Select first row in each GROUP BY group?
DISTINCT ON is typically simplest and fastest for this in PostgreSQL.
(For performance optimization for certain workloads see below.)
SELECT DISTINCT ON (customer)
id, customer, total
FROM purchases
ORDER BY customer, total DESC, id;
Or shorter (if not as clear) with ordinal numbers of output columns:
SELECT DISTINCT ON (2)
id, customer, total
FROM purchases
ORDER BY 2, 3 DESC, 1;
If total can be NULL, add NULLS LAST:
...
ORDER BY customer, total DESC NULLS LAST, id;
Works either way, but you'll want to match existing indexes
db<>fiddle here
Major points
DISTINCT ON is a PostgreSQL extension of the standard, where only DISTINCT on the whole SELECT list is defined.
List any number of expressions in the DISTINCT ON clause, the combined row value defines duplicates. The manual:
Obviously, two rows are considered distinct if they differ in at least one column value. Null values are considered equal in this comparison.
Bold emphasis mine.
DISTINCT ON can be combined with ORDER BY. Leading expressions in ORDER BY must be in the set of expressions in DISTINCT ON, but you can rearrange order among those freely. Example.
You can add additional expressions to ORDER BY to pick a particular row from each group of peers. Or, as the manual puts it:
The
DISTINCT ONexpression(s) must match the leftmostORDER BYexpression(s). TheORDER BYclause will normally contain additional expression(s) that determine the desired precedence of rows within eachDISTINCT ONgroup.
I added id as last item to break ties:
"Pick the row with the smallest id from each group sharing the highest total."
To order results in a way that disagrees with the sort order determining the first per group, you can nest above query in an outer query with another ORDER BY. Example.
If total can be NULL, you most probably want the row with the greatest non-null value. Add NULLS LAST like demonstrated. See:
- Sort by column ASC, but NULL values first?
The SELECT list is not constrained by expressions in DISTINCT ON or ORDER BY in any way:
You don't have to include any of the expressions in
DISTINCT ONorORDER BY.You can include any other expression in the
SELECTlist. This is instrumental for replacing complex subqueries and aggregate / window functions.
I tested with Postgres versions 8.3 – 15. But the feature has been there at least since version 7.1, so basically always.
Index
The perfect index for the above query would be a multi-column index spanning all three columns in matching sequence and with matching sort order:
CREATE INDEX purchases_3c_idx ON purchases (customer, total DESC, id);
May be too specialized. But use it if read performance for the particular query is crucial. If you have DESC NULLS LAST in the query, use the same in the index so that sort order matches and the index is perfectly applicable.
Effectiveness / Performance optimization
Weigh cost and benefit before creating tailored indexes for each query. The potential of above index largely depends on data distribution.
The index is used because it delivers pre-sorted data. In Postgres 9.2 or later the query can also benefit from an index only scan if the index is smaller than the underlying table. The index has to be scanned in its entirety, though. Example.
For few rows per customer (high cardinality in column customer), this is very efficient. Even more so if you need sorted output anyway. The benefit shrinks with a growing number of rows per customer.
Ideally, you have enough work_mem to process the involved sort step in RAM and not spill to disk. But generally setting work_mem too high can have adverse effects. Consider SET LOCAL for exceptionally big queries. Find how much you need with EXPLAIN ANALYZE. Mention of "Disk:" in the sort step indicates the need for more:
- Configuration parameter work_mem in PostgreSQL on Linux
- Optimize simple query using ORDER BY date and text
For many rows per customer (low cardinality in column customer), a loose index scan (a.k.a. "skip scan") would be (much) more efficient, but that's not implemented up to Postgres 14. (An implementation for index-only scans is in development for Postgres 15. See here and here.)
For now, there are faster query techniques to substitute for this. In particular if you have a separate table holding unique customers, which is the typical use case. But also if you don't:
- SELECT DISTINCT is slower than expected on my table in PostgreSQL
- Optimize GROUP BY query to retrieve latest row per user
- Optimize groupwise maximum query
- Query last N related rows per row
Benchmarks
See separate answer.
On databases that support CTE and windowing functions:
WITH summary AS (
SELECT p.id,
p.customer,
p.total,
ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY p.customer
ORDER BY p.total DESC) AS rank
FROM PURCHASES p)
SELECT *
FROM summary
WHERE rank = 1
Supported by any database:
But you need to add logic to break ties:
SELECT MIN(x.id), -- change to MAX if you want the highest
x.customer,
x.total
FROM PURCHASES x
JOIN (SELECT p.customer,
MAX(total) AS max_total
FROM PURCHASES p
GROUP BY p.customer) y ON y.customer = x.customer
AND y.max_total = x.total
GROUP BY x.customer, x.total
Benchmarks
I tested the most interesting candidates:
- Initially with Postgres 9.4 and 9.5.
- Added accented tests for Postgres 13 later.
Basic test setup
Main table: purchases:
CREATE TABLE purchases (
id serial -- PK constraint added below
, customer_id int -- REFERENCES customer
, total int -- could be amount of money in Cent
, some_column text -- to make the row bigger, more realistic
);
Dummy data (with some dead tuples), PK, index:
INSERT INTO purchases (customer_id, total, some_column) -- 200k rows
SELECT (random() * 10000)::int AS customer_id -- 10k distinct customers
, (random() * random() * 100000)::int AS total
, 'note: ' || repeat('x', (random()^2 * random() * random() * 500)::int)
FROM generate_series(1,200000) g;
ALTER TABLE purchases ADD CONSTRAINT purchases_id_pkey PRIMARY KEY (id);
DELETE FROM purchases WHERE random() > 0.9; -- some dead rows
INSERT INTO purchases (customer_id, total, some_column)
SELECT (random() * 10000)::int AS customer_id -- 10k customers
, (random() * random() * 100000)::int AS total
, 'note: ' || repeat('x', (random()^2 * random() * random() * 500)::int)
FROM generate_series(1,20000) g; -- add 20k to make it ~ 200k
CREATE INDEX purchases_3c_idx ON purchases (customer_id, total DESC, id);
VACUUM ANALYZE purchases;
customer table - used for optimized query:
CREATE TABLE customer AS
SELECT customer_id, 'customer_' || customer_id AS customer
FROM purchases
GROUP BY 1
ORDER BY 1;
ALTER TABLE customer ADD CONSTRAINT customer_customer_id_pkey PRIMARY KEY (customer_id);
VACUUM ANALYZE customer;
In my second test for 9.5 I used the same setup, but with 100000 distinct customer_id to get few rows per customer_id.
Object sizes for table purchases
Basic setup: 200k rows in purchases, 10k distinct customer_id, avg. 20 rows per customer.
For Postgres 9.5 I added a 2nd test with 86446 distinct customers - avg. 2.3 rows per customer.
Generated with a query taken from here:
- Measure the size of a PostgreSQL table row
Gathered for Postgres 9.5:
what | bytes/ct | bytes_pretty | bytes_per_row
-----------------------------------+----------+--------------+---------------
core_relation_size | 20496384 | 20 MB | 102
visibility_map | 0 | 0 bytes | 0
free_space_map | 24576 | 24 kB | 0
table_size_incl_toast | 20529152 | 20 MB | 102
indexes_size | 10977280 | 10 MB | 54
total_size_incl_toast_and_indexes | 31506432 | 30 MB | 157
live_rows_in_text_representation | 13729802 | 13 MB | 68
------------------------------ | | |
row_count | 200045 | |
live_tuples | 200045 | |
dead_tuples | 19955 | |
Queries
1. row_number() in CTE, (see other answer)
WITH cte AS (
SELECT id, customer_id, total
, row_number() OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY total DESC) AS rn
FROM purchases
)
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM cte
WHERE rn = 1;
2. row_number() in subquery (my optimization)
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM (
SELECT id, customer_id, total
, row_number() OVER (PARTITION BY customer_id ORDER BY total DESC) AS rn
FROM purchases
) sub
WHERE rn = 1;
3. DISTINCT ON (see other answer)
SELECT DISTINCT ON (customer_id)
id, customer_id, total
FROM purchases
ORDER BY customer_id, total DESC, id;
4. rCTE with LATERAL subquery (see here)
WITH RECURSIVE cte AS (
( -- parentheses required
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM purchases
ORDER BY customer_id, total DESC
LIMIT 1
)
UNION ALL
SELECT u.*
FROM cte c
, LATERAL (
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM purchases
WHERE customer_id > c.customer_id -- lateral reference
ORDER BY customer_id, total DESC
LIMIT 1
) u
)
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM cte
ORDER BY customer_id;
5. customer table with LATERAL (see here)
SELECT l.*
FROM customer c
, LATERAL (
SELECT id, customer_id, total
FROM purchases
WHERE customer_id = c.customer_id -- lateral reference
ORDER BY total DESC
LIMIT 1
) l;
6. array_agg() with ORDER BY (see other answer)
SELECT (array_agg(id ORDER BY total DESC))[1] AS id
, customer_id
, max(total) AS total
FROM purchases
GROUP BY customer_id;
Results
Execution time for above queries with EXPLAIN (ANALYZE, TIMING OFF, COSTS OFF, best of 5 runs to compare with warm cache.
All queries used an Index Only Scan on purchases2_3c_idx (among other steps). Some only to benefit from the smaller size of the index, others more effectively.
A. Postgres 9.4 with 200k rows and ~ 20 per customer_id
1. 273.274 ms
2. 194.572 ms
3. 111.067 ms
4. 92.922 ms -- !
5. 37.679 ms -- winner
6. 189.495 ms
B. Same as A. with Postgres 9.5
1. 288.006 ms
2. 223.032 ms
3. 107.074 ms
4. 78.032 ms -- !
5. 33.944 ms -- winner
6. 211.540 ms
C. Same as B., but with ~ 2.3 rows per customer_id
1. 381.573 ms
2. 311.976 ms
3. 124.074 ms -- winner
4. 710.631 ms
5. 311.976 ms
6. 421.679 ms
Retest with Postgres 13 on 2021-08-11
Simplified test setup: no deleted rows, because VACUUM ANALYZE cleans the table completely for the simple case.
Important changes for Postgres:
- General performance improvements.
- CTEs can be inlined since Postgres 12, so query 1. and 2. now perform mostly identical (same query plan).
D. Like B. ~ 20 rows per customer_id
1. 103 ms
2. 103 ms
3. 23 ms -- winner
4. 71 ms
5. 22 ms -- winner
6. 81 ms
db<>fiddle here
E. Like C. ~ 2.3 rows per customer_id
1. 127 ms
2. 126 ms
3. 36 ms -- winner
4. 620 ms
5. 145 ms
6. 203 ms
db<>fiddle here
Accented tests with Postgres 13
1M rows, 10.000 vs. 100 vs. 1.6 rows per customer.
F. with ~ 10.000 rows per customer
1. 526 ms
2. 527 ms
3. 127 ms
4. 2 ms -- winner !
5. 1 ms -- winner !
6. 356 ms
db<>fiddle here
G. with ~ 100 rows per customer
1. 535 ms
2. 529 ms
3. 132 ms
4. 108 ms -- !
5. 71 ms -- winner
6. 376 ms
db<>fiddle here
H. with ~ 1.6 rows per customer
1. 691 ms
2. 684 ms
3. 234 ms -- winner
4. 4669 ms
5. 1089 ms
6. 1264 ms
db<>fiddle here
Conclusions
DISTINCT ONuses the index effectively and typically performs best for few rows per group. And it performs decently even with many rows per group.For many rows per group, emulating an index skip scan with an rCTE performs best - second only to the query technique with a separate lookup table (if that's available).
The
row_number()technique demonstrated in the currently accepted answer never wins any performance test. Not then, not now. It never comes even close toDISTINCT ON, not even when the data distribution is unfavorable for the latter. The only good thing aboutrow_number(): it does not scale terribly, just mediocre.
More benchmarks
Benchmark by "ogr" with 10M rows and 60k unique "customers" on Postgres 11.5. Results are in line with what we have seen so far:
- Proper way to access latest row for each individual identifier?
Original (outdated) benchmark from 2011
I ran three tests with PostgreSQL 9.1 on a real life table of 65579 rows and single-column btree indexes on each of the three columns involved and took the best execution time of 5 runs.
Comparing @OMGPonies' first query (A) to the above DISTINCT ON solution (B):
- Select the whole table, results in 5958 rows in this case.
A: 567.218 ms
B: 386.673 ms
- Use condition
WHERE customer BETWEEN x AND yresulting in 1000 rows.
A: 249.136 ms
B: 55.111 ms
- Select a single customer with
WHERE customer = x.
A: 0.143 ms
B: 0.072 ms
Same test repeated with the index described in the other answer:
CREATE INDEX purchases_3c_idx ON purchases (customer, total DESC, id);
1A: 277.953 ms
1B: 193.547 ms
2A: 249.796 ms -- special index not used
2B: 28.679 ms
3A: 0.120 ms
3B: 0.048 ms