Question

I’ve tried checking out this question sql – distinct + select and can’t seem to get it tailored correctly to my situation. I am also not on the sql dev team so I don’t know all the in’s and out’s of the database. I’m shooting in the dark here on a test DB. Here is a pseudo sample of my current query:

select a.name, b.col1, 
from name a, amount b
where a.identifier=b.acctid
and b.col1 != 'test'

Example of what is currently returned by query:

a.name | b.col1
Jeff     1
Jeff     333
Jeff     77
Jeff     1
Jeff     14
Bob      22
Bob      4
Bob      5
Bob      6

And I would like for the results of the query to return the first n(a number I choose) results that are unique based on ColA. For example if n was 2:

a.name | b.col1
Jeff     1
Jeff     333
Bob      22
Bob      4

Answer 1

For SQL Server 2005+ you can use analytical functions:

DECLARE @n INT
SET @n = 2

;WITH CTE AS 
(   SELECT a.name, b.col1, b.col2, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY ColA ORDER BY a.identifier) Corr
    FROM name a
    INNER JOIN amount b
    ON a.identifier = b.acctid
    WHERE b.col2 != 'test'
)
SELECT *
FROM CTE
WHERE Corr <= @n

I also changed your query to use explicit joins.