---
title: ROW_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)
description: Transact-SQL reference for the ROW_NUMBER function. This function numbers the output of a result set.
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---
# ROW_NUMBER (Transact-SQL)

[!INCLUDE [sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb](../../includes/applies-to-version/sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw-fabricse-fabricdw-fabricsqldb.md)]

Numbers the output of a result set. More specifically, returns the sequential number of a row within a partition of a result set, starting at 1 for the first row in each partition. 

`ROW_NUMBER` and `RANK` are similar. `ROW_NUMBER` numbers all rows sequentially (for example 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). `RANK` provides the same numeric value for ties (for example 1, 2, 2, 4, 5).   

> [!NOTE]
> `ROW_NUMBER` is a temporary value calculated when the query is run. To persist numbers in a table, see [IDENTITY Property](../statements/create-table-transact-sql-identity-property.md) and [SEQUENCE](../statements/create-sequence-transact-sql.md). 

 :::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: [Transact-SQL syntax conventions](../../t-sql/language-elements/transact-sql-syntax-conventions-transact-sql.md)  

## Syntax

```syntaxsql
ROW_NUMBER ( )
    OVER ( [ PARTITION BY value_expression , ... [ n ] ] order_by_clause )  
```  

## Arguments

#### PARTITION BY value_expression

 Divides the result set produced by the [FROM](../queries/from-transact-sql.md) clause into partitions to which the `ROW_NUMBER` function is applied. *value_expression* specifies the column by which the result set is partitioned. If `PARTITION BY` is not specified, the function treats all rows of the query result set as a single group. For more information, see [OVER Clause (Transact-SQL)](../queries/select-over-clause-transact-sql.md).  

#### order_by_clause

 The `ORDER BY` clause determines the sequence in which the rows are assigned their unique `ROW_NUMBER` within a specified partition. It is required. For more information, see [OVER Clause (Transact-SQL)](../queries/select-over-clause-transact-sql.md).  

> [!NOTE]  
> You can't use `ROW` or `RANGE` from the `OVER` clause in the `ROW_NUMBER` function.

## Return types

 **bigint**  

<a id="general-remarks"></a>

## Remarks

 There is no guarantee that the rows returned by a query using `ROW_NUMBER()` will be ordered exactly the same with each execution unless the following conditions are true.  

- Values of the partitioned column are unique. 

- Values of the `ORDER BY` columns are unique.

- Combinations of values of the partition column and `ORDER BY` columns are unique.  

If the `ORDER BY` columns are not unique within the results, consider using `RANK()` or `DENSE_RANK()`.

`ROW_NUMBER()` is nondeterministic. For more information, see [Deterministic and Nondeterministic Functions](../../relational-databases/user-defined-functions/deterministic-and-nondeterministic-functions.md).  

For window function performance tuning guidance, see [OVER() Performance considerations](../queries/select-over-clause-transact-sql.md#performance-considerations).

## Examples

### A. Simple examples

The following query returns the four system tables in alphabetic order.

```sql
SELECT 
  name, recovery_model_desc
FROM sys.databases 
WHERE database_id < 5
ORDER BY name ASC;
```

 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  

|name    |recovery_model_desc |  
|-----------  |------------ |  
| `master` |SIMPLE |
| `model` |FULL |
| `msdb` |SIMPLE |
| `tempdb` |SIMPLE |

To add a row number column in front of each row, add a column with the `ROW_NUMBER` function, in this case named `Row#`. You must move the `ORDER BY` clause up to the `OVER` clause.

```sql
SELECT 
  ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY name ASC) AS Row#,
  name, recovery_model_desc
FROM sys.databases 
WHERE database_id < 5;
```

 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  

|Row# |name    |recovery_model_desc |  
|------- |-----------  |------------ |  
| `1` |`master` |SIMPLE |
| `2` |`model` |FULL |
| `3` |`msdb` |SIMPLE |
| `4` |`tempdb` |SIMPLE |

The `PARTITION BY` clause on the `recovery_model_desc` column, restarts the numbering when the `recovery_model_desc` value changes. 

```sql
SELECT 
  ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY recovery_model_desc ORDER BY name ASC) 
    AS Row#,
  name, recovery_model_desc
FROM sys.databases WHERE database_id < 5;
```  

 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  

|Row# |name    |recovery_model_desc |  
|------- |-----------  |------------ |  
| `1` |`model` |FULL |
| `1` |`master` |SIMPLE |
| `2` |`msdb` |SIMPLE |
| `3` |`tempdb` |SIMPLE |

<a id="b-returning-the-row-number-for-salespeople"></a>

### B. Return the row number for salespeople

 The following example calculates a row number for the salespeople in [!INCLUDE[ssSampleDBCoFull](../../includes/sssampledbcofull-md.md)] based on their year-to-date sales ranking.  

```sql  
USE AdventureWorks2022;   
GO  
SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY SalesYTD DESC) AS Row,   
    FirstName, LastName, ROUND(SalesYTD,2,1) AS "Sales YTD"   
FROM Sales.vSalesPerson  
WHERE TerritoryName IS NOT NULL AND SalesYTD <> 0;  
```  

 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  

```  
Row FirstName    LastName               SalesYTD  
--- -----------  ---------------------- -----------------  
1   Linda        Mitchell               4251368.54  
2   Jae          Pak                    4116871.22  
3   Michael      Blythe                 3763178.17  
4   Jillian      Carson                 3189418.36  
5   Ranjit       Varkey Chudukatil      3121616.32  
6   José         Saraiva                2604540.71  
7   Shu          Ito                    2458535.61  
8   Tsvi         Reiter                 2315185.61  
9   Rachel       Valdez                 1827066.71  
10  Tete         Mensa-Annan            1576562.19  
11  David        Campbell               1573012.93  
12  Garrett      Vargas                 1453719.46  
13  Lynn         Tsoflias               1421810.92  
14  Pamela       Ansman-Wolfe           1352577.13  
```  

<a id="c-returning-a-subset-of-rows"></a>

### C. Return a subset of rows

 The following example calculates row numbers for all rows in the `SalesOrderHeader` table in the order of the `OrderDate` and returns only rows `50` to `60` inclusive.  

```sql  
USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
WITH OrderedOrders AS  
(  
    SELECT SalesOrderID, OrderDate,  
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY OrderDate) AS RowNumber  
    FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader   
)   
SELECT SalesOrderID, OrderDate, RowNumber    
FROM OrderedOrders   
WHERE RowNumber BETWEEN 50 AND 60;  
```  

<a id="d-using-row_number-with-partition"></a>

### D. Use ROW_NUMBER() with PARTITION

 The following example uses the `PARTITION BY` argument to partition the query result set by the column `TerritoryName`. The `ORDER BY` clause specified in the `OVER` clause orders the rows in each partition by the column `SalesYTD`. The `ORDER BY` clause in the `SELECT` statement orders the entire query result set by `TerritoryName`.  

```sql  
USE AdventureWorks2022;  
GO  
SELECT FirstName, LastName, TerritoryName, ROUND(SalesYTD,2,1) AS SalesYTD,  
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY TerritoryName ORDER BY SalesYTD DESC) 
  AS Row  
FROM Sales.vSalesPerson  
WHERE TerritoryName IS NOT NULL AND SalesYTD <> 0  
ORDER BY TerritoryName;  
```  

 [!INCLUDE[ssResult](../../includes/ssresult-md.md)]  

```  
FirstName  LastName             TerritoryName        SalesYTD      Row  
---------  -------------------- ------------------   ------------  ---  
Lynn       Tsoflias             Australia            1421810.92    1  
José       Saraiva              Canada               2604540.71    1  
Garrett    Vargas               Canada               1453719.46    2  
Jillian    Carson               Central              3189418.36    1  
Ranjit     Varkey Chudukatil    France               3121616.32    1  
Rachel     Valdez               Germany              1827066.71    1  
Michael    Blythe               Northeast            3763178.17    1  
Tete       Mensa-Annan          Northwest            1576562.19    1  
David      Campbell             Northwest            1573012.93    2  
Pamela     Ansman-Wolfe         Northwest            1352577.13    3  
Tsvi       Reiter               Southeast            2315185.61    1  
Linda      Mitchell             Southwest            4251368.54    1  
Shu        Ito                  Southwest            2458535.61    2  
Jae        Pak                  United Kingdom       4116871.22    1  
```  

## Examples: [!INCLUDE[ssazuresynapse-md](../../includes/ssazuresynapse-md.md)] and [!INCLUDE[ssPDW](../../includes/sspdw-md.md)]

<a id="e-returning-the-row-number-for-salespeople"></a>

### E. Return the row number for salespeople

 The following example returns the `ROW_NUMBER` for sales representatives based on their assigned sales quota.  

```sql  
-- Uses AdventureWorks  

SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(ORDER BY SUM(SalesAmountQuota) DESC) 
    AS RowNumber,  
    FirstName, LastName,   
    CONVERT(varchar(13), SUM(SalesAmountQuota),1) AS SalesQuota   
FROM dbo.DimEmployee AS e  
INNER JOIN dbo.FactSalesQuota AS sq  
    ON e.EmployeeKey = sq.EmployeeKey  
WHERE e.SalesPersonFlag = 1  
GROUP BY LastName, FirstName;  
```  

 Here is a partial result set.  

```  
RowNumber  FirstName  LastName            SalesQuota  
---------  ---------  ------------------  -------------  
1          Jillian    Carson              12,198,000.00  
2          Linda      Mitchell            11,786,000.00  
3          Michael    Blythe              11,162,000.00  
4          Jae        Pak                 10,514,000.00  
```

<a id="f-using-row_number-with-partition"></a>

### F. Use ROW_NUMBER() with PARTITION

 The following example shows using the `ROW_NUMBER` function with the `PARTITION BY` argument. This causes the `ROW_NUMBER` function to number the rows in each partition.  

```sql  
-- Uses AdventureWorks  

SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY SalesTerritoryKey 
        ORDER BY SUM(SalesAmountQuota) DESC) AS RowNumber,  
    LastName, SalesTerritoryKey AS Territory,  
    CONVERT(varchar(13), SUM(SalesAmountQuota),1) AS SalesQuota   
FROM dbo.DimEmployee AS e  
INNER JOIN dbo.FactSalesQuota AS sq  
    ON e.EmployeeKey = sq.EmployeeKey  
WHERE e.SalesPersonFlag = 1  
GROUP BY LastName, FirstName, SalesTerritoryKey;  
```  

 Here is a partial result set.  

```  
RowNumber  LastName            Territory  SalesQuota  
---------  ------------------  ---------  -------------  
1          Campbell            1           4,025,000.00  
2          Ansman-Wolfe        1           3,551,000.00  
3          Mensa-Annan         1           2,275,000.00  
1          Blythe              2          11,162,000.00  
1          Carson              3          12,198,000.00  
1          Mitchell            4          11,786,000.00  
2          Ito                 4           7,804,000.00  
```

## Related content

- [SELECT - OVER clause (Transact-SQL)](../queries/select-over-clause-transact-sql.md)
- [RANK (Transact-SQL)](rank-transact-sql.md)
- [DENSE_RANK (Transact-SQL)](dense-rank-transact-sql.md)
- [NTILE (Transact-SQL)](ntile-transact-sql.md)