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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-18T09:03:50+00:00

I ran into the following problem. I have a table like this: ID ID1

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I ran into the following problem.
I have a table like this: 

ID   ID1     ID2     ID3     ID4     ID5
1   NULL    NULL    NULL    NULL    1
2   NULL    NULL    NULL    2       NULL
3   NULL    NULL    NULL    2       1
4   3       NULL    NULL    2       NULL
5   3       NULL    NULL    2       1
6   NULL    5       NULL    2       NULL

And I need to get distinct rows it terms that NULL equals any value. For this example the answer is:

ID   ID1     ID2     ID3     ID4     ID5
5   3       NULL    NULL    2       1
6   NULL    5       NULL    2       NULL

P.S. Here ID is primary key hence unique. ID1-ID5 – any integers.
Thanks in advance!
UPDATED
Saying that null equals any number I mean that it’s absorbed by any number.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    This works, don’t know if it can be made any simpler

    SELECT ID1, ID2, ID3, ID4, ID5
FROM IDS OUTT
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1
                FROM IDS INN
                WHERE OUTT.ID != INN.ID AND
                      (ISNULL(OUTT.ID1, INN.ID1) = INN.ID1 OR (INN.ID1 IS NULL AND OUTT.ID1 IS NULL)) AND
                      (ISNULL(OUTT.ID2, INN.ID2) = INN.ID2 OR (INN.ID2 IS NULL AND OUTT.ID2 IS NULL)) AND
                      (ISNULL(OUTT.ID3, INN.ID3) = INN.ID3 OR (INN.ID3 IS NULL AND OUTT.ID3 IS NULL)) AND
                      (ISNULL(OUTT.ID4, INN.ID4) = INN.ID4 OR (INN.ID4 IS NULL AND OUTT.ID4 IS NULL)) AND
                      (ISNULL(OUTT.ID5, INN.ID5) = INN.ID5 OR (INN.ID5 IS NULL AND OUTT.ID5 IS NULL)))

    EDIT: Found a sweeter alternative, if your ids never have negative numbers

    SELECT ID1, ID2, ID3, ID4, ID5
FROM IDS OUTT
WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1
                FROM IDS INN
                WHERE OUTT.ID != INN.ID AND
                      coalesce(OUTT.ID1, INN.ID1,-1) = isnull(INN.ID1,-1) AND
                      coalesce(OUTT.ID2, INN.ID2,-1) = isnull(INN.ID2,-1) AND
                      coalesce(OUTT.ID3, INN.ID3,-1) = isnull(INN.ID3,-1) AND
                      coalesce(OUTT.ID4, INN.ID4,-1) = isnull(INN.ID4,-1) AND
                      coalesce(OUTT.ID5, INN.ID5,-1) = isnull(INN.ID5,-1))

    EDIT2: There is one case where it won’t work – in case two rows (with different ids) have exact same form. I am assuming that it is not there. If such a thing is present, then first create a view with a select distinct on the base table first, and then apply this query.

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