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Breakdown of a SQL Window Function

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Breakdown of a SQL Window Function

Uploaded by

Murali Krishna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Breaking down

WINDOW
FUNCTIONS
in SQL

Dawn Choo
Window functions in SQL
are powerful but
complex.
So let’s break it down..
What do window
functions do?
They allow access to data
in other rows.

Sales Month Sales

January $1000

February $2000

March $1000

April $3000
Unlike aggregation functions,
they return one result per row.

Sales Month Sales Cumulative Sales

January $1000 $1000

February $2000 $3000

March $1000 $4000

April $3000 $7000


Let’s look at how a
window function query is
constructed.
We are going to calculate the
cumulative total sales by products
using data in this table.

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


First, use an aggregate
function or window function
to define how to aggregate over
the window.
In this case, we are using SUM( ).
Next, all window functions
are defined by the OVER( )
keyword
PARTITION BY ( ) defines how
to group the data.
In this case, group by the column Product.

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


ORDER BY ( ) defines how to
sort the data within the groups.
In this case, sort by the column Sales Month.

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


ROWS BETWEEN defines the
relative window to aggregate on
In this case, from the start of the window to the current row.

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


UNBOUNDED PRECEDING
means the start of the window is
at the beginning of the group
.

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


CURRENT ROW means the end
of the window is the current row

Sales Month Product Sales

January Watches $1000

February Watches $2000

March Watches $1000

January Computers $3000

February Computers $3000

March Computers $5000


Here is the final result:
cumulative sum of sales by product

Sales Month Product Sales Cumulative Sales

January Watches $1000 $1000

February Watches $2000 $3000

March Watches $1000 $4000

January Computers $3000 $3000

February Computers $3000 $6000

March Computers $5000 $11000


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