SQL SELECT DISTINCT Keyword

The SELECT DISTINCT statement in SQL is used to retrieve only unique values from a column or set of columns in a table. It eliminates duplicate rows from the result set, giving you a list of distinct values.

SELECT DISTINCT: Definition and Usage

SELECT DISTINCT is incredibly helpful when you only need a list of unique values and don't need to see repeated entries. This is common when you want to see a list of all available countries, product categories, or any other attribute where you are only interested in unique values.

Syntax


SELECT DISTINCT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;

Example

Retrieving Distinct Countries

This query retrieves a list of unique countries from the 'Customers' table (assuming a table named 'Customers' exists with a 'Country' column).

Syntax


SELECT DISTINCT Country FROM Customers;

Output


Country
-------
USA     (Example - adapt to your data)
UK
Germany
France
...