER BY on OVER needed the PARTITION BY to have a non-unique combination, otherwise all row_numbers will become 1

An example, this is your data:

create table tbl(hi varchar, ho varchar);

insert into tbl values
('A','X'),
('A','Y'),
('A','Z'),
('B','W'),
('B','W'),
('C','L'),
('C','L');

Then this is analogous to your query:

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi,ho order by hi,ho)
from tbl;

What will be the output of that?

HI  HO  COLUMN_2
A   X   1
A   Y   1
A   Z   1
B   W   1
B   W   2
C   L   1
C   L   2

You see thee combination of HI HO? The first three rows has unique combination, hence they are set to 1, the B rows has same W, hence different ROW_NUMBERS, likewise with HI C rows.

Now, why is the ORDER BY needed there? If the previous developer merely want to put a row_number on similar data (e.g. HI B, all data are B-W, B-W), he can just do this:

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi,ho)
from tbl;

But alas, Oracle(and Sql Server too) doesn’t allow partition with no ORDER BY; whereas in Postgresql, ORDER BY on PARTITION is optional: http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!1/27821/1

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi,ho)
from tbl;

Your ORDER BY on your partition look a bit redundant, not because of the previous developer’s fault, some database just don’t allow PARTITION with no ORDER BY, he might not able find a good candidate column to sort on. If both PARTITION BY columns and ORDER BY columns are the same just remove the ORDER BY, but since some database don’t allow it, you can just do this:

SELECT cdt.*,
        ROW_NUMBER ()
        OVER (PARTITION BY cdt.country_code, cdt.account, cdt.currency
              ORDER BY newid())
           seq_no
   FROM CUSTOMER_DETAILS cdt

You cannot find a good column to use for sorting similar data? You might as well sort on random, the partitioned data have the same values anyway. You can use GUID for example(you use newid() for SQL Server). So that has the same output made by previous developer, it’s unfortunate that some database doesn’t allow PARTITION with no ORDER BY

Though really, it eludes me and I cannot find a good reason to put a number on the same combinations (B-W, B-W in example above). It’s giving the impression of database having redundant data. Somehow reminded me of this: How to get one unique record from the same list of records from table? No Unique constraint in the table

It really looks arcane seeing a PARTITION BY with same combination of columns with ORDER BY, can not easily infer the code’s intent.

Live test: http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!3/27821/6

---

But as dbaseman have noticed also, it’s useless to partition and order on same columns.

You have a set of data like this:

create table tbl(hi varchar, ho varchar);

insert into tbl values
('A','X'),
('A','X'),
('A','X'),
('B','Y'),
('B','Y'),
('C','Z'),
('C','Z');

Then you PARTITION BY hi,ho; and then you ORDER BY hi,ho. There’s no sense numbering similar data 🙂 http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!3/29ab8/3

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi,ho order by hi,ho) as nr
from tbl;

Output:

HI  HO  ROW_QUERY_A
A   X   1
A   X   2
A   X   3
B   Y   1
B   Y   2
C   Z   1
C   Z   2

See? Why need to put row numbers on same combination? What you will analyze on triple A,X, on double B,Y, on double C,Z? 🙂

---

You just need to use PARTITION on non-unique column, then you sort on non-unique column(s)’s unique-ing column. Example will make it more clear:

create table tbl(hi varchar, ho varchar);

insert into tbl values
('A','D'),
('A','E'),
('A','F'),
('B','F'),
('B','E'),
('C','E'),
('C','D');

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi order by ho) as nr
from tbl;

PARTITION BY hi operates on non unique column, then on each partitioned column, you order on its unique column(ho), ORDER BY ho

Output:

HI  HO  NR
A   D   1
A   E   2
A   F   3
B   E   1
B   F   2
C   D   1
C   E   2

That data set makes more sense

Live test: http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!3/d0b44/1

And this is similar to your query with same columns on both PARTITION BY and ORDER BY:

select
   hi,ho,
   row_number() over(partition by hi,ho order by hi,ho) as nr
from tbl;

And this is the ouput:

HI  HO  NR
A   D   1
A   E   1
A   F   1
B   E   1
B   F   1
C   D   1
C   E   1

See? no sense?

Live test: http://www.sqlfiddle.com/#!3/d0b44/3

---

Finally this might be the right query:

SELECT cdt.*,
     ROW_NUMBER ()
     OVER (PARTITION BY cdt.country_code, cdt.account -- removed: cdt.currency
           ORDER BY 
               -- removed: cdt.country_code, cdt.account, 
               cdt.currency) -- keep
        seq_no
FROM CUSTOMER_DETAILS cdt