SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

The SELECT DISTINCT statement is used to return only distinct (different) values.

The SQL SELECT DISTINCT Statement

In a table, a column may contain many duplicate values; and sometimes you only want to list the different (distinct) values.

The DISTINCT keyword can be used to return only distinct (different) values.

SELECT DISTINCT column_name,column_name
FROM table_name;

In this tutorial we will use the well-known Northwind sample database.

Below is a selection from the "Customers" table:

CustomerID	CustomerName	ContactName	Address	City	PostalCode	Country
1	Alfreds Futterkiste	Maria Anders	Obere Str. 57	Berlin	12209	Germany
2	Ana Trujillo Emparedados y helados	Ana Trujillo	Avda. de la Constitucion 2222	Mexico D.F.	05021	Mexico
3	Antonio Moreno Taqueria	Antonio Moreno	Mataderos 2312	Mexico D.F.	05023	Mexico
4	Around the Horn	Thomas Hardy	120 Hanover Sq.	London	WA1 1DP	UK
5	Berglunds snabbkop	Christina Berglund	Berguvsvagen 8	Lulea	S-958 22	Sweden

The following SQL statement selects only the distinct values from the "City" columns from the "Customers" table:

SELECT DISTINCT City FROM Customers;