Re: 8i vs 9i: Difference in "group by" ?

In article <adgk2s$30c$2_at_reader1.panix.com>, "R says...
>
>Hi Tom, how about the DISTINCT function ?
>ie select distinct sale_date from sales;
>Can I avoid a sort here ?
>thanks
>Robert

The *only* way -- repeat -- the ONLY way to get an ordered result set is .... to use ORDER BY

period, end of statement -- nothing else to be said. If the optimizer uses a "distincting" step that happens to order the results -- it'll do the right thing (as little work as needed).

If you want the data ordered, you MUST use an order by.

>
>
>>group by NEVER had to sort -- I can give you examples all of the way back
>to 7.0
>>whereby the group by doesn't sort.
>>
>>It never had it.
>>It never was assured.
>>
>>The *only* way -- repeat -- the ONLY way to get an ordered result set is
>.... to
>>use ORDER BY
>
>

--
Thomas Kyte (tkyte@oracle.com)             http://asktom.oracle.com/ 
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