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SQL Window Functions: Ranking, Top N per Group, and Percent Rank/ROW_NUMBER

Unique sequence with no ties.

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Section: Ranking functions

ROW_NUMBER

sql
sql
SELECT employee_id,
       department_id,
       salary,
       ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
         PARTITION BY department_id
         ORDER BY salary DESC
       ) AS rn
FROM employees;
Explanation

`ROW_NUMBER` always assigns distinct numbers, even when sort values tie.

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RANK
Tied rows share rank and leave gaps.
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DENSE_RANK
Tied rows share rank without gaps.
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Split rows into quartiles with NTILE
Bucket ordered rows into four groups.
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Calculate percent rank
Relative position from 0 to 1.
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Cumulative distribution
Fraction of rows at or below the current row.
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Get the latest row per group
Use ROW_NUMBER in a subquery or CTE.
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