29th Apr 2020 5 minutes read SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet LearnSQL.com Team cheat sheet window functions Download this 2-page SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet in PDF or PNG format, print it out, and stick to your desk. The SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet provides you with the syntax of window functions, a list of window functions, and examples. You can download this cheat sheet as follows: Download 2-page SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet in PDF format (A4) Download 2-page SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet in PDF format (Letter) Download 1-page SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet in PDF format (A3) Download 1-page SQL Window Functions Cheat Sheet in PDF format (Ledger) Window Functions Window functions compute their result based on a sliding window frame, a set of rows that are somehow related to the current row. Aggregate Functions vs. Window Functions Unlike aggregate functions, window functions do not collapse rows. Syntax SELECT city, month, sum(sold) OVER ( PARTITION BY city ORDER BY month RANGE UNBOUNDED PRECEDING) total FROM sales; SELECT <column_1>, <column_2>, <window_function> OVER ( PARTITION BY <...> ORDER BY <...> <window_frame>) <window_column_alias> FROM <table_name>; Named Window Definition SELECT country, city, rank() OVER country_sold_avg FROM sales WHERE month BETWEEN 1 AND 6 GROUP BY country, city HAVING sum(sold) > 10000 WINDOW country_sold_avg AS ( PARTITION BY country ORDER BY avg(sold) DESC) ORDER BY country, city; SELECT <column_1>, <column_2>, <window_function>() OVER <window_name> FROM <table_name> WHERE <...> GROUP BY <...> HAVING <...> WINDOW <window_name> AS ( PARTITION BY <...> ORDER BY <...> <window_frame>) ORDER BY <...>; PARTITION BY, ORDER BY, and window frame definition are all optional. PARTITION BY PARTITION BY divides rows into multiple groups, called partitions, to which the window function is applied. Default Partition: With no PARTITION BY clause, the entire result set is the partition. ORDER BY ORDER BY specifies the order of rows in each partition to which the window function is applied. Default ORDER BY: With no ORDER BY clause, the order of rows within each partition is arbitrary. Window Frame A window frame is a set of rows that are somehow related to the current row. The window frame is evaluated separately within each partition. ROWS | RANGE | GROUPS BETWEEN lower_bound AND upper_bound The bounds can be any of the five options: UNBOUNDED PRECEDING n PRECEDING CURRENT ROW n FOLLOWING UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING The lower_bound must be BEFORE the upper_bound. As of 2020, GROUPS is only supported in PostgreSQL 11 and up. Abbreviations AbbreviationMeaning UNBOUNDED PRECEDINGBETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW n PRECEDINGBETWEEN n PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW CURRENT ROWBETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND CURRENT ROW n FOLLOWINGBETWEEN AND CURRENT ROW AND n FOLLOWING UNBOUNDED FOLLOWINGBETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING Default Window Frame If ORDER BY is specified, then the frame is RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND CURRENT ROW. Without ORDER BY, the frame specification is ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING. Logical Order of Operations in SQL FROM, JOIN WHERE GROUP BY aggregate functions HAVING window functions SELECT DISTINCT UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT ORDER BY OFFSET LIMIT/FETCH/TOP You can use window functions in SELECT and ORDER BY. However, you can't put window functions anywhere in the FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, or HAVING clauses. List of Window Functions Ranking Functions row_number() rank() dense_rank() Distribution Functions percent_rank() cume_dist() Analytic Functions lead() lag() ntile() first_value() last_value() nth_value() Aggregate Functions avg() count() max() min() sum() Ranking Functions row_number() - unique number for each row within partition, with different numbers for tied values rank() - ranking within partition, with gaps and same ranking for tied values dense_rank() - ranking within partition, with no gaps and same ranking for tied values ORDER BY and Window Frame: rank() and dense_rank() require ORDER BY, but row_number() does not require ORDER BY. Ranking functions do not accept window frame definition (ROWS, RANGE, GROUPS). Distribution Functions percent_rank() - the percentile ranking number of a row—a value in [0, 1] interval: (rank-1) / (total number of rows - 1) cume_dist() - the cumulative distribution of a value within a group of values, i.e., the number of rows with values less than or equal to the current row’s value divided by the total number of rows; a value in (0, 1] interval ORDER BY and Window Frame: Distribution functions require ORDER BY. They do not accept window frame definition (ROWS, RANGE, GROUPS). Analytic Functions lead(expr, offset, default) - the value for the row offset rows after the current; offset and default are optional; default values: offset = 1, default = NULL lag(expr, offset, default) - the value for the row offset rows before the current; offset and default are optional; default values: offset = 1, default = NULL ntile(n) - divide rows within a partition as equally as possible into n groups, and assign each row its group number. ORDER BY and Window Frame: ntile(), lead(), and lag() require an ORDER BY. They do not accept window frame definition (ROWS, RANGE, GROUPS). first_value(expr) - the value for the first row within the window frame last_value(expr) - the value for the last row within the window frame Note: You usually want to use RANGE BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING with last_value(). With the default window frame for ORDER BY, RANGE UNBOUNDED PRECEDING, last_value() returns the value for the current row. nth_value(expr, n) - the value for the n-th row within the window frame; n must be an integer ORDER BY and Window Frame: first_value(), last_value(), and nth_value() do not require an ORDER BY. They accept window frame definition (ROWS, RANGE, GROUPS). Aggregate Functions avg(expr) - average value for rows within the window frame count(expr) - count of values for rows within the window frame max(expr) - maximum value within the window frame min(expr) - minimum value within the window frame sum(expr) - sum of values within the window frame ORDER BY and Window Frame: Aggregate functions do not require an ORDER BY. They accept window frame definition (ROWS, RANGE, GROUPS). Tags: cheat sheet window functions