SQL SERVER – 2005 – Sample Example of RANKING Functions – ROW_NUMBER, RANK, DENSE_RANK, NTILE

ROW_NUMBER

·         Returns the sequential number of a row within a partition of a result set, starting at 1 for the first row in each partition.

RANK

·         Returns the rank of each row within the partition of a result set.

DENSE_RANK

·         Returns the rank of rows within the partition of a result set, without any gaps in the ranking.

NTILE

·         Distributes the rows in an ordered partition into a specified number of groups

Following example is excellent example from BOL again. This function explains usage of all the four function together in one query.