Syntax

Description of the illustration approx_rank.eps

Purpose

APPROX_RANK returns the approximate value in a group of values.

This function takes an optional PARTITION BY clause followed by a mandatory ORDER BY ... DESC clause. The PARTITION BY key must be a subset of the GROUP BY key. The ORDER BY clause must include either APPROX_COUNT or APPROX_SUM.

Examples

The query returns the jobs that are among the top 10 total salary per department. For each job, the total salary and ranking is also given.

SELECT job_id, 
			APPROX_SUM(sal), 
      APPROX_RANK(PARTITION BY department_id ORDER BY APPROX_SUM(salary) DESC) 
FROM employees
GROUP BY department_id, job_id
HAVING 
   APPROX_RANK(
   PARTITION BY department_id 
   ORDER BY APPROX_SUM (salary) 
   DESC) <= 10;