Ranking Functions (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics Analytics Platform System (PDW) SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric

Ranking functions return a ranking value for each row in a partition. Depending on the function that is used, some rows might receive the same value as other rows. Ranking functions are nondeterministic.

Transact-SQL provides the following ranking functions:

The following example shows the four ranking functions used in the same query. For function-specific examples, see each ranking function.

USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT p.FirstName, p.LastName  
    ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY a.PostalCode) AS "Row Number"  
    ,RANK() OVER (ORDER BY a.PostalCode) AS Rank  
    ,DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY a.PostalCode) AS "Dense Rank"  
    ,NTILE(4) OVER (ORDER BY a.PostalCode) AS Quartile  
    ,s.SalesYTD  
    ,a.PostalCode  
FROM Sales.SalesPerson AS s   
    INNER JOIN Person.Person AS p   
        ON s.BusinessEntityID = p.BusinessEntityID  
    INNER JOIN Person.Address AS a   
        ON a.AddressID = p.BusinessEntityID  
WHERE TerritoryID IS NOT NULL AND SalesYTD <> 0;  

Here's the result set.

Built-in Functions (Transact-SQL)
OVER Clause (Transact-SQL)