SQL GROUP BY Statement
Aggregate functions often need an added GROUP BY statement.
The GROUP BY Statement
The GROUP BY statement is used in conjunction with the aggregate functions to group the result-set by one or more columns.
SQL GROUP BY Syntax
SELECT column_name, aggregate_function(column_name)
FROM table_name
WHERE column_name operator value
GROUP BY column_name;
Demo Database
In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.
Below is a selection from the "Orders" table:
| OrderID | CustomerID | EmployeeID | OrderDate | ShipperID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10248 | 90 | 5 | 1996-07-04 | 3 |
| 10249 | 81 | 6 | 1996-07-05 | 1 |
| 10250 | 34 | 4 | 1996-07-08 | 2 |
And a selection from the "Shippers" table:
| ShipperID | ShipperName | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Speedy Express | (503) 555-9831 |
| 2 | United Package | (503) 555-3199 |
| 3 | Federal Shipping | (503) 555-9931 |
And a selection from the "Employees" table:
| EmployeeID | LastName | FirstName | BirthDate | Photo | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davolio | Nancy | 1968-12-08 | EmpID1.pic | Education includes a BA.... |
| 2 | Fuller | Andrew | 1952-02-19 | EmpID2.pic | Andrew received his BTS.... |
| 3 | Leverling | Janet | 1963-08-30 | EmpID3.pic | Janet has a BS degree.... |
SQL GROUP BY Example
Now we want to find the number of orders sent by each shipper.
The following SQL statement counts as orders grouped by shippers:
Example
SELECT Shippers.ShipperName,COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS NumberOfOrders FROM
Orders
LEFT JOIN Shippers
ON Orders.ShipperID=Shippers.ShipperID
GROUP BY ShipperName;
Try it yourself »
GROUP BY More Than One Column
We can also use the GROUP BY statement on more than one column, like this:
Example
SELECT Shippers.ShipperName, Employees.LastName,
COUNT(Orders.OrderID) AS
NumberOfOrders
FROM ((Orders
INNER JOIN Shippers
ON
Orders.ShipperID=Shippers.ShipperID)
INNER JOIN Employees
ON
Orders.EmployeeID=Employees.EmployeeID)
GROUP BY ShipperName,LastName;
Try it yourself »
