SQL SELECT DISTINCT

SQL Select Distinct Statement

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

• SELECT DISTINCT eliminates duplicate records from the results.
• DISTINCT can be used with aggregates - COUNT, AVG, MAX, etc.
• DISTINCT operates on a single column.
• DISTINCT for multiple columns is not supported.

SQL DISTINCT keyword

The SQL DISTINCT keyword is used in conjunction with the SELECT statement to eliminate all the duplicate records and fetching only unique records.

SQL SELECT DISTINCT syntax

General Syntax

SELECT DISTINCT column_name
FROM table_name;

Syntax with COUNT

SELECT COUNT (DISTINCT column_name)
FROM table_name;

Employee Table

A sample of EMPLOYEE records table & the name of table Employee. The column(s) of the Employee table [ID, EMPLOYEE_NAME, EMPLOYEE_EMAIL, ADDRESS, CITY, and COUNTRY]:

SELECT DISTINCT Example

SELECT DISTINCT Country
FROM Employee;

Result