Rank function in MySQL
One option is to use a ranking variable, such as the following:
SELECT first_name,
age,
gender,
@curRank := @curRank + 1 AS rank
FROM person p, (SELECT @curRank := 0) r
ORDER BY age;
The (SELECT @curRank := 0)
part allows the variable initialization without requiring a separate SET
command.
Test case:
CREATE TABLE person (id int, first_name varchar(20), age int, gender char(1));
INSERT INTO person VALUES (1, 'Bob', 25, 'M');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (2, 'Jane', 20, 'F');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (3, 'Jack', 30, 'M');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (4, 'Bill', 32, 'M');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (5, 'Nick', 22, 'M');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (6, 'Kathy', 18, 'F');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (7, 'Steve', 36, 'M');
INSERT INTO person VALUES (8, 'Anne', 25, 'F');
Result:
+------------+------+--------+------+
| first_name | age | gender | rank |
+------------+------+--------+------+
| Kathy | 18 | F | 1 |
| Jane | 20 | F | 2 |
| Nick | 22 | M | 3 |
| Bob | 25 | M | 4 |
| Anne | 25 | F | 5 |
| Jack | 30 | M | 6 |
| Bill | 32 | M | 7 |
| Steve | 36 | M | 8 |
+------------+------+--------+------+
8 rows in set (0.02 sec)
Here is a generic solution that assigns dense rank over partition to rows. It uses user variables:
CREATE TABLE person (
id INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
firstname VARCHAR(10),
gender VARCHAR(1),
age INT
);
INSERT INTO person (id, firstname, gender, age) VALUES
(1, 'Adams', 'M', 33),
(2, 'Matt', 'M', 31),
(3, 'Grace', 'F', 25),
(4, 'Harry', 'M', 20),
(5, 'Scott', 'M', 30),
(6, 'Sarah', 'F', 30),
(7, 'Tony', 'M', 30),
(8, 'Lucy', 'F', 27),
(9, 'Zoe', 'F', 30),
(10, 'Megan', 'F', 26),
(11, 'Emily', 'F', 20),
(12, 'Peter', 'M', 20),
(13, 'John', 'M', 21),
(14, 'Kate', 'F', 35),
(15, 'James', 'M', 32),
(16, 'Cole', 'M', 25),
(17, 'Dennis', 'M', 27),
(18, 'Smith', 'M', 35),
(19, 'Zack', 'M', 35),
(20, 'Jill', 'F', 25);
SELECT person.*, @rank := CASE
WHEN @partval = gender AND @rankval = age THEN @rank
WHEN @partval = gender AND (@rankval := age) IS NOT NULL THEN @rank + 1
WHEN (@partval := gender) IS NOT NULL AND (@rankval := age) IS NOT NULL THEN 1
END AS rnk
FROM person, (SELECT @rank := NULL, @partval := NULL, @rankval := NULL) AS x
ORDER BY gender, age;
Notice that the variable assignments are placed inside the CASE
expression. This (in theory) takes care of order of evaluation issue. The IS NOT NULL
is added to handle datatype conversion and short circuiting issues.
PS: It can easily be converted to row number over partition by by removing all conditions that check for tie.
| id | firstname | gender | age | rank |
|----|-----------|--------|-----|------|
| 11 | Emily | F | 20 | 1 |
| 20 | Jill | F | 25 | 2 |
| 3 | Grace | F | 25 | 2 |
| 10 | Megan | F | 26 | 3 |
| 8 | Lucy | F | 27 | 4 |
| 6 | Sarah | F | 30 | 5 |
| 9 | Zoe | F | 30 | 5 |
| 14 | Kate | F | 35 | 6 |
| 4 | Harry | M | 20 | 1 |
| 12 | Peter | M | 20 | 1 |
| 13 | John | M | 21 | 2 |
| 16 | Cole | M | 25 | 3 |
| 17 | Dennis | M | 27 | 4 |
| 7 | Tony | M | 30 | 5 |
| 5 | Scott | M | 30 | 5 |
| 2 | Matt | M | 31 | 6 |
| 15 | James | M | 32 | 7 |
| 1 | Adams | M | 33 | 8 |
| 18 | Smith | M | 35 | 9 |
| 19 | Zack | M | 35 | 9 |
Demo on db<>fiddle